A Flapper
Black Tuesday - October 29, 1929
Louis Armstrong
Tom Buchanan
Ford's Model T
It is now 1929 as I write this. I must tell you, this has been some decade!
It has boomed, this decade. Some say that, for the most part, it has even "roared." I mean, beginning with President Harding's promise of a "return to normalcy," we saw a big decrease in governmental Progressive reform activity. Laissez-faire became the economic lifestyle and this country entered an unprecedented era of prosperity. I believe it was only natural that we would become so prosperous; we were the only remaining global superpower following the Great War!
The country did not rest in these years, especially on a social level. Like I've mentioned before, Prohibition was in full effect, albeit only on paper. People still consumed just as much alcohol, if not more! Young women were rebelling, in a sense, against traditional gender roles, instead embodying the new "flapper" - bobbed hair, shorter skirts, more widespread smoking, all while dancing to jazz. This was truly the Jazz Age, as the music genre definitely flowered. Among my personally favorite musicians are Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Fletcher Henderson.
In addition, nativist sentiment was at a level higher than I have ever seen. We experienced a resurgency of the Ku Klux Klan in this decade. Even the government felt the national nativism, passing in 1924 a National Origins Act that severely cut the rate of immigration. My own friend Tom is blatantly racist. I still remember the first time I visited him and Daisy in East Egg - that day, he mentioned a book called "The Rise of Colored Empires," and told me about how, if we whites weren't careful, we'd be overrun by nonwhites. Such fear, I believe, was the general reason behind the paranoia for white nativism in these years.
Consumerism was also huge in these Twenties. Ford led the pack in the mass production of the automobile with his Model T. It became hugely popular; if I remember correctly, about 15 million were sold by 1927! Plus, the radio entered its heyday. I've heard some people call it a new "national pastime," since almost every home has one nowadays. And of course, you cannot forget the movies! They rapidly became an increasingly central part of life here in America these past 10 years.
And suddenly - and sadly - all of this booming prosperity came to a screeching halt this year with Black Tuesday. On October 29 the stock market collapsed. Only a few months ago we Americans were living in high times, and now it all seems to have been flipped on its head. Thankfully, I am secure for the time being, since my family has been very wealthy for a few generations now. But as for the general public, the future now looks uneasily uncertain...
(Sources: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1564.html, as well as my own knowledge of the subject from AP U.S. History)
