Important people
There were a lot of important people living at this time. They were entertainers, athletes, artists, writers and philanthropists. Billie Holiday was an African-American jazz singer. She was a big part of the Jazz Movement, so was Louis Armstrong. He played the trumpet and sang. Ella Fitzgerald was also a singer. Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Gertrude Ederle were very famous athletes whom many people liked watching and hearing about. Gertrude Ederle was a symbol of strength for women. Georgia O’Keefe was a painter. She painted unique, beautiful pictures of flowers and the New Mexico desert. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and other African American writers were part of the Harlem Renaissance. They wrote about the struggles of African Americans. There were a handful of writers and poets such as, Dorothy Parker, who were a part of The Algonquin Round Table in Manhattan. F. Scott Fitzgerald was an author. He wrote The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise and over 40 more books. He wrote about wealthy people and their inside lives. Movies were extremely popular in the 20s. Charlie Chaplin was famous. Some of the rich were also important because they funded many buildings. For example, John D. Rockefeller funded The Rockefeller Plaza and donated to many national parks. Henry Ford introduced the idea of buying cars on credit. Credit was a very new idea. It helped people afford things that could not afford before because they had to pay for it all at the same time.