1920 – 1948 Confidence and Crises Jazz Age

Key Ideas

1. Women exercised their newfound political and economic opportunities, shaping American society and consumer culture.

2. Mass production and expanding media allowed women of diverse backgrounds to access new styles and activities that were dramatically different from those of their mothers’ generations.

3. Although the 1920s saw rapid change, marriage, motherhood, and domestic life remained the main focus for most women, regardless of background.

4. The Nineteenth Amendment marked the end of a period of intense – and often unified – social activism. While women continued to fight for social and political change, activists divided across issues.

Introduction

Young women at outdoor sports event. Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

The Jazz Age

The 1920s began with one of the greatest moments in American women’s history: the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

After decades of activism, national women’s suffrage was enshrined in the Constitution. As the new decade began, the question became, “now what?”

But voting and activism were not the only forces at play in women’s lives. Industrialization, migration, urbanization, and immigration had already changed the country. Mass media, marketing, and production gave women of diverse economic backgrounds access to the latest styles and fashions. Changing social morals empowered young women to not only dress like, but also behave like “modern” Americans.

For more information about women’s roles in the cultural shifts of the 1920s, watch the video below.

This video is from “Women Have Always Worked,” a free massive open online course produced in collaboration with Columbia University.

Section Essential Questions

1. To what extent did the 19th Amendment change American life?

2. How did industrialization, urbanization, and mass production shape a new modern American womanhood?

3. How did the Harlem Renaissance reflect the challenges and opportunities experienced by the African American community?

4. How did American women across diverse backgrounds use work, education, and other opportunities to expand women’s roles outside the home?

Resources

A pair of posters encouraging women to vote.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Jim Crow Era, voting rights
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The Equal Rights Amendment, presented to Congress in 1923, and a broadside by the National Woman’s Party arguing in favor of the Amendment.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
U.S. Constitution, women's rights movement, voting rights
Go to Resource
Photographs of young women embracing 1920s beauty culture and style.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
consumer culture
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Covers of Life magazine depicting flappers enjoying the newfound freedoms of the 1920s.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
consumer culture
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Charts used in a scientific study of farm housewives in Oregon in 1928.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
home economics
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Three photographs that document the experience of Black women and girls migrating from the rural South to Chicago.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Great Migration, Jim Crow era, race and racism
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A manifesto published by the Women of the Ku Klux Klan.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Jim Crow era, Great Migration, race and racism
Go to Resource

Life Stories

The story of a Black writer and anthropologist who committed her career to studying and celebrating African American folklore and culture.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow era, Great Migration, race and racism
Go to Resource
The story of a blues singer who was born into poverty and became one of the highest paid Black performers in America.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Harlem Renaissance, Great Migration, race and racism
Go to Resource
The story of a working mother, songwriter, and labor activist who was murdered for her involvement in the Gastonia Textile Strike.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
labor reform, reform movements
Go to Resource
The story of a Chinese American woman who achieved international fame as a film actor despite racism and stereotyping.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
race and racism, U.S. foreign policy, globalization
Go to Resource
The story of a daughter of immigrants who became one of the most famous athletes in the world.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
athletes
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The story of the highest-ranking woman in the federal government who used her intellect and her network to enforce Prohibition and reform the prison system.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Prohibition, reform movements
Go to Resource