Chapter twenty-three was about the changing times in
the 1920’s and the fear and excitement that came with it. It was interesting to
read about the new innovations that occurred during this time period such as
the automobiles. Henry Ford was a leading man in this industry with the
introduction of the Model A, as well as the perfected assembly line. Although Ford’s
assembly line was very efficient job satisfaction was very poor in this line of
work. Talking and laughter was forbidden by the managers of these assembly
lines and as a result people’s job satisfaction began to diminish. During this
time corporations started becoming a major part of United States life, with
Ford dealerships and grocery stores having thousands of locations across the
nation. This was also a time were department stores started to become bigger
and more popular, with the help of the invention of air conditioning as well as
window displays and advertising, this was true for movie theatres and restaurants
as well. I found it very interesting to read about how quickly the United
States became so materialized, it would have seemed that this would have been a
more gradual process, but the way it is written almost seems like this occurred
“over night”.
During the times the United States was largely
Republican, with the exception of a few southern states. As the United States
became a stronger nation in itself it was able to remain a world power although
it refused to become a part of the League of Nations, which is somewhat
surprising. During this time the women of the United States formed the League
of Women Voters, in which they tried to achieve more political rights as a
whole, this proved to be of little use initially. It was also during the 1920’s
that urban communities began to outnumber rural communities, this urbanization
also included many African-Americans. Those women who lived in the cities had
less homely duties thanks to the major appliances that they now had in their
homes. Some middle and upper class women were even lucky enough to be able to
have cars and drive to work; although cars bought much ease to lives they also
caused traffic jams, parking problems and more fatalities along with it. Overall
it appears that this chapter is a major time of development and further
industrialization to the United States. It was also a time for women to and
some African-Americans to become more involved within their communities. The 1920’s
was a major turning point and time of advancement for the United States.
