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Caption: |women of the 1920s| FLAPPERS
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Caption: The 1920s were a very progressive time for women. With the implementation of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, women now had equal rights to men.
Women found new freedoms in how they dressed and spent their free time.
(Photo caption from previous slide: An image of four women during the 1920s who would be labeled as flappers. They were on the set of Becky in 1927. They show the shorter hair and dresses, typical of that time period.)
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Caption: (Photo caption from previous slide: top: The top image shows how women dressed in the 1900s: long, conservative gowns, pinned up hair, big hats, neutral makeup. The women are poised, not leisurely, typical of the stricter time period.)
(Photo caption from previous slide: bottom: This photo juxtaposes women's fashion with that of women in the 1920s: shorter dresses, shorter hair, fitted hats. The women in the bottom picture are also laughing and smoking, while those in the top picture are solemn.)
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Caption: (Photo caption from previous slide: An evening dress worn during the Roaring Twenties. Women enjoyed their New found freedom, showing more skin than ever before. Despite the prohibition laws, these dresses were worn out and around town, where people typically drank.)
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Caption: (Photo caption: The evolution of the 1920s created less restrictive and more customizable clothing. Women mixed fabrics, decorated with beads, rhinestones, furs, and flowers. Their fashion also emphasized their sexuality; covering themselves with shear fabric, while revealing more skin.)
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Caption: (Photo caption: Mascara featuring Mildred Davis, an actress in the 1920s. Women began wearing dark, smudgey eyeliner and curling their eyelashes. They also plucked their eyebrows and redrew them as thin lines.)
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Caption: Women went to bars; drank, smoked, and just hung out with their friends.
(Photo caption: In this photo, the flappers are enjoying being able to drink in public. They were bold and fearless. This is very characteristic of their rebellious attitudes and undermining the government.)
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Caption: Most importantly, women were not just housewives anymore. They emerged in the workplace, although usually by secret.
Notable flappers include Zelda Fitzgerald, Martha Graham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker.
These women were authors, dancers, poets, and screenwriters.
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Caption: (Photo caption: A rare, first edition copy of Zelda Fitzgerald's book, Save Me the Waltz, from 1932. This novel is based off of her life and marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a romanticized version of their life together, focusing on their love and leisure.) Zelda Fitzgerald originally wrote through her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and then under pseudonyms. This book, Save Me the Waltz, was the first book published under her name.
Zelda struggled with terrible depression due to her lack of recognition for her writing, even though she was mentioned notoriously throughout her husband's work. All the credit for her work went to her husband. She spent her life in and out of hospitals and eventually died in a hospital fire because she was chained to her bed.
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Caption: Martha had a long and notable career, choreographing over 180 dance routines. She choreographed and performed 18 solos and trips in her first independent dance recital. She claims the influences for her choreography came from Denishawn. She is still well-known today, having her own dance studio, the Martha Graham Studio and then Martha Graham Dance Company. This illustrious group holds auditions for only the best dancers to join their team.
(Photo caption: Martha Graham created a legacy of innovation through her dance career. Similar to other Flappers during the 1920s, Martha had progressive social, political, psychological, and sexual views.)
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Caption: Edna St. Vincent Millay was definitely progressive. She had progressive political views, and she was very open about sexuality, gender, and feminism. She published her most famous poem, Renascence, when she was only 19 years old. Edna was the third woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for her poetry. Similarly to many other women writers in the 1920s, Edna had to publish some of her work under a pseudonym, Nancy Boyd.
(Photo caption: Edna St. Vincent Millay statue located in Camden, Maine. It was sculpted by Robert Grant Willis, and dedicated on August 15, 1989. Edna is supposedly 19 in this statue, the age she was when she wrote Renascence.)
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Caption: (Photo caption: A copy of Edna's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Renascence. This book was published under her name in 1917. The poem itself contains over 200 lines. It interprets individual relationships, humanity, and nature.)
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Caption: (Photo caption: This is the desk that Dorothy wrote her poetry books at. The space is very cramped, typical for working women in the 1920s, because they did not receive a lot of recognition. The space is also very dirty and disorganized, typical of creative work, but also do to the cramped workspace.) Dorothy Parker wrote and published many of her own books. She was also nominated for two Academy Awards for her screenwriting and was featured in articles in The New Yorker. She is claimed to be a contemporary writer and tended to exaggerate her stories. Her truthful and honest stories reached a wide audience, while being very progressive for the 1920s.
Similarly to many other women, she struggled with depression, constantly thinking of death and suicide.
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Caption: (Photo caption: Dorothy Parker writing at her typewriter. Her husband, Alan Campbell, sitting leisurely in the background. Similar to the previous image, Dorothy's workspace is cramped with many papers thrown around.)
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Caption: For many of these women, their work unfortunately led to their demise. The lack of recognition for their work caused them to spiral into severe depressions. The accessibility to alcohol turned many into alcoholics, which also turned men into abusive husbands.
While the 1920s was a revolutionary time for women, they still had a lot of work to do. They may have emerged in the workplace during WWI and II, but there was still a long way to go until that was the norm and women would receive adequate recognition for their work.
Caption: Photo and Object Links
Slide 1: Flappers
Slide 3: Women's Fashion in the 1900s and Women's Fashion in the 1920s
Slide 5: Pink Evening Dress
Slide 7: Teal Flapper Dress
Slide 8: Maybelline Mascara
Slide 9: Flappers Drinking
Slide 11: Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald
Slide 12: Martha Graham
Slide 13: Edna St. Vincent Millay Statue
Slide 14: Renascence by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Slide 15: Dorothy Parker's Desk and Typewriter
Slide 16: Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell at Their Home in Pennsylvania