Epic Parties you Wish You Went To: The Roaring 20s in Photos

The Roaring Twenties was a period of economic prosperity and social, artistic, and cultural opulence which occurred in the wake of World War 1. The Roaring Twenties witnessed large-scale development of technologies such as the automobile, telephone, movies, and radio.

The Roaring Twenties saw the rise of jazz, the blues, and dance clubs. There was a break away from the more traditional Foxtrots and Waltzes, to the more eccentric and novel Breakaway and Charleston, based on African American musical styles and beats.

Flappers were the generation of women in the Roaring 20s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and broke away from all traditional societal norms. Flappers were renowned for their makeup, drinking, smoking, driving, and casual sex.

“In all countries, the First World War weakened old orthodoxies and authorities, and, when it was over, neither government nor church nor school nor family had the power to regulate the lives of human beings as it had once done. One result of this was a profound change in manners and morals that made a freer and less restrained society. Women benefited from this as much as anyone else. Time-worn prescriptions concerning what was or was not proper behavior for them no longer possessed much credibility, and taboos about unaccompanied appearances in public places, or the use of liquor or tobacco, or even pre-marital sexual relationships had lost their force. … [W]omen were no longer as vulnerable to the tyranny of society as they had been [before].” — Historian Gordon A. Craig

The Roaring Twenties also saw the Harlem Renaissance, the intellectual, social, and artistic movement that took place in Harlem, NY. Although the movement is said to have begun in 1918, it hit its zenith in 1924 with the publication of the academic journal published by the National Urban League entitled, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life.

During the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans used art as an expression of their humanity, demand equality, and lay the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement. The Harlem Renaissance brought the ‘black’ experience into the lexes of American cultural, and sociological, history.

Overall, the Roaring Twenties were marked by a spirit of novelty and modernity. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the era, and so began the Great Depression.