Chances are that when
you think of the 1920’s you think of wild liquor-soaked parties in speakeasies,
incendiary Jazz music, and flappers wearing feather headbands dancing the
Charleston. Consumers embraced new gadgets and inventions, the stock market was
soaring and a Renaissance broke out in Harlem.
All of these things are
a true reflection of the time, but they’re only part of the picture. Underneath
the glitz and glam, a turbulent culture war took place in the country--one
we’re still fighting, in many ways, today.
The Roaring Twenties
were a time of sexual liberation, experimentation and exploration. Having just
won the vote, women were at the forefront of social causes and societal change.
In spite of—or perhaps because of—Prohibition, the Twenties were boom times.
Young women attended college, flocked to major cities to find work and lived on
their own in numbers never before seen in the history of the nation.
Homosexuality was more public and more tolerated. Rules for dating changed.
Non-marital sex became common and women began to demand and use birth control.
Flappers changed the world
of business, fashion, politics and popular entertainment. The Hays Code
wouldn’t be adopted and enforced until 1930, which meant major Hollywood films
pushed the boundaries of propriety and gave the country some of its sexiest
stars, including Clara Bow.
In short, the Twenties
were a period of social transition—one of those pivotal times in history when
women took one step forward, before being shoved two steps back. People from
all walks of life came together to agitate for progressive change in the Twenties
and, in many instances, African Americans led the way.
At the same time, the
era was marked by the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, inspired by D. W.
Griffith’s race-baiting incendiary film of 1915, The Birth of a Nation.
Immigration was suppressed and racial tensions rose. Even the nascent birth
control movement was caught up in it, with Margaret Sanger arguing on behalf of
eugenics. The suspicion of foreigners helped lead to the execution of two
Italian immigrants, Sacco and Vanzetti, under suspicious circumstances. And the
general fervor led to a red scare against suspected communists.
Much of the liberation
of women in the twenties came about as a rebellion and reaction against the
mores of previous generations. Whereas the women of the 1910's fought for the
right to vote, the women in the 1920's had it--and didn’t do terribly much with
it. The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1923, but was never passed.
And while women entered the workforce in great numbers, most of them left it
upon marriage.
Another thing that
harshed the buzz of the 1920's was the mob. Mob violence rose dramatically with
Prohibition and organized crime used the ban on liquor sales to create criminal
empires.
Of course, all this
social turmoil makes the era not entirely unlike our own--and a perfect
backdrop for fiction!
STEPHANIE DRAVEN is a
bestselling, award-winning and RITA-nominated author of historical, paranormal,
and contemporary romance. Her new 1920's historical erotic romances celebrate
sex, women, and the Jazz Age. Stephanie is currently a denizen of Baltimore,
that city of ravens and purple night skies. She lives there with her favorite
nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked husband. And
when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she writes her books.
StephanieDraven.com
