"The roaring twenties were a good time for all Americans" To what extent do you agree with this statement?
"The roaring twenties were a good time for all Americans"
To what extent do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer [10]
Introduction
During the 1920's America went through an important economical change. They were enjoying a 'boom' which was a time of prosperity. This was also known as the "roaring twenties". These were the production line, the new music and media scene and family life. Women changed and were given new limitations, and a lot more people became a lot more independent. Production lines and businesses were important because the Americans believed the way to prosperity was to buy lots of consumer goods, have a good house and a good job.
During the twenties, people worked hard to achieve these things and many soon got their way to prosperity.
In this essay, I will look at arguments for and against the statement, and then come to a conclusion, as to how much I agree with this statement. I will also argue to what extent it is true.
I will see whether all people had a good time during the BOOM in the 1920s and comment if these are relevant to mention in the statement.
Arguments supporting the statement
During the roaring twenties, Americans had a new idea of prosperity. They believed, to reach it, they had to buy lots of consumer goods, have a big house, have a good job and have enough money to eat.
Most people, including women started work so they could earn money. Everyone who had enough money bought a big house, they had money for food and most of all, and they bought consumer goods. These sold very well, and the people who made these found that businesses were the main way to earn money. As more people invested in more things such as the stock market, they earned more money and bought more consumer goods.
Banks were loaning more and more people, a lot more money, and so people were able to use credit to buy ...
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Most people, including women started work so they could earn money. Everyone who had enough money bought a big house, they had money for food and most of all, and they bought consumer goods. These sold very well, and the people who made these found that businesses were the main way to earn money. As more people invested in more things such as the stock market, they earned more money and bought more consumer goods.
Banks were loaning more and more people, a lot more money, and so people were able to use credit to buy goods and other items.
Soon, more new age technologies were invented, such as the car, the washing machine and vacuum cleaner, and so more industries arrived because of thisThere was also the fact that women now had a lot more freedom and this meant, more divorced in unhappy marriages. More women stayed happy.
Many people reached prosperity easily, and therefore have a lot of fun and a good time during the roaring twenties. Some people came to the country with a bit of money, and became millionaires. Prosperity was everywhere.
People would listen to new music on radios, take joy rides in their cars. They would phone up their friends a lot more now, because of new telephone lines. They would also buy lots of food, because fridges became common. Before, they could not store food without a fridge.
In 1919, there we only 9 million cars, 60,000 radios, 10 million telephones and only 1/167 fridges.
In 1929, there were 26 million cars, 10 million radios, 20 million telephones, and 167/1 fridges.
Arguments against the statement
Despite all of this prosper; there was still a lot of suffering happening. Black Americans suffered the most. They suffered in two main ways. The first, linked with farming. Agriculture in the 1920's was very good, but it was too good. Too much crops were being produced, and so farmers had to sell more, at a cheaper price. This ended as the crops being worth very little or nothing. So all the farmers did not make much money anymore, and therefore they couldn't reach prosperity. They were far from it, as they could not even afford much food. Black Americans were much affected by this, as they did the least paid and inexperienced work around, so they lost out first and did not have enough qualifications to do anything else. They had nothing to eat, no money and no work.
Black Americans also suffered another way - through murdering. White Christians and Americans were very racist and believed that the Black American should not have come to America and shared in with the prosperity. So they formed the KU KLUX KLAN. This was a group that wore white headdresses, and went around intimidating and killing Black Americans. Many lived in fear of intimidation and murder because of this, and they were far from having a good time in prosperity.
There was also the case of the monkey trial where two Italian people were tried out and racially killed, because of a wrong judgment in a court case.
Also poor people remained poor during the twenties because, they had noting to invest and had no money to buy things and so they did not benefit from the new chain stores. Doing semi-skilled jobs earned only a little bit of money, and did not even reach the minimum rate. Only 10% of income went to the poorest 42% while the richest 5% got 32% of income. The poor remained poor and the rich got richer.
The poor did not get radios, although people could buy it in installments. Only, 3 in 100 people had a car. There were not telephone lnes near poor people, and farmers.
Conclusion
So in reply to the question, I only agree with the statement up to the extent that middle class and business class white men reached prosperity and had a good time during the roaring twenties. However, farmers did not reach prosperity and have a good time, as they actually lost the value of their crops. This also affected Black people, as they has the least experienced most basic jobs in agriculture. They lost all food, money and prosperity.
They also had a problem because of White Americans wanting them out of the country. The White Americans murdered and tortured black people to achieve this, and therefore Black people did not have a good time in the roaring twenties.
Poor White People also did not do very well during the roaring twenties, because they did not have much to put in to buy thing first, so they weren't going to get anyting else.
I do not fully agree with the statement because it says ALL people had a good time. This is only true for the rich people and middle class civilians, who enjoyed prosperity, because they had enough money to buy consumer goods and gert good qualifications for jobs. Therefore they managed to reach prosperity.
I agree with the statement to the extent that only middle class and rich white civilians reached prosperity in the roaring twenties and not the Black people, poor people and farmers in America. Although, a few black people reached prosperity in the Jazz age when they were appreciated for their music. The question is to inaccurate. It says all of the people reached prosperity.
