Figure 1. The illustrations for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, drawn by John Held, Jr., epitomized the carefree flapper era of the 1920s.

What you’ll learn to do: describe the changes in leisure time, consumption, and popular entertainment during the 1920s

For many middle-class Americans, the 1920s was a period of unprecedented prosperity. The decade so reshaped American life that it came to be called by many names:  the New Era, the Jazz Age, the Age of the Flapper, the Prosperity Decade, and, most commonly, the Roaring Twenties. Rising earnings generated more disposable income for the consumption of entertainment, leisure, and consumer goods. This new wealth coincided with and fueled technological innovations, resulting in the booming popularity of entertainment like movies, sports, and radio programs. Henry Ford’s advances in assembly line efficiency created the first affordable automobiles, making car ownership a possibility for many Americans. Advertising became as big an industry as the manufactured goods that advertisers promoted, and many families relied on new forms of credit to increase their consumption levels and strive for a new American standard of living.

But at the same time, the 1920s was a decade of conflict and tension. Old immigrant communities that predated new immigration quotas clung to their cultures and their native faiths. Many Americans turned their back on political and economic reform, denounced America’s shifting demographics, stifled immigration, retreated into “old-time religion,” and revived the Ku Klux Klan along with other forms of demagogy. On the other hand, many Americans fought harder than ever for equal rights and cultural commentators noted the appearance of “the New Woman” and “the New Negro.”