On August the 26th 1920 the Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is signed into law by the secretary of the state Bainbridge Colby.

been popular in America for some years, but 1927 saw the first feature film ‘talkie’ (sound synchronised motion picture) with the release of The Jazz Singer. This was the first ever full- length film to contain spoken words. By 1930, over 100 million Americans a week were going to the movies. Actors and actresses like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Rudolf Valentino became ‘stars’ and were known all over the world.

In the United States Prohibition was a nation wide ban on selling, producing, importing and transporting alcohol. This remained in place from 1920 to 1933. Four reasons why Prohibitation was induced include:

1. National mood: When America entered the war in 1917, most of the nation turned against drinking. The Anti-Saloon Leauge also argued that drinking alcohol was damaging American society.

2. Practical: Banning alcohol would boost supplies. These include supplies of important grains such as barley.

3. Religious: Drinking alcohol was against God's wishes.

4. Moral: Lots of people agreed that it was not right for some American's to be enjoying alcohol while young male American's we at war fighting for their country.

In the 1920's production of consumer goods rose dramatically. New methods of mass production meant that a wider range of goods became available on a never before seen scale. At this time people had more money to spend. One reason for this was that at this time there was an indroduction for hire-pirchase systems. This meant that people could buy items they wanted by paying them off over time, with some interest. Hire-purchase meant that people could buy basically whatever they wanted - but this put them into a lot of debt.

Goods such as toasters, vacuum cleaners and refigerators were high on demand.

The more people that bought good, the more jobs emerged.

Industries that provided raw materials for these type of goods also rose.

Mass production in factories needed assembly lines to be build, where each work can concentrate on a small job only. A great example of mass production was Henry Ford's factory. This factory used production methods to produce a car every 10 seconds! One of Henry's most famous famous example of this method was the Model T car, which he used mass production to make.

During the 1920's vehicles that were mass produced became very common throughout the USA and Canada.

The automobile industry's effects were widespread. Suburbs expanded away from the public transport routes. People now had freedom to socialise and travel in ways that had not been previously possible. Roads had to be build, which required more job opportunities. Petrol, leather and rubber industries also boomed in this period.

Gangsters used violence as well as their money to keep their power and high reputation.

They even made a fashion statement - everyone knew them from they well known black suits.

In the 20's gangsters were ruthless criminals and became very famous because of their actions.

One famous gangster in the 20's was Al Capone. He made over 60 million dollars from just selling alcohol.

Another famous gangster in the '20's was called Dion O'Banion. He was the leader other North side Gang in Chicago. He ran a flower shop, that was actually a disguise for a liquor shop.

was the official beginning of the Great Depression. As stock prices plummeted, with no hope of recovery, panic set in and the US was thrown into despair.Many people tried to sell their stock but no one was buying. The stock market, once seen as the best way to be wealthy,quickly became the pathway of bankruptcy. However, the stock market was only the beginning. Many banks had invested huge amounts of their client's saving's in the stock market, but these banks were forced to close after the stock market crashed. With a few banks closing down, many American's became panicky and afraid that they would lose their saving s, so they withdrew all their cash. With mass amounts of people withdrawing cash, this caused more banks to close. When banks closed, clients could not receive or recover any of their cash. People who sis not get to the bank in time, also became bankrupt. Many people became poor and struggled in this period. The way people survived this period was basically learning to save their rations, and by growing their own food. People that could grow their own food (small farmers), were a lot better off than most people. Others had to move on, or if they didn't move on, stick together and help others out to survive.

radio. Originating in black communities in New Orleans around the turn of the century, jazz slowly moved its way north and became an international phenomenon thanks to the radio.

Along with jazz went the ‘crazies’ when people would do crazy things for fun such as sitting on top of a flag pole for as long as possible; marathon dances that went on until everybody had dropped