Social & Cultural Developments Flashcards

All 10 cards in this deck

What was jazz and where was it most popular in 1920s America?

A new, fast-tempo style of music that appealed to young people and dominated nightclubs in big northern cities. It led to new dances such as the Charleston.

What were 'talkies'?

Films with sound, which replaced silent films from 1927 (The Jazz Singer).

What was the 'star system' in 1920s Hollywood?

Promoting movie actors through radio and magazines so fans copied their hairstyles and clothes.

What was a flapper?

A young 1920s woman who wore short skirts and bobbed hair, used make-up, smoked, drank and danced in public.

True or false? Most American women in the 1920s were flappers.

False. Flappers were mainly young, better-off women in cities; most women, especially in rural areas and the South, kept traditional roles.

When did all American women gain the right to vote nationally?

In 1920, through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, partly in recognition of women's work during the First World War.

How did women's employment change in the 1920s?

The number of working women rose by about a quarter, to around 10.5 million by 1929, but most were in low-paid, low-skilled jobs and were usually paid less than men.

How did Hollywood respond to complaints that 1920s films were immoral?

Fearing state censorship, the studios hired Will Hays (1922) to clean up their image; his office's rules, which became the Hays Code (1930), banned things such as nudity from films.

Where did jazz come from, and how did it spread north?

It grew from African-American musical traditions in the South, centred on New Orleans. Black musicians such as Louis Armstrong took it to Chicago and New York as African Americans migrated north.

How did the radio change entertainment in the 1920s?

Millions of families bought a radio, which brought music such as jazz, live sport, comedy and adverts into the home and gave Americans a shared national entertainment.