Dreams and Discontent

Dreams and Discontent

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Intro Twenties Nostalgia Dreams and Discontent Obsession with Youth Music Mania Cultural Appropriation Mode and Modernity
Timeline Curator Walkthrough Jazz and Twenties Black Glamour One Hour Dress Vintage Style, not Vintage Values The Plus Pattern Project Educational Material
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Dreams and Discontent
The 1920s and 1960s were periods of unrest and progress that resulted in protests that entered the national discourse. This section provides social context for the cultural upheavals in each decade that were also expressed through music, art, design, and major changes in women's fashion. Movements for social justice among African American communities were prominent in the United States, exemplified by the culture of the Harlem Renaissance (1917-1930s) and later by the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). Women’s rights advanced politically and socially, resulting in evolving notions of ideal femininity and shifts in accepted gender roles. Societal perceptions of mind-altering substances also shifted during these decades.
A street shot of a parade held in Harlem New York on January 1, 1920. One visible sign says This New Negro Has No Fear
Parade organized by the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
1920,
Harlem, New York
Black and white men and women march on Washington on August 23, 1963 holding signs. One visible sign says We March For Effective Civil Rights Laws Now
Protestors at the March on Washington
August 28, 1963,
Washington, D.C.,
Photograph by Rowland Scherman
The 1920s and 1960s were highly visible points in African Americans' fight for equal rights and social justice. The end of World War I in 1918 and the Great Migration (1910-1940) gave rise to Harlem as a social and artistic center during the 1920s that nurtured political and progressive social activism. Similar conditions arose with the end of WWII in 1945 and the Second Great Migration (mid-1940s-1970) leading to the intense, nation-wide protests against racial segregation and discrimination of the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). The growing visibility of Black Americans during these periods highlighted their cultural contributions to American society in many areas, including music and fashion.
Two women cast their ballots in Wyoming while one looks on, August 26, 1920
Women Voting
August 26, 1920,
Wyoming
A young woman in Germany holds a birth control pill, 1960
A young woman with a birth control pill
1960,
Germany,
Photograph by Christa Petri/Süddeutsche Zeitung
The 1920s and 1960s saw influential changes in American women’s lives. Women’s suffrage was ratified in 1920, but the right to vote was not granted to all women. For example, despite African American women’s involvement in the suffrage movement, they were excluded from the right to vote until the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act. During the 1960s, watershed moments like the 1960 introduction of the oral contraceptive pill and the 1963 publishing of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan helped some women expand their control over their bodies and question established gender norms. These mainly influenced middle class white women’s lives, but helped to usher in wider movements for gender equality during the 1970s. During both decades, growing women’s independence would also be expressed in fashion changes.
A group of young men and women sit close together facing the camera holding bottles of liquor in their hands in Chicago, 1927
Young people drink bootleg booze during Prohibition in Chicago
1927,
United States
A group of young men and women sit in Hyde Park, London smoking marjuana, 1967
Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, became a Smoker's Paradise when the capital's flower children gathered for a rally calling to legalize the drug Cannabis
1967,
United Kingdom
During the 1920s and 1960s societal perceptions of mind-altering substances were changing, affecting their levels of consumption. Prohibition (1920-1933) outlawed alcohol and created profitable yet illegal bootlegging and speakeasy industries. Flappers exemplified a daring 1920s youth culture, engaging in taboo activities like drinking, smoking, and disregarding dress etiquette. Similar to the 1920s, the 1960s saw an explosion of youth culture that instead involved experimentation with marijuana, amphetamines, and psychedelic drugs. This was especially prevalent in subcultures like Mods and Hippies, easily identified by their subversive styles.
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