Women In The 1920s

was there used to describe young girls, still somewhat awkward in movement who had not yet entered womanhood 15. Flappers broke away from the Victorian image of womanhood. They dropped the corset, chopped their hair, dropped layers of clothing to increase ease of movement, wore make-up, created the concept of dating, and became a sexual person. They created what many consider the "new" or "modern" woman. While the economy was booming, and society was growing, there also came the revival of the Klu Klux Klan and wider separation between social classes. The revival of the KKK in the 1920s was demonstrative of a society coping with the effects of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. Although most of the KKK’s savagery was
The activities of Klansmen ranged from issuing threats and burning crosses to outright violence and atrocities such as tarring and feathering, beating, lynching, and assassination 17. Klan chapters in major urban areas expanded as many white Americans became bitter and resentful about immigration from Asia and Eastern Europe. Klansmen complained that these immigrants were taking jobs away from whites and diluting the imagined “racial purity” of American society. Given that the country had been populated by immigrants from the beginning, such ideas of racial purity were complete myths. Many influential people and organizations came out in opposition to the KKK. Religious and civic groups launched campaigns to educate American society about the crimes and atrocities committed by
Early on the US had excluded Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians, but later the US began to exclude even Europeans, particularly eastern and southern Europeans 19. Mainly because of anti-European feelings after WWI, railroads and basic industries were well developed by 1920's and industrialists no longer felt the need for masses of unskilled workers, radical political movement and ideologies such as socialism, communism, and anarchism were viewed as European in origin and as potential threats to political stability in the United States 20. On top of political isolationism and the horrors of the KKK, social classes differences between the rich and poor were growing. The uneven distribution of money caused prices to go up on products as the factories put them out en masse, but the everyday laborer was increasingly unable to buy the products. The top 1 percent of Americans each had a wealth equal to the bottom 42 percent combined. That same 1 percent controlled 34 percent of all savings. During this period leading up to the Great Depression, the prices of farm products fell about 40 percent, making things very hard for farmers 21. Many farmers had to leave their farms or rent out portions to be able to pay the mortgage on their farms. The idea is that the rich had too much of the money and the rest did not have enough. When the Depression