The Roaring Twenties Revisited

Yes, as the Jazz Age fully caught on in Knoxville, the Twenties roared here, too, with roadsters, dance bands and chop suey. That remarkable decade was, in some ways, the birth of our modern world, introducing radio, sound movies, women in elective office, modernist architecture, commercial aviation, pro baseball, and automobile suburbs to our lives. And all without legal alcohol! (And that’s a story in itself.) But Knoxville and Knoxvillians made a significant mark on the national culture in that decade, too, with several interesting musicians and intellectuals who made a stir beyond East Tennessee, from Howard Armstrong to Joseph Wood Krutch, as well as something called the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We’ll outline the highs and lows and sideways of that decade, talk about what’s still there to look at, and show lots of pictures you may never have seen before. Free program. Food and drinks available for purchase.