Celebrating the Fourth of July, 1926 This Life magazine cover celebrates two famous symbols of the 1920s: jazz music and the “flapper,” in her droopy tights and scandalously short skirt, who loves to dance to its rhythms. The flags at the top record the latest slang expressions, including “so’s your old man” and “step on it” (“it” being the accelerator of an automobile, in a decade when cars were America’s hottest commodity). The bottom of the picture also added a note of protest: while July 4, 1926, marked the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Life says that Americans have had only “one hundred and forty-three years of liberty” — followed by “seven years of Prohibition.” Picture Research Consultants & Archives.