20068 pages
Article
Excerpt from "The Weary Blues"Published in 1923 Recognized as the best known and most celebrated of African American poets, Langston Hughes (1902–1967) began his career, which would span five decades, during the Harlem...
20069 pages
Article
Closing Argument in the Leopold and Loeb TrialPublished in 1924 In the late spring of 1924 the nation was shocked by the news of a kidnapping and murder in Chicago, Illinois. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two...
200610 pages
Article
Undelivered Closing Statement from the Scopes TrialPublished in 1925 The 1920s was a period of great change in the United States, and the changes made some people uncomfortable. The clash between traditional values,...
200611 pages
Article
"The Press under a Free Government"Published in 1925 One of the ideas most often associated with the 1920s is that "the business of America is business." These words, spoken by President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933;...
200616 pages
Topic overview
1310LIt is tempting to think of the 1920s as a distinct period bordered on one end by World War I (1914–18), the bloody conflict that was supposed to spread democracy across the globe, and on the other by the Great Depression...
200623 pages
Topic overview
1350LThe years between 1920 and 1929 are called the Roaring Twenties, a term that calls up images of happy people dancing the Charleston (a popular dance of the period), listening to jazz in Harlem nightclubs, or piling into...
200619 pages
Topic overview
1310LA wide range of exciting discoveries, developments, and advancements whose seeds had been planted in earlier years blossomed during the 1920s. What had once been the dreams and visions of farsighted scientists,...
200614 pages
Topic overview
1210LIt is common to think of the Roaring Twenties as a distinct period in history, bounded on one end by World War I (1914–18) and on the other by the stock market crash and the Great Depression (1929–41), the period of...
200610 pages
Article
Excerpt from BabbittPublished in 1922 Anative of the midwestern United States, Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) chronicled through novels and short stories the changes brought by the shift from a mainly rural, agricultural...
200617 pages
Topic overview
1260LThe story of the 1920s is in large part a story about money. After a few slow years at the start of the decade, money began to flow through many, though not all, people's hands. The flow continued right up until those...
200622 pages
Topic overview
1290LDuring the Progressive Era (roughly 1900–14), many U.S. leaders and citizens believed that the government should take an active role in protecting individuals, especially children, workers, and consumers. They wanted the...
200613 pages
Article
Excerpt from The Sun Also RisesPublished in 1926 One of the most influential authors of the twentieth century, Hemingway was a leading figure among the famous U.S. expatriates (people who live outside of their home...
200619 pages
Topic overview
1360LIn a book written just a few years after the end of the 1920s titled Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s, Frederick Lewis Allen noted that this decade had involved a "revolution in manners and morals."...
200613 pages
Article
Excerpt from the Kellogg-Briand PactPublished on August 27, 1928 World War I (1914–18) involved thirty-two countries around the globe in a conflict that took more than 15,000,000 lives. Although casualties suffered by...
20068 pages
Article
The "Return to Normalcy" SpeechPublished in 1920 The 1920 election marked a major shift in the mood and direction of U.S. society. During the Progressive Era (roughly 1900 to 1914), elected officials and other leaders...
200611 pages
Article
Excerpt from "A Flapper's Appeal to Parents"Published on December 6, 1922 Even before the 1920s began, a new kind of young woman was emerging in the world. As early as 1915, the celebrated journalist H.L. Mencken...
20069 pages
Article
Excerpt from MiddletownPublished in 1929 In January 1924 a young couple arrived in Muncie, Indiana, with a special purpose in mind. They planned to conduct a study of religious life in this small town in the middle of...
200610 pages
Article
Excerpt from The Great GatsbyPublished in 1925 Although F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) is now considered one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American literature, he was not highly regarded at the...
200620 pages
Topic overview
1320LThe title of one of the hit songs of 1921, "Ain't We Got Fun?!," puts into words the mood that dominated much of the decade called the Roaring Twenties. Although some citizens of the United States did not share in the...
200621 pages
Topic overview
1400LFor the people of the United States as well as much of the rest of the world, the 1920s were in many ways a decade of change. Technological advances brought both conveniences and worries, while shifts in population and...
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