The Roarin’ 20s

First, a Movie Trailer

And an Explanation

The Government Gets Goofy End of war means no more weapons contracts Demobilization Result: mass unemployment, economic upheaval, and recession

Labor Unrest Without the war, factory workers weren’t as important Wages dropped, conditions worsened Strikes, unrest, and violence became common Middle Class Americans wanted to get on with life

The “-isms” Radicalism, Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism The “Red Scare” Loss of Civil Liberties Parallel to today?

Sacco & Vanzetti Shows conservative hysteria of the period Two Italian atheists, anarchists, and draft-dodgers who got convicted of murder in 1921 Executed by electric chair for their crimes

The KKK Re-Appears Birth of a Nation (1915) spreads racial unrest Beginning of the “modern” Ku Klux Klan More evidence of American intolerance

Black Responses Race riots and racial tension Marcus Garvey launched the “Back to Africa” movement Garvey later went to prison for mail fraud Question of integrated or separate society for blacks

But, Black Music is Popular

The Harlem Renaissance “Renaissance” comes from the Italian word for “Rebirth” Harlem was a neighborhood in New York City that attracted a number of African-Americans moving north during the Great Migration Created a new “black identity”

Prior to the 1920s… What was life like for African-Americans in the United States? What shared culture did the African-American community have? What were some of the things that blacks disagreed about?

Langston Hughes Descended from slaves Attended Columbia While in New York, wrote poetry about the African-American experience Left Columbia due to racial prejudice

Music of the Period

Leading To…

Pop Culture Changes Shift toward “black” music, mainly jazz Rise of the “Charleston” and flappers Rise of Radio Motion pictures: now featuring (some) sound

Consumer Culture Today, if you need something, you can just go to Wal-Mart The idea was that buying things would make people happy… and benefit the economy New products made life easier

Planes and Cars Two symbols of the new consumer culture Car production became streamlined: Henry Ford & the Model T Airplanes used to link cities… and, during war, to bomb them

More Consumer Culture Radios Movies Sports (especially baseball and boxing) Flappers!

The Lost Generation Some argued that this explosion of consumer culture, or even just mass culture, was an outgrowth of post-war exhaustion “Lost Generation” writers tried to make sense of it all

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald belonged to “The Lost Generation” He, too, was troubled by the rise of American consumer culture The Great Gatsby was a critique of how the US had lost its way