"Bugs" Moran

"Bugs" Moran was another gangster during the time period, a rival to Al Capone. It was his murder in the St. Valentines Day Massacre that brought gang violence to the attention of American citizens and the U.S. government. In response to the violence, the government would commission the formation of the F.B.I. and the training of its "G-men" to deal with the problem of rising crime in the 1920's.

Bobby Jones

As Jim Thorpe was to football or Jack Dempsey to Boxing, Bobby Jones was to golf. His outstanding career as a golfer and his firm stance on sportsmanship earned him respect that would last for years to come and accelerate golf's transformation into a widely popular sport. Jones was an amateur golfer, but was so talented that he could compete with professionals very aggressively. This further stimulated the trend of idolizing sports heroes, as many felt that Jones was a man of the public and not the elite.

Jim Thorpe

Most commonly known as pioneer in the sport of football, Jim Thorpe excelled in many other professional sports as well. He played professional baseball and basketball; he even compete in the olympics and won in several areas. Such achievement placed Thorpe within the realm of fame and thus brought yet another character into the group of sports heroes.

Babe Ruth

Arguably the most famous baseball player of all time, Babe Ruth began his excellent career in the 1920's, when baseball became popular on a national level. Numerous fans came to watch him play, spending their leisure time supporting this new kind of hero. Sports stars such as Ruth became extremely famous leading themselves and their associated sports to prosperity. 

Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey was an American Boxer during the 1920's who captured audiences with his powerful fighting style. His career and success highlighted boxing's excitement thus generating large audiences and fans of the sport that would continue for generations. He, as well as the other great sports players of the time, would introduce the 1920's to a new source of leisure.

Al Capone

With the onset of prohibition, alcohol became an illegal commodity, and thus its distribution became a lucrative practice. Because of this, gangsters such as Al Capone were able to capitalize on the underground market and turn massive profits. However, such a process could not be accomplished without intense organization. Therefore, some of the largest organized crime groups were formed and Al Capone was one of the men who led them.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was a business entrepreneur and a talented engineer. His product, the Model T, transformed American transportation into a much more independent and personal system, while his process of the assembly line transformed the nature of manufacturing industries on an even larger level. Resultantly, Ford became tremendously wealthy, having successfully introduced an entirely new market to the American economy.

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was another prominent African American who incorporated orchestra and other new techniques into the genre of jazz music. The result was the creation of a very popular style of music that made Ellington renown and made jazz the music of the decade. People of all races enjoyed jazz music, and although African Americans may have been discriminated against in the majority of other fields, they were now making quite an impact on the field of music.

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a famous trumpeter during the 1920's that led the nation into the new musical era of jazz. He also introduced the new style of improvisation to the genre, representing a radical alteration from previous music. His style represented his cultural background from New Orleans, but the movement he was a part of would permeate through the entire country.

Langston Hughes

Great literary work was not limited to only white writers during the 1920's. In his very famous career, Langston Hughes produced a vast arrangement of poetry and other literary pieces during the time period, greatly contributing to the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. His writings reflected experimentation with traditional poetry techniques, often using creative structure for his pieces.

Rudolf Valentino

One of the first male icons to take part in films, the young Valentino captivated young female audiences. With the new medium of films as a source of entertainment, audiences of a nearly all backgrounds could come to see their favorite stars. Thus icons such a Valentino were able to gain easy fame.

Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin was another silent actor, a comic that gained distinction for his work in theatre. His sociable nature and lively personality mirrored the lively nature of society. He personified the newfound openness of the twenties. He was an immigrant, like other actors and actresses of the time period.

Clara Bow

Hollywood’s first “It Girl,” Bow was a prominent film star and flapper during the time period. Her outgoing and openly bold personality signified the shift in the perspective of women. Not only were they politically active due to the 17^th amendment, but they were now very socially active as well. Bow’s fall from stardom would come through the evolution of films with sound, her voice ending her career.

Greta Garbo

One of the first silent film stars, Garbo became a prominent actress during the twenties. Films portrayed her femininity openly, demonstrating a cultural movement. No longer were women idealized as only formal and family oriented, they could now be more publicly accessible.

Ernest Hemingway

The figurative leader of the Lost Generation, Hemingway continued the trend of modernism in the genre of writing. His famous work, The Sun Also Rises, epitomized the movement, as did his lifestyle. The modernist trend truly touched all aspects of artistic expression during the twenties.

Frank Lloyd Wright

A famous architect during this time period, Wright employed modernism in order to generate very unique designs. His designs still displayed the trends of his mentor's, Louis Sullivan, philosophy of using functionality as the chief factor, but were now applied on different structures. Wright designed houses and other building with new modern designs, sparking a shift in the patterns of architecture.

Georgia O'Keefe

During this period of relative livelihood for American culture, O’Keefe would expand the idea of livelihood of such a culture into the realm of art and paintings. Her works often encountered very abstract or unusual subject matter, such as flowers or cow skulls, and were extremely bright in color.