Post by Harp on Oct 26, 2014 22:10:53 GMT -6
Alright, lovelies, here’s the deal! It’s an exciting thing, stepping back in time to bring characters to life in a different world, especially one as vibrant and lively as the roaring twenties! However, before you get too gung-ho, we need to get some things straight. Which is why you have this lovely guide here, written by your hardworking staff!
Table of Contents
Ladies and gentlemen (and all in between), the fact of the matter is, you’re dealing with a time period that is far different from our own. There is offensive stuff in this time frame – racism is running rampant (Brown v. Board of Education isn’t until 1953!), sexism is very much a thing (as women have only just earned the right to vote!), and being gay, bisexual, or anything within the LGBTQIA community would have been frowned upon. People were offensive, they were rude, exclusionary… the roaring 20s was not nearly as bright and shiny as one might be led to believe. However, please take a glance at the rules for this very purpose: all because there are these awful subjects and opinions held during this time period does not mean that the staff, nor anyone on this site, actually holds these beliefs. If you can’t handle these awful topics, or the idea that characters might be written to fit these standards, please turn back now, lovelies. We won’t respect you any less if you do. With that out of the way, let’s get our hands dirty and explore some aspects of the 1920s!
DISCLAIMER: Please, do not take this guide as the staff telling you what you can or cannot do with your characters! We're all for creativity, but it makes life easier for everyone (and even funner) to work your characters around the parameters set by the world they live in. Additionally, note that the staff does not condone any of the behaviors or practices mentioned in this guide, as these are mere historical facts, as unfortunate and awful as some of them might be.
1920. World War I came to a close two years ago, and guess who came out on top? The United States, which had barely participated in the end of the war, had been making money off all participants for the duration of the war, and a large economic boom shot out of it. Which is what turned into the reputation for the 1920s being such a roaring and vibrant timeframe in American history. However, an economic boom was not the only thing on the rise, as many are probably aware.
Something else roleplayers should know about, and something that will play a huge role in the plot and in many of your characters’ lives, is Prohibition. You nailed it, ladies and gents, this is the stretch of time in American history when alcohol in almost all forms, was legally banned within the United States. Think we’re kidding? Here’s a Wikipedia article that does a decent job of summarizing it in case you want to read up on it. Despite that, we all know there was alcohol, and so a black market sprung up of an entirely new profession: bootlegging. Speak-easies, a term for secret underground bars, cropped up all over New York. But! All of this would be relatively new: Prohibition, or the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, was only just passed on January 17th, 1920. So any speak-easies that have been founded, or people deciding to take up bootlegging as a means of income, would have only just done so recently~
New York in and of itself has become a bustling industrial capital - not just of America, but of the world as well. Infrastructure is struggling to keep up with the new innovations in technology, particularly the automobile, and architects are beginning to realize, perhaps, that it's better to build up rather than out, leading to some of the worlds first skyscrapers. The Coney Island craze has all but come and gone, but is still a popular attraction, and politics have become almost as corrupted as one can get. A bustling city of commerce, almost everyone is employed in one way or another, but despite this, the shadier parts of the city are getting shadier, as the richer sections get richer.
As many of you have probably guessed by now, unfortunately 1920s New York is not exactly the pristine model of acceptance and toleration that many might expect. Racism was extremely prevalent in the 1920s in which two main groups were discriminated against or persecuted: non-whites, and the Irish. Now, non-whites is an extremely vast category with a number of different ethnicities and cultures, among which are (but not limited to): blacks, ethnic Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.), Hispanics, etc. The Irish, too, were often discriminated against chiefly because the country from which they hailed was predominantly Catholic. However, immigrants of any kind, especially if they were not able to speak English, were also heavily looked down upon by most in American society around this time period.
But what kind of form did this discrimination take? In a lot of ways, different ethnic groups were often segregated by living conditions or geographical areas. (For example, Harlem and Chinatown were bases of black and Asian culture in New York in the 1920s, simply because it was where people of these races were forced to conglomerate because of racist landlords, building policies, etc.) However, they were also segregated by the kind of labor they were permitted to do, and were heavily policed in interactions with other races, especially whites. The 1920s is a world where lynching, as horrible of a crime as it is, is still a very heavy practice, and while it was practiced predominantly on African Americans, there were other victims that also came from different races.
So what might that mean going forward, while you're planning a character? Simply pay special attention to the race and ethnicity in which you place your character. How might that affect them, or their interactions in every day life? Given that racism was so prevalent in the 1920s, it's extremely important to keep this in mind, especially if you're creating an incredible character of a different race! Please keep in mind, also, that we encourage diversity!
Prohibition wasn't the only massive social change in 1920. On August 18th, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified: the amendment, as many of you might know, that gave women the right to vote in the United States. However, despite this monumental step forward in women's rights, one still has to think about the serious gender inequality still in existence in 1920 America. True, the workplace is opening up for women, as new industries rise and offer jobs to a sex that has only just earned its political place on the American scene. But most married women remained unemployed, and women were paid far less than their male counterparts. Men were still very much on top, as it were, and whatever your opinion might be about that, it simply was the way things were. Women didn't hold positions of power, not in the traditional sense, and while they might have been able to hold jobs that they couldn't before, not all markets were open for women to enter.
How might this affect a character? Well, in making a female, you may automatically be subjecting your character to a level of discrimination simply for their gender. Pay will be less, and you won't have women on the police force or working as politicians. Might they be working behind the scenes, or running an under the table business? Certainly! Just remember to keep things realistic when crafting a female character, especially in terms of career.
Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse, eh? Well, buckle in, buttercups, because we're about to enter yet another realm of discrimination that was prevalent in the 1920s. Discrimination against peoples of alternate sexualities. However! A majority of this discrimination and ridicule was not formal, and in retrospect, there was actually a lot more acceptance for homosexuality than you would probably expect. While few in number, openly gay bars could be found in heavily urbanized areas, such as New York City, and LGBT parties ran prevalent in underground networks. While there was absolutely no consideration for, say, equal rights in marriage like the debate we see today, members of the LGBTQIA community saw a level of acceptance in the 1920s that would not appear again until the 1960s. As, unfortunately, anti-gay laws began cropping up around the nation in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
So how would this affect a character? Well, you might recall how I said there was still discrimination. This is still very much true. Simply because the LGBTQIA community saw new avenues and spaces in which they could be themselves, didn't necessarily mean that peoples' views of them had changed. Be wary that there was still very much an air of disdain or even disgust that circulated around a lot of the population.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the world was still very much in a Victorian style of culture and world - with the creation of Coney Island, right on the outskirts of New York itself, however, a new world began to formulate. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of a world of pop culture as we probably know it today. The style and the culture of the 1920s is something that didn't come about by its own, by 1920, the entire nation was swept up in a world now far more interconnected and open than ever before.
So what kind of pop culture are we looking at for the 1920s? What were the crazes? Flappers, clubs, a new love for automobiles and movies (though the first full-length motion picture would not be released until 1926), radios, board games, dancing... all of this, a part of the 1920s, and probably all of the things that make it as "roaring" as you likely initially assumed. Jazz, especially, has taken off as a form of popular music. To take a brief look at just some of the things that were circulating around this time period, here's a brief and compiled list of popular attractions, songs, etc. from the time period. The 20s were indeed a darker time than one might expect, but that also doesn't mean that the good things didn't exist either!
Now, here, we'll just provide some links to sites that have excellent lists of common 1920s slang and terminology, which aren't too different from today's, and in fact we guarantee you'll recognize a lot of them! You can find an extensive list here, or here!
YOUR GUIDE TO THE 1920s
Table of Contents
A BRIEF WARNING
Ladies and gentlemen (and all in between), the fact of the matter is, you’re dealing with a time period that is far different from our own. There is offensive stuff in this time frame – racism is running rampant (Brown v. Board of Education isn’t until 1953!), sexism is very much a thing (as women have only just earned the right to vote!), and being gay, bisexual, or anything within the LGBTQIA community would have been frowned upon. People were offensive, they were rude, exclusionary… the roaring 20s was not nearly as bright and shiny as one might be led to believe. However, please take a glance at the rules for this very purpose: all because there are these awful subjects and opinions held during this time period does not mean that the staff, nor anyone on this site, actually holds these beliefs. If you can’t handle these awful topics, or the idea that characters might be written to fit these standards, please turn back now, lovelies. We won’t respect you any less if you do. With that out of the way, let’s get our hands dirty and explore some aspects of the 1920s!
DISCLAIMER: Please, do not take this guide as the staff telling you what you can or cannot do with your characters! We're all for creativity, but it makes life easier for everyone (and even funner) to work your characters around the parameters set by the world they live in. Additionally, note that the staff does not condone any of the behaviors or practices mentioned in this guide, as these are mere historical facts, as unfortunate and awful as some of them might be.
HISTORICAL TIME PERIOD (CONTEXT)
1920. World War I came to a close two years ago, and guess who came out on top? The United States, which had barely participated in the end of the war, had been making money off all participants for the duration of the war, and a large economic boom shot out of it. Which is what turned into the reputation for the 1920s being such a roaring and vibrant timeframe in American history. However, an economic boom was not the only thing on the rise, as many are probably aware.
Something else roleplayers should know about, and something that will play a huge role in the plot and in many of your characters’ lives, is Prohibition. You nailed it, ladies and gents, this is the stretch of time in American history when alcohol in almost all forms, was legally banned within the United States. Think we’re kidding? Here’s a Wikipedia article that does a decent job of summarizing it in case you want to read up on it. Despite that, we all know there was alcohol, and so a black market sprung up of an entirely new profession: bootlegging. Speak-easies, a term for secret underground bars, cropped up all over New York. But! All of this would be relatively new: Prohibition, or the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, was only just passed on January 17th, 1920. So any speak-easies that have been founded, or people deciding to take up bootlegging as a means of income, would have only just done so recently~
New York in and of itself has become a bustling industrial capital - not just of America, but of the world as well. Infrastructure is struggling to keep up with the new innovations in technology, particularly the automobile, and architects are beginning to realize, perhaps, that it's better to build up rather than out, leading to some of the worlds first skyscrapers. The Coney Island craze has all but come and gone, but is still a popular attraction, and politics have become almost as corrupted as one can get. A bustling city of commerce, almost everyone is employed in one way or another, but despite this, the shadier parts of the city are getting shadier, as the richer sections get richer.
RACE
As many of you have probably guessed by now, unfortunately 1920s New York is not exactly the pristine model of acceptance and toleration that many might expect. Racism was extremely prevalent in the 1920s in which two main groups were discriminated against or persecuted: non-whites, and the Irish. Now, non-whites is an extremely vast category with a number of different ethnicities and cultures, among which are (but not limited to): blacks, ethnic Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.), Hispanics, etc. The Irish, too, were often discriminated against chiefly because the country from which they hailed was predominantly Catholic. However, immigrants of any kind, especially if they were not able to speak English, were also heavily looked down upon by most in American society around this time period.
But what kind of form did this discrimination take? In a lot of ways, different ethnic groups were often segregated by living conditions or geographical areas. (For example, Harlem and Chinatown were bases of black and Asian culture in New York in the 1920s, simply because it was where people of these races were forced to conglomerate because of racist landlords, building policies, etc.) However, they were also segregated by the kind of labor they were permitted to do, and were heavily policed in interactions with other races, especially whites. The 1920s is a world where lynching, as horrible of a crime as it is, is still a very heavy practice, and while it was practiced predominantly on African Americans, there were other victims that also came from different races.
So what might that mean going forward, while you're planning a character? Simply pay special attention to the race and ethnicity in which you place your character. How might that affect them, or their interactions in every day life? Given that racism was so prevalent in the 1920s, it's extremely important to keep this in mind, especially if you're creating an incredible character of a different race! Please keep in mind, also, that we encourage diversity!
GENDER
Prohibition wasn't the only massive social change in 1920. On August 18th, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified: the amendment, as many of you might know, that gave women the right to vote in the United States. However, despite this monumental step forward in women's rights, one still has to think about the serious gender inequality still in existence in 1920 America. True, the workplace is opening up for women, as new industries rise and offer jobs to a sex that has only just earned its political place on the American scene. But most married women remained unemployed, and women were paid far less than their male counterparts. Men were still very much on top, as it were, and whatever your opinion might be about that, it simply was the way things were. Women didn't hold positions of power, not in the traditional sense, and while they might have been able to hold jobs that they couldn't before, not all markets were open for women to enter.
How might this affect a character? Well, in making a female, you may automatically be subjecting your character to a level of discrimination simply for their gender. Pay will be less, and you won't have women on the police force or working as politicians. Might they be working behind the scenes, or running an under the table business? Certainly! Just remember to keep things realistic when crafting a female character, especially in terms of career.
SEXUALITY
Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse, eh? Well, buckle in, buttercups, because we're about to enter yet another realm of discrimination that was prevalent in the 1920s. Discrimination against peoples of alternate sexualities. However! A majority of this discrimination and ridicule was not formal, and in retrospect, there was actually a lot more acceptance for homosexuality than you would probably expect. While few in number, openly gay bars could be found in heavily urbanized areas, such as New York City, and LGBT parties ran prevalent in underground networks. While there was absolutely no consideration for, say, equal rights in marriage like the debate we see today, members of the LGBTQIA community saw a level of acceptance in the 1920s that would not appear again until the 1960s. As, unfortunately, anti-gay laws began cropping up around the nation in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
So how would this affect a character? Well, you might recall how I said there was still discrimination. This is still very much true. Simply because the LGBTQIA community saw new avenues and spaces in which they could be themselves, didn't necessarily mean that peoples' views of them had changed. Be wary that there was still very much an air of disdain or even disgust that circulated around a lot of the population.
A BOOM OF POP CULTURE
At the turn of the twentieth century, the world was still very much in a Victorian style of culture and world - with the creation of Coney Island, right on the outskirts of New York itself, however, a new world began to formulate. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of a world of pop culture as we probably know it today. The style and the culture of the 1920s is something that didn't come about by its own, by 1920, the entire nation was swept up in a world now far more interconnected and open than ever before.
So what kind of pop culture are we looking at for the 1920s? What were the crazes? Flappers, clubs, a new love for automobiles and movies (though the first full-length motion picture would not be released until 1926), radios, board games, dancing... all of this, a part of the 1920s, and probably all of the things that make it as "roaring" as you likely initially assumed. Jazz, especially, has taken off as a form of popular music. To take a brief look at just some of the things that were circulating around this time period, here's a brief and compiled list of popular attractions, songs, etc. from the time period. The 20s were indeed a darker time than one might expect, but that also doesn't mean that the good things didn't exist either!
SLANG/COMMON TERMS
Now, here, we'll just provide some links to sites that have excellent lists of common 1920s slang and terminology, which aren't too different from today's, and in fact we guarantee you'll recognize a lot of them! You can find an extensive list here, or here!
