African American Women In The 1920's

Women of the 1950’s through the 1960’s are ridden with male oppression and self-esteem issues. The book Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and an episode of Mad Men titled The Shoot have a lot in common. The differences and similarities between the leading women in both of these stories from the 1950’s show that times are different today. The women of the 1950’s had a dream for the future and their dream has finally become a reality for American women. From Mad Men, Betty Draper’s dream of becoming a model and in Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler’s dream of traveling the world are actual realities for women today. Their dreams show similarities, differences and the “American Dream” that every woman has.

The new republic of the 1830s-1850s was a society that devalued the role of women. By comparing men and women against each other, giving men a superior status, making their differences more evident, and allowing men to demand more rights, to think and do freely, this society has been created to view women as less than. Women are viewed as the weaker vessel and property to their father, or husband that need to be protected and should be wifely, child bearing, motherly and dedicated to their homes instead of viewing women as their own beings.

After World War I ended, the 1920’s brought on dramatic political and social changes. For most people, the 1920’s brought them more conflict. They did not like the new changes and were trying to keep them from happening. However, for a small group of young people the 1920’s was a great time to make progress and move forward from the conservative norm. After women got suffrage, they pushed through the double standards and tried and got jobs in factories and offices, instead of only doing domestic work. African Americans pushed through the discrimination they were facing and moved to the northern states, where they got better jobs and better opportunities to pursue their dreams in literature, art, music, and stage performance.

the house becoming the homemaker once the war was over. The 1950s has also been

During the 1930s women is not treated equal with men and they are very different with each other. The amount of women actually getting jobs are less likely to men getting jobs. Fashion is also very different, women are in plain dresses while men are in blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as as much as men. Men gets good jobs and amazing wages but at least both still got their fashion.

Lynchings were a real threat to African Americans in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They created a lot of fear in the African American community especially in this time period. Between 1882 and 1969, 4,743 people lynchings occurred. In 1882, African Americans accounted for forty-six percent of lynchings. Yet from 1900 to 1910, African Americans represented eighty-nine percent of lynchings.

In the 1920’s, blues was a very popular and dominating genre in the music industry. Generally, the blues was sung by African American women because according to the book entitled, “Blues Legacies and Black Feminism” by Angela Davis, “…The most widely heard individual purveyors of the blues—were women.” (Davis 4) The blues delivers certain emotions such as sadness, loneliness, love, sex, and feelings about the certain circumstances the artist may be going through at the time. Two women who dominate this style of music are Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith. As stated by “Gay & Lesbian Biography”, “The careers of Rainey and Smith are closely interwoven.” Ma Rainey is a woman who is admired for both her amazing vocals and her ability to entertain. Bessie Smith is a woman who started off as a background dancer for her peer Ma Rainey, but then went on to emulate her by outdoing her success. Both women are very talented musicians who can not only sing and entertain, but they also create an impact as two of the most influential feminists during the 1920’s who helped shape the blues into what it is today.

These pictures represent the “new women” of the 1920`s. One of the many things the 1920`s is known for is the “new women”. The “new woman” was a feminist ideal, where they spent a lot of their time protesting for the right to vote, and be able to have the same jobs as men. The first picture in the collage shows women who are holding a banner that is telling the president that women deserve liberty. It took a lot for the 19th amendment to be ratified, including a lot of protesting to get people's attention. The women of the 20`s wanted social justice and equality.The second picture shows women who are holding another sign that represents the right for women to vote, just like men. Before 1920, when they made it legal for women to vote, activist

The 1920’s was an era of dramatic political and cultural change, where many Americans lived in cities rather than farms. Many inventors came to be noticed as new cars were invented and as music entered the entertainment industry. A new style of music was invented mainly in the African American community, creating the Harlem Renaissance; which was an evolution of music and entertainment in Harlem, New York City. The women of America began to evolve in the 1920s, adding new styles to our fashion industry and changing the way women dress, act, and are portrayed in society for generations. Women were viewed before the 1920’s as innocent housewives, that made little to no money, as they often relied on their husbands’ for income. Women also had little to no rights, such as voting rights, which many women began to protest. Women of the 1920’s through the 1930’s influenced and impacted society by transforming their looks from innocent housewives to a sexually liberated generation of women, increasing the working rate to twenty-five percent by working in factories and the telemarketing business, and participating in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in which they protested for their rights which then influenced the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

In the early 1800's, many of the women in the United States were coming to realize that they wanted to obtain more rights. The male gender had way more rights than women, and they had run more things than women. Finally, women began to come forward to voice their opinions about how men and women are made to be equal; no less, no more. It was now time for women to go out and pursue whatever they wanted to pursue and not have to worry about the fact that they are females or that they are weaker or have less education than a man. The Seneca Falls Convention would soon be one of the biggest victories for women's rights.

Imagine being called free but being treated like trash every day. Imagine someone being told they can live in America but having to live in deep fear and not being able to walk the streets at night. Imagine having to live with a piercing uneasiness or worry that someone is going to harm you. That is what is was like for African-Americans in the 1930’s. Even though slavery was nullified in 1865, black americans only briefly gained their writes during the period known as Reconstruction. But after Reconstruction, they lost those rights again and underwent widespread poverty and unethical segregation (Pratt 2). African-Americans suffered greatly because they lacked proper education or ability to succeed in the jobs they pursued (23). Ta-Nehisi

Brendan Campbell 12/8/14 In the 1900’s African Americans faced two main struggles in the South: segregation and discrimination. Due to these hardships, the Southern African Americans migrated North. This was called the Great Migration; which was a movement of 6 million Southern African Americans into Northern cities like Chicago and Harlem.

Women's change lives has improved a lot with in the time period of 1800-1920s. Women didn’t get the right to vote until the 1920s, they worked all their lives. They had been put into labor for work an example is like the Industrial revolution men,women ,and children moved to big new towns so they could work in factories. Women were being treated as if they were less smarter than man they had laws and traditions that women didn’t share with men. A quote given from Florence Nightingale “ we have no food for our head (nothing to think about),no food for our hearts (nothing to inspire us), no food for our activity (nothing to do)...

Feminism is not about making women gain strength, they are already strong, it is about changing the mindset of society. Women have the ability to achieve anything a man can, so why are women limited of their potential to succeed in life? During the 1950’s women faced patriarchal oppression which impacted their family life, job opportunities, and mental health. Under those circumstances, women had no voice in what they were to do with their life other than to become a housewife, because that is what society expected of women. However, many women desired to achieve something greater than being forced to stay inside their homes.

The 1920s were a time of vast change and advancement in all spheres, from politics to the economy to society. The changes from the First World War still affected the new post-war America. The largest beneficiaries of this new world order were women. The 1920s were a period of liberation for women due to increased social freedom, legal rights, and economic opportunities.