POSTWAR AMERICA

Standard:  SS5H4.b  Describe the cultural developments and individual contributions in the 1920s of the Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance, baseball, the automobile, and the airplane.

Improved Standard of Living  Mass production  Faster, cheaper  Necessities more affordable  Luxuries now available: cars, washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners Profits soared as well as worker’s wages

 Henry Ford  Founded Ford Motor Co.  Created modern assembly line still used  First mass produced car, Model T  161 US patents in his lifetime  What other businesses would profit from car production? Automobiles

Airplanes  Charles Lindbergh  Planes began delivering mail in 1918  People paid to travel with mail  1950s: plane travel widespread  Flew solo, nonstop across Atlantic in 1927 in The Spirit of St. Louis

Baseball  Babe Ruth  Born Feb. 6, 1895  Died August 16, 1948  Legendary baseball player  Led Red Socks to 3 championships (including the 1916 title) Pitched 13 scoreless innings – a record that remains unbroken today

Entertainment  Radios  News and entertainment available in homes  Live dramatic and comedy radio shows  Theaters and movies  Music, but no voices (read words on screen)  1927: first full-length feature, The Jazz Singer  Talkies: movies with sound

Jazz Age  Popular culture and music in the 20s:  Created on plantations  Lived on in New Orleans after slavery  Louis Armstrong, trumpeter and singer Improvising or scatting What a Wonderful World

Harlem Renaissance  African Americans began to prosper  Grandchildren of slaves became educated and had good jobs  Culture in New York’s neighborhood of Harlem blossomed:  Music, dance, politics, literature, and art  Langston Hughes, proud and hopeful writer

Journal Writing:  List some of the important products that began to be mass produced after WWI. Choose one and write about how it might have affected people’s lives in the 20 th century.