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46. The Decade That Roared

The automobile, prohibition, the invention of the teenager, the flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, and radio.

46. The Decade That Roared

Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village.Model T — 1919 The 1920s saw the culmination of fifty years of rapid American industrialization. New products seemed…

46a. The Age of the Automobile

Perhaps no invention affected American everyday life in the 20th century more than the automobile. Although the technology for the automobile existed in the 19…

46b. The Fight Against "Demon Rum"

Prohibition Political cartoons, both for and against, sprouted up during the 1920s Saloons were closed, bottles were smashed, and kegs were split wide open. Wh…

46c. The Invention of the Teenager

The automobile was monumental in the evolution of courtship. High speed and moonlight drives inspired a spirit of reckless abandon. In the 19th century, the Am…

46d. Flappers

More than any other illustrator, John Held Jr.'s comic art captured the style and exuberant tenor of the "Decade that Roared." The battle for suffrage was fina…

46e. The Harlem Renaissance

The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in 1926 was The Place and Lindy Hop was The Dance! It was time for a cultural celebration. African Americans had endured centuries…

46f. A Consumer Economy

Santa waves to children outside a department store during a Thanksgiving Day Parade. The 1920s was a decade of increasing conveniences for the middle class. Ne…

46g. Radio Fever

Courtesy of the MZTV MuseumDavid Sarnoff was the first president of RCA and helped revolutionize radio. Commercial radio in America had humble beginnings. Fran…

46h. Fads and Heroes

New American hero, Charles Lindbergh, is honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City on June 13, 1927, after returning from the world's first solo trans…