Introduction
“The Jazz Age was wicked
and monstrous and silly.
Unfortunately, I had a good time.”
Heywood Broun
The changes wrought in the
United States in the 1920s were far-reaching and
enduring. By the time it ended, the work week
had dropped from 60 to 48 hours. For the
first time, the masses considered play as important
as work--the weekend family outing
and vacation had become things workers expected
as a matter of course.
From 1920 to 1925, dress hemlines
raced upward from the ankles to the
knees.Girls and young women caked makeup on themselves
in a fashion previously seen
only on women of ill repute. Dresses were loose
and skimpy--
the result of both changing morality and an explosion
in new industrially
fabricated synthetic materials such as rayon.
Task
New social attitudes prompted a complete
revolution in various facets of American life. This lesson will give
you an opportunity to research the culture of the Roaring 20's by choosing
one topic from the following.
Students will research the following topic
to prepare for a presentation as listed below or a PowerPoint slide show.
Click on topic of your choice to get the resources.
1. "flapper era" --fashions and styles (demonstration)
2. Jazz Age-- music and dance (performance)
3. Invention
of the Automobile
(History and
graphics)
4. Prohibition-- bootlegging and gangsters ( skit)
5. F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography--(oral reports)
6. Films of the
1920's--(Advertisings of coming
attractions)
7. Booming Business--Millionaires (oral report)
8. Slang of the
20's (skit)