The mass production and consumption of automobiles, household appliances, movies, and radio shows fueled a new economy and new standards of living. A novel culture industry introduced talking films and jazz while sexual and social constraints relaxed. But at the same time, many Americans turned their back on political and economic reform, denounced America’s shifting demographics, called for limits on immigration, retreated into “old-time religion,” and revived the Ku Klux Klan with millions of new members.

Elsewhere, and particularly in the bustling cities, Americans fought for equal rights and cultural commentators noted the appearance of “the New Woman” and “the New Negro.” Meanwhile, older immigrant communities whose arrival preceded the new immigration quotas aimed at southern and eastern Europe, clung to their cultures and their native faiths. The 1920s were a decade of conflict and tension. For farmers, racial minorities, unionized workers, and other populations that did not share in the era’s prosperity, the glamor of the Jazz Age and its booming economy had always been a fiction. But for them, as for millions of Americans, the end of the era was almost at hand. The Great Depression loomed.

The 1920s redefined the nation and still influences American society today. The cultural influence of jazz has continued to be an important factor across decades: from classic blues to bebop, rhythm ‘n’ blues to rock’ n’ roll, soul to disco, and the evolution of hip-hop. The mass consumerism, discussion of women’s rights, growth in technology, social advancements, and “culture war” tensions that characterized the 1920s mirror many of the prominent debates and ongoing issues we see in the 2020s.