When we think about the 1920s in the USA, a few images usually come to mind. Pictures of flappers sporting the latest risqué fashions and packed jazz clubs playing exciting new tunes while the economy boomed. The 1920s, it has been said, ‘roared’ with prosperity, excitement and optimism.
There is, however, another perspective. The 1920s can be seen as a decade dominated by social tensions and disagreements. One historian has described it as ‘The Tribal Twenties’ — a time when Americans were divided and fearful. Massive immigration into the USA from Europe became a major source of tension and led to an argument about what it meant to be an American. In particular, it led to a distrust of immigrants and the fear that they would bring ‘un-American’ ideas such as communism into their new home.
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