Jazz Age
Roaring Twenties era
The Jazz Age is the era of American cultural history spanning roughly 1920 to 1929, marked by the rise of jazz music, loosened social mores, Prohibition-era speakeasies, and a spirit of youthful rebellion.
F.
Scott Fitzgerald coined and popularized the term, and his novels epitomize its glamour and eventual disillusionment.
Fitzgerald was the chronicler of the Jazz Age. (Lowercase jazz age appears in informal usage.)
Pioneering jazz trumpeter, singer
- Bessie SmithLegendary blues vocalist
- Jelly Roll MortonPioneering New Orleans pianist-composer
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
Duke Ellington · scat singing · trumpet · saxophone · Harlem Renaissance · Cotton Club · Savoy Ballroom · phonograph
- Lost GenerationDisillusioned postwar literary cohort
- Dorothy ParkerRazor-tongued New Yorker
- American DreamUS ethos of opportunity
- decadenceMoral decline through excess
Ernest Hemingway · Gertrude Stein · Langston Hughes · Zora Neale Hurston · expatriates · Paris · disillusionment · modernism
Illicit liquor establishment
- bootleggerIllegal liquor trafficker
- bathtub ginAmateur-made illegal liquor
- moonshineIllegally distilled spirits
- rum-runningIllicit alcohol trafficking
18th Amendment · repeal · Al Capone · smuggling · raid · temperance · dry laws · password
Decorative plume garment
- headbandForehead-worn fabric strip
- pearlsIridescent oyster-made gems
- Mary JanesBuckled flat with strap
- spatsMinor verbal clashes
fedora · Chrysler Building · geometric patterns · glamour · opulence · nouveau riche · consumerism · luxury
Southern Atlantic port city
- Lindy HopSwing dance from Harlem
- shimmyRapid side-to-side shaking
- fox trotFormal couples dance
- ballroomVenue for formal dances
cabaret · dance hall · bandstand · orchestra · nightclub
Self-propelled passenger conveyance
- radioElectromagnetic wave receiver
- talkiesMovies with audible dialogue
- aviationFlying or operating aircraft
- skyscraperVery tall urban building
electricity · advertising · mass production · consumerism · credit · ticker tape · stock market · urbanization
Tube for smoking elegantly
- rougeCosmetic cheek tint
- kohlDark eye cosmetic powder
- hemlinesBottom edges of garments
- suffragetteMilitant women's voting advocate
Josephine Baker · independence · rebellion · shimmy · vamps · modernity
Louis Armstrong
Pioneering jazz trumpeter, singer
- Bessie SmithLegendary blues vocalist
- Jelly Roll MortonPioneering New Orleans pianist-composer
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
Duke Ellington · improvisation · scat singing · trumpet · saxophone · Harlem Renaissance · Cotton Club · Savoy Ballroom · phonograph · blues
F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Lost GenerationDisillusioned postwar literary cohort
- Dorothy ParkerRazor-tongued New Yorker
- American DreamUS ethos of opportunity
Ernest Hemingway · Gertrude Stein · Langston Hughes · Zora Neale Hurston · decadence · expatriates · Paris · disillusionment · modernism · short stories
speakeasy
Illicit liquor establishment
- bootleggerIllegal liquor trafficker
- bathtub ginAmateur-made illegal liquor
- moonshineIllegally distilled spirits
rum-running · 18th Amendment · repeal · Al Capone · smuggling · raid · temperance · dry laws · password · organized crime
feather boa
Decorative plume garment
- headbandForehead-worn fabric strip
- pearlsIridescent oyster-made gems
- Mary JanesBuckled flat with strap
spats · fedora · Chrysler Building · geometric patterns · glamour · opulence · nouveau riche · consumerism · luxury · elegance
Charleston
Southern Atlantic port city
ballroom · cabaret · dance hall · bandstand · orchestra · nightclub
automobile
Self-propelled passenger conveyance
- radioElectromagnetic wave receiver
- talkiesMovies with audible dialogue
- aviationFlying or operating aircraft
skyscraper · electricity · advertising · mass production · consumerism · credit · ticker tape · stock market · urbanization · metropolis
cigarette holder
Tube for smoking elegantly
Josephine Baker · suffragette · independence · rebellion · shimmy · vamps · modernity
- FranceParis, Notre-Dame, Lyon, croissant, Toulouse
- 1920s AmericaCharles Lindbergh, Spirit of St. Louis, flappers, transatlantic flight, Prohibition
- 20th century cultureRoaring Twenties, Great Depression, baby boom, counterculture, civil rights movement
- erasera, epoch, period, Victorian era, colonial era
- historical erasMiddle Ages, Renaissance, Victorian era, Medieval, Tudor era
- historical fictionhistorical fiction, historical novel, period drama, Victorian novel, historical mystery