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Setting the Scene
📖 Setting the Scene
Here's a truth about the "Roaring Twenties" that photographs of flappers and fancy cars don't show: while some Americans danced the Charleston in speakeasies, others couldn't afford bread. The 1920s boom was like a party that most Americans weren't invited to. By 1929, the richest 5% of Americans received about a third of all personal income, while 60% of families lived below the poverty line of $2,000 per year. This wasn't just sad: it was dangerous. An economy where most people can't afford to buy things is an economy waiting to collapse. The glittering prosperity was built on foundations of desperate poverty, and when those foundations cracked, the whole thing came crashing down.
How to THINK About This Topic (History Skills)
This topic is about challenging a simple narrative. The "Roaring Twenties" story suggests everyone was having a great time. Your job as a historian is to ask: "Who is missing from this picture?"
Earn the mark scheme marks
✍️ How to Write About Inequality (History Writing Skills)
Weak writing: Lists facts without connecting them
"Some Americans didn't benefit from the boom. Farmers were poor. Black Americans faced discrimination. 60% were below the poverty line."
❌ This is just a list, no argument, no causation, no analysis
Strong writing: Uses evidence to build an argument
"The 1920s boom was fundamentally unequal. Farmers, who had expanded during WW1, found themselves trapped when European agriculture recovered and prices collapsed, wheat fell from $2.50 to just $1 per bushel. This wasn't just bad luck; it was a structural problem. 600,000 farmers went bankrupt, showing that the boom's benefits simply didn't reach rural America. Meanwhile, Black Americans faced systematic discrimination, earning on average half of white wages for the same work. With 60% of all American families living below the poverty line, the economy was dangerously unbalanced, most people simply couldn't afford to buy the goods that factories were producing. This inequality would prove disastrous when confidence collapsed in 1929."
✓ This builds an argument: inequality → instability → explains the Depression
Now try it yourself
Quiz · Question 1 of 14
What percentage of American families lived below the poverty line of $2,000 per year by 1929?
Tap an answer to check it