Jazz Age / Roaring 20s Historical Context Script
Jazz Age / Roaring 20s Historical Context Script Dancing! Bootlegging! Careless spending! Fancy cars! Organized crime! The Roaring 20s was like a dozen reality TV shows rolled into one. Nestled smack dab between the double downers of World War I and the Great Depression, the Jazz Age is remembered for its culture of revelry and excess that, strangely enough, was partly caused by World War I and was partly responsible for the Great Depression.
[Initial list of 5 can all stay together, or each can replace the previous] Dancing: 87553647
bootlegging: 453896451
spending: 101078082
cars: 92040487
crime: 93421405
20s: 179266263
[leave up the “20s” image above, and add the WWI image below to the left of it, the Depression image below to the right, creating a “timeline”] world: 99536883
great: 152032166
In some ways the Jazz Age was a festive sigh of relief for the survivors of the Great War, but there were more complex factors at work, too. Thanks to its late entry to the far-‐off conflict, the US emerged a wealthy world power and a leader in technology and manufacturing, generated unprecedented profits and opportunity.
Jazz: 99094923
US: 78459345
manufacturing: 92846222
The corrupt political administrations of the Administrations: 177124630 decade helped things along by pushing massive economic deregulation that favored big business, lowering corporate tax rates and crushing labor unions.
business: 73532281
unions: 92832086
Thus, the rich got richer—but everybody else wanted in, too. By 1928 1.5 million Americans owned some kind of stock, and the attainment of extreme wealth and social status—rather than substance, happiness, or stability—became the new American dream.
Rich: 167430560
stock: 98353620
wealth: 87453865
American: 132021351
Even those who didn’t have money wanted a piece of this new dream. For the first time, the widespread use of credit became normal, shaping a consumer society partly built on on debt and the appearance of wealth, rather than actual assets.
Credit: 105767566
Credit—or sometimes even fistfuls of actual money—allowed people to buy the abundance of products available in post-‐war America, including several innovations designed to save time, such as the washing machine and vacuum sweeper.
appearance: 177228947
products: 91714829
washing: 87727574
Saved time and more money also meant a boom in leisure activities. Not only were high culture arts movements such as the Harlem Renaissance born in the decade, but the 20s also saw a leap in the popularity of sports, radio, movies, and live jazz music.
Leisure: 87711463
culture: 451095947
radio: 124975487
jazz: 200282380-‐001
What really kicked off this decade of revelry, though, ironically, was the 1919 Constitutional amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and use of alcohol. Prohibition created an entire underground culture—moving the parties into back rooms and cellars and probably doing more to create the Jazz Age than any crooked government deregulation.
The speakeasies, drinking, and gambling weren’t just ways to spend money, though—they were big business themselves. Prohibition created a need for the illegal creation or importation of liquor, and the businessmen with the means to do so became wealthy beyond their wildest American dreams.
1919: [word art]: “18th Amendment – 1919” Alcohol: 92774229
back: 103949505
Gambling: 86480250
creation: 186577314
importation: 176900924
Society’s unquenchable demand for illicit liquor and gambling empowered a subculture of organized crime to take root. Larger-‐than-‐life gangsters such as Arnold Rothstein in New York and Al Capone in Chicago got filthy rich presiding over the decade of excess aptly branded the Roaring 20s.
Organized: 101111956
rich: dv1560023
The party was short-‐lived, though, as the culture Party: 179278681 of credit, the instability of stocks, and the concentration of wealth into too few pockets helped trigger the Great Depression before the 20s were over. While it lasted, though, the Jazz Age was a time of unparalleled glitz and fervor in America’s history, when a fairly conservative nation hiked up its skirt, threw down its credit card, and didn’t worry too much about tomorrow. stocks: 101542441
Depression: 152032166
glitz: 145915278
card: 87160085
worry: 159351268
[Initial list of 5 can all stay together, or each can replace the previous] Dancing: 87553647
bootlegging: 453896451
spending: 101078082
cars: 92040487
crime: 93421405
20s: 179266263
[leave up the “20s” image above, and add the WWI image below to the left of it, the Depression image below to the right, creating a “timeline”] world: 99536883
great: 152032166
In some ways the Jazz Age was a festive sigh of relief for the survivors of the Great War, but there were more complex factors at work, too. Thanks to its late entry to the far-‐off conflict, the US emerged a wealthy world power and a leader in technology and manufacturing, generated unprecedented profits and opportunity.
Jazz: 99094923
US: 78459345
manufacturing: 92846222
The corrupt political administrations of the Administrations: 177124630 decade helped things along by pushing massive economic deregulation that favored big business, lowering corporate tax rates and crushing labor unions.
business: 73532281
unions: 92832086
Thus, the rich got richer—but everybody else wanted in, too. By 1928 1.5 million Americans owned some kind of stock, and the attainment of extreme wealth and social status—rather than substance, happiness, or stability—became the new American dream.
Rich: 167430560
stock: 98353620
wealth: 87453865
American: 132021351
Even those who didn’t have money wanted a piece of this new dream. For the first time, the widespread use of credit became normal, shaping a consumer society partly built on on debt and the appearance of wealth, rather than actual assets.
Credit: 105767566
Credit—or sometimes even fistfuls of actual money—allowed people to buy the abundance of products available in post-‐war America, including several innovations designed to save time, such as the washing machine and vacuum sweeper.
appearance: 177228947
products: 91714829
washing: 87727574
Saved time and more money also meant a boom in leisure activities. Not only were high culture arts movements such as the Harlem Renaissance born in the decade, but the 20s also saw a leap in the popularity of sports, radio, movies, and live jazz music.
Leisure: 87711463
culture: 451095947
radio: 124975487
jazz: 200282380-‐001
What really kicked off this decade of revelry, though, ironically, was the 1919 Constitutional amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and use of alcohol. Prohibition created an entire underground culture—moving the parties into back rooms and cellars and probably doing more to create the Jazz Age than any crooked government deregulation.
The speakeasies, drinking, and gambling weren’t just ways to spend money, though—they were big business themselves. Prohibition created a need for the illegal creation or importation of liquor, and the businessmen with the means to do so became wealthy beyond their wildest American dreams.
1919: [word art]: “18th Amendment – 1919” Alcohol: 92774229
back: 103949505
Gambling: 86480250
creation: 186577314
importation: 176900924
Society’s unquenchable demand for illicit liquor and gambling empowered a subculture of organized crime to take root. Larger-‐than-‐life gangsters such as Arnold Rothstein in New York and Al Capone in Chicago got filthy rich presiding over the decade of excess aptly branded the Roaring 20s.
Organized: 101111956
rich: dv1560023
The party was short-‐lived, though, as the culture Party: 179278681 of credit, the instability of stocks, and the concentration of wealth into too few pockets helped trigger the Great Depression before the 20s were over. While it lasted, though, the Jazz Age was a time of unparalleled glitz and fervor in America’s history, when a fairly conservative nation hiked up its skirt, threw down its credit card, and didn’t worry too much about tomorrow. stocks: 101542441
Depression: 152032166
glitz: 145915278
card: 87160085
worry: 159351268
