2021 Episode 5 the Roaring '20s, Culture Wars, and Consumerism

In this episode, we explore the consumerism and culture wars that occurred during the 1920s. Culture wars and "canceling culture" are not new concepts and there are several examples of culture wars in American history. The 1920s is one such period. Consumerism ruled the day, but women and African Americans found new ways to express and exert themselves, which resulted in a sexual revolution of sorts and in new cultural expressions such as the Harlem Renaissance. But such challenges to the status quo and to what many deemed as accepted sexual norms and American values resulted in an energetic and profound conservative response, a moderate response that began to coalesce into what would become the modern conservatism that would strengthen in the 1950s and beyond. On the extreme, the culture wars also resulted in the second reiteration of the KKK.