20th Century: 1920s - A Decade of Contradictions (2000)

The 1920s: Decade of Contradictions is the third installment of the ten-volume documentary series The 20th Century. This particular video exposes the "Roaring Twenties" and all its varied cultural contradictions. For example, it was the decade of prohibition, which ironically caused more criminal problems than it originally sought to end. The hate-filled messages of the Ku Klux Klan raged with enormous popularity while the Harlem Renaissance, an African-American artistic movement, was in full bloom as well. The video closes its examination of this eventful decade with the stock market crash of 1929, a tragic conclusion and catalyst for the Great Depression that would follow in the 1930s. ~ John Schietinger, All Movie Guide