Setting the Scene

In August 1920, American women finally won the right to vote with the 19th Amendment — a right men had taken for granted for over a century. At the same time, young "flappers" were scandalising their parents with short hair, short skirts, cigarettes, and nights out dancing to jazz. Newspapers proclaimed a revolution in women's lives. But here's the historian's question: How much actually changed, and for whom? The flapper made great headlines, but she was young, urban, white, and middle-class. What about the farmer's wife, the factory worker, the Black domestic servant? Their 1920s looked very different. This topic is about understanding BOTH the changes AND the limits.