Research Paper On Flappers In The 1920s

During 1920s, a new era of fashion came in the United States. It was the era when women first abandoned restricting fashions of the past decades and began to wear more comfortable clothes. During this time the new girl was invented - a Flapper, who wore short skirts, bobbed her hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted her disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. This is the background for the 1926 cartoon created by Will B. Johnstone. The cartoon shows a flapper pulling out words from the dictionary, that portray the qualities that flappers got rid of in 1920s, such as modesty, obedience and prudery. Their behavior and appearance were completely different from their mothers’ and grandmothers’ during the Victorian Age. They were

Women worked in areas that were formerly reserved for men, for example as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and as bank ‘tellers’ and clerks. However, they received lower wages for doing the same work, and thus began some of the earliest demands for equal pay. As BBC states “Many women took paid jobs outside the home for the first time. The money they earned contributed to the family's budget and earning money made working women more independent.” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/26439020) On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment, providing full voting rights for women

She came out of Jazz age, the Roaring 20s, the Golden Twenties. The Great War had destroyed old perceived social conventions. The 1920’s were a break from the traditional set-up in America. Jazz symbolized the decade's spirit of liberation, with its rhythms, beats, and new dance styles,that involved spontaneous movements and closer physical contact. The most famous jazzmen were Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Benny Goodman. The combination of the new music, new dances and new fashions outraged many: "The music is sensuous, the female is only half dressed and the motions may not be described in a family newspaper. Suffice it to say that there are certain houses appropriate for such dances but these houses have been closed by law.” (The Catholic Telegraph) Not only the music, this was also the era of great sports champions such as Babe Ruth the baseball player and Bobby Jones "the greatest amateur golfer of all