Social Change in 1920’s Ch 13, Sec 1, 2

1920s was period of massive rapid change. Inevitable due to WWI. Many came home from war scarred & wounded both physically & mentally. Many who stayed home disillusioned as well. Young people questioned world around them. Ideas and morals that led to war. This challenge to traditional values led to many radical changes.

Roles of Women Women worked in WWI in large numbers. 1920-19th Amendment-women could vote. Wanted more equality with men. Many young women became flappers. Fashionable young women-knee length dresses, bobbed hair, smoked and drank hard liquor in public. Feminine, with attitudes more like men. Big fans of jazz, the “Charleston”, nightclubs.

Most women worked in low-level positions, for less pay than men. Women continued to work after WWI, but many demoted or fired when men came home. Most women worked in low-level positions, for less pay than men. Women could vote, but few did. Avg-35% of women votes in 1920s. 1916 – Jeannette Rankin (Montana)-1st woman elected to Congress. 1924-Miriam “Ma” Ferguson (TX), Nellie Ross (WY), first women governors. Slowly, women took more political power.

Jeannette Rankin “Ma” Ferguson Nellie Ross

American Migrations Big demographics changes in 1920s. Statistics that describe a population. 1920s-6 million moved from rural to urban areas. Massive migration of black citizens from south to north. 13% of America’s black citizens moved. Still faced discrimination, less pay. So much immigration Congress had to limit immigrants from Europe, Asia.

Immigration laws did not apply to N. & S. America. Large waves of Canadian, Mexican, Puerto Rican immigrants. In larger cities-barrios-Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. With increased/improved mass transit, suburbs grew around all medium to large cities. Pop. decreased in center of cities as suburbs grew.

American Heroes Charles Lindbergh “Lucky Lindy”. Amelia Earhart 1927-First to fly nonstop New York to Paris; 33.5 hours. Spirit of St. Louis. Due to fame, infant son was kidnapped & murdered. Amelia Earhart 1928-first woman to fly across Atlantic. 1932-first woman to fly solo across Atlantic. First person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. 1937-Earhart & navigator Fred Noonan attempted around the world flight. 2/3 complete; disappeared crossing Pacific, never found.

Sports Heroes (sports very popular). Boxing – Jack Dempsey, Georges Carpentier Jim Thorpe-Native American, pro football, Olympic gold in decathlon, pentathlon, pro baseball. George Herman “Babe” Ruth-baseball, 714 career homers, unbroken for 40 yrs. Gertrude Ederle-first woman to swim English Channel; swam 35 miles, beat men’s record by 2 hrs.

Georges Carpentier Jack Dempsey

Entertainment With new mass media, entertainment became big business. Ways to communicate with large numbers of people. Movies. 4th largest business in USA. 1927-first sound film-The Jazz Singer. 1920s-40s-Golden Age of Hollywood. Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Katherine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Mae West, Bette Davis, Gary Cooper, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, The Marx Brothers, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Bob Hope. Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Maltese Falcon.

Charlie Chaplin Greta Garbo

Clark Gable Katherine Hepburn

Bette Davis Mae West

Mickey Rooney Gary Cooper

The Marx Brothers-Chico, Gummo, Groucho, Harpo Judy Garland

Humphrey Bogart Rita Hayworth

Bob Hope Ingrid Bergman

Newspapers/Magazines. Everyone read them. Newspapers printed local, American, world news. Tabloids printed Scandals, murders, gossip on stars. Magazines-Time, Life, Saturday Evening Post. News, ads, gossip, home, health, beauty tips, fashion. Helped create a common popular culture across USA.

Radio. Became widely available. 1st radio station-KDKA in Pittsburgh. 2 years later-500 stations. Broadcast news, sports, soap operas, comedy programs, live & recorded music, religious services.

The Jazz Age Jazz began in south, out of blues, ragtime, “black music”. Became very popular in 1920s, especially among young people. “Jelly Roll” Morton, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Etta James. Popular dance – The “Charleston”.

Jelly Roll Morton Duke Ellington

Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong

Benny Goodman

Painters-Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Georgia O’Keefe. Writers. The “Jazz Spirit”. Fast moving, lively jazz attitude also seen in art, literature. Painters-Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Georgia O’Keefe. Writers. Sinclair Lewis-attacked American attitudes & values. Elmer Gantry (ministers), Main Street (average people). Eugene O’Neill-American tragedy plays.

Eugene O’Neill Sinclair Lewis

The Lost Generation. Group of American expatriate writers living in Europe. Saw American culture as shallow, tasteless, uninspired. Disconnected with their country and its’ values. Included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings, Gertrude Stein.

Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald

e. e. cummings John Dos Passos

Gertrude Stein – “You are all a lost generation.”

The Harlem Renaissance Harlem neighborhood in NYC was center of Jazz culture. Led boom of “black” literature called the Harlem Renaissance. James Weldon Johnson-head of NAACP, wrote God’s Trombones, collection of sermons in rhyming verse. Alain Locke-The New Negro-celebrating blooming black culture. Langston Hughes-Poet, writer, playwright-I, Too-described hope for better future. Writers discussed racial divisions, segregation, hope for a better tomorrow.

James Weldon Johnson

Langston Hughes