The only constant in New York City is — and has always been — change. From its early days as a breadbasket colony to the technologically advanced Roaring ’20s, each decade has given the city a unique identity.
This is especially true of Roaring ’20s New York, a name that referenced the newfound economic prosperity and vibrant arts scene of the 1920s. In this era, New York was the cultural capital, setting new records and rapidly moving toward urbanization. From the East River to the Hudson, new architectural projects and artistic endeavors enveloped the city.
Uptown, in Harlem, jazz rhythms became the city’s music. For some residents, lavish soirées with elaborate entertainment, as described in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” symbolized much of this era.
But if you were to take off the Gatsby-colored glasses, it would become evident that this period was defined by more than just indulgent parties. The time was rife with internal turmoil, beginning with the introduction of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacturing and sale of “intoxicating liquors.” There was also widespread anti-immigration hysteria, worker strikes, and racism.
Jonathan Goldman, author of “Modernism Is the Literature of Celebrity,” told Business Insider there are some striking similarities between 1920 and our current period — just as we grapple with women’s rights and a widening economic divide, so did the people and policymakers in the 1920s.
Citing immigration as another example, he said, “The uproar and fears about the effect of immigration today have echoes of policies enacted in the 1920s.”
As we enter an election season in which issues about immigration, women’s rights, and democratic freedoms take center stage, photos show how New Yorkers in the 1920s lived through their own versions of these experiences.
