The Gilded Age
America in the 1920s
As the new policy of American isolationism swept the nation, Americans began to focus more on at home prosperity. The economy boomed under weak policies that would eventually lead to the stock market crash in 1929. Buying on margin, increased pay, and decreased hours raised the standard of living for all Americans and helped to finally fill in the gaps between classes
Henry Ford's Model T
The automobile quickly became one of the most common products in American lives. The Ford plant established Detroit as the auto capital of America.
Cultural Boom
Silent movies, including those of Buster Keaton, became extremely popular in new Nickelodeons. Soon, the talkie would enter the mix too with the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927.
Prohibition
After the passage of the 18th amendment, drinking stayed, but it had to go underground in secret bars called speakeasies
Jazz, Booze, and Girls
The new age threw conservative American morals out the window. Women known as flappers were all the rage for their short "bobbed" hair, short dresses, and shortage of cleavage. Dance halls became increasingly popular and also helped to spread jazz, a new American style of music, along with ragtime and new dances like the Charleston. F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term "Jazz Age" to describe an era free of restictions and inhibitions.