OUTLINE OF THE LESSON

1.  A decade of progress

• Material and technical inventions (http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties)

• The factors of progress
• Changing lifestyles

2.  The evident successes of the Twenties

• Cinema: stars and laughs (burlesque genre: Keystone Cops, )
• Urbanism: the example of Chicago and NY
• The “Harlem Renaissance”: case study (how the 1920s ushered in an era of emancipation)

3.  From Roaring to Raging Twenties

• Lack of serenity and increased social conflicts: Red Scare; National Origins Act (1924) and rise of KKK; Prohibition and rampant criminality
• Social and moral concerns about capitalism (Chaplin’s City Lights)
• From carefreeness/insouciance to frivolity: the comeback of crises (speculation and financial crash) 

RESOURCES

CHICAGO, THE MODERN CITY

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150930-chicago-birthplace-of-the-skyscraper

MAJOR INVENTIONS OF THE 1920s

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE 

THE PROHIBITION ACT / 18TH AMENDMENT (1919-1933)

SOURCES: