Young People In The 1920's

Words: 1470
Pages: 6

The young people of the world will always be the ones to challenge society. In the 1920’s, the youth movement changed the traditions of the old world, and directly challenged their parental upbringings. The youth were disillusioned by the first world war, so they tried to create a new world where everyone was equal. The youth rebelled against Prohibition, the outlaw of alcohol in the 1920’s. The young women of the 20s created a new woman called a flapper. And both genders began the sexual revolution. The first steps to changing the morals of society were hard, but the young people of the 1920’s fought for their goals. The youth of America were disillusioned by World War I which led to them to rebel against their elders by drinking, dancing, …show more content…
According to the documentary The Flapper Story, the word flapper came from the shoes flappers wore. The shoes were called galoshes, and the women who wore them would not buckle the lowest buckle, which caused the shoes to flap. Not buckling the bottom buckle was the first step for women to loosen their morals. Another step in the shaking of morals was smoking. Smoking in public became the thing to do. While everyone smoked, the elders were shocked to see a woman smoking in public locations (Lazin). Another reflection of women’s loosening of their morals was the transformation of their appearance. Women’s skirts slowly rose to just above the kneecap, and flappers ditched their Victorian corsets and pantyhose. By changing their appearance, flapper achieved a figure which represented more of a man’s (Allen). The flapper contributed the biggest changes to society, but they were the smallest group (Lazin). Every young person wanted to experience life like the flappers. The flappers lived without rules which was what the younger generation craved. The creation of flappers was a sign of the changing youth population and culture of the …show more content…
Jazz music gained popularity which led it to become the most danced to music in the 20s. Jazz music was generally played by African Americans and was danced to by whites(Lazin). Even though the generation was progressive, most of the youth population did not care about equal rights of the races. The young people only went to clubs or speakeasies to experience a good time(Allen). The Charleston was the dance craze of the 20s generation. The bodies in the clubs got closer and closer until the people were glued at the hip(Allen). According to Lazin, “Footloose and fancy-free the flapper lived for the moment”. As the music led to parties, the partying youth started to try new things like