EVENTS THAT ROCKED THE 1920s
Women’s Suffrage
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protests.
Some 10 million women voted in 1920, a turnout rate of 36%, compared to 68% for men. Women voter turnout rates have gradually increased and exceeded male turnout rates since 1980, when 61.9% of women voted compared to 61.5% of men.
Talking Pictures
Sam Warner was the technical genius of the four Warner brothers. He's the one that convinced Harry to invest in the Vitaphone system, which led to "The Jazz Singer", which was the first feature-length film to feature synchronized dialogue and singing. It premiered in New York City on October 6, 1927, but none of the brothers were there, as Sam had died the night before due to a mastoid infection.
Al Jolson's follow-up to "The Jazz Singer", "THE SINGING FOOL" (1928), was an even bigger hit. It was the most financially successful movie of all time until the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" nearly a decade later.
Prohibition Era
The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages.
fun fact:
While his younger brother Al built a criminal empire based on illegal liquor in Chicago in the 1920s, James Vincenzo Capone enforced Prohibition laws for the federal Indian Affairs administration on reservations of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes in Nebraska.
The Jazz Age
The earliest Jazz styles, which emerged in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York in the early 1920s, are sometimes referred to as "dixieland jazz." In the 1920s, jazz became recognized as a major form of musical expression.
Famous jazz musicians include:
louis armstrong, Edward ‘Kid’ Ory,
Sidney Bechet, earl hines, eddie lang,
Joseph ‘King’ Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
