The Jazz Age Section 9.2

Today’s Agenda 9.2 Slide Show Presentations Homework –Read 9.3

Define materialistic. Placing high value on the purchasing of material things Characteristics of 1920s

What was the Lost Generation? Expatriate writers and artists who left America and criticized its materialism Said America was “enemy of the artist, of the man who cannot produce something tangible…” Hemmingway –The Sun Also Rises –Novels portray lost innocence of post war generation F. Scot Fitzgerald –The Great Gatsby –Discusses the empty lives of wealthy Americans

How did Americans entertain themselves during the 1920s? 1of 2 slides Era of the silent movies Theaters –opened 1-11 PM everyday –$.10 per seat –Glamorous to lower classes –Criticized for corrupting youth Cult of Stardom –Read gossip columns written about stars lives –Tried to imitated hairstyles, fashion Clara Bow

The Silver Screen

Spectator Sports –Baseball Babe Ruth –Bambino, Sultan of Swat –Boxing Jack Dempsey –“Manassas Mauler” –World Heavyweight Champion (1919 and 1926) Fight with Gene Tunney viewed as battle between Modernists and Traditionalists How did Americans entertain themselves during the 1920s?

Sports Heroes

How did music change during the 1920s? Blues and jazz Blues –Derived from work songs of slaves Jazz –Born in New Orleans –No written notes –Louis Armstrong The Charleston –Dance with crossing hands, knocking knees Radios –began to become popular

Jazz

Radio

What did people read during the 20s? High literacy rate Reader’s Digest, Time Magazine created Tabloids –Published scandals, fads, dance marathons Advertisements –Spawned from the Committee of Public Safety –Told Americans what they needed, wanted

Creature Comforts & Consumerism

Who was Langston Hughes? Novelist & Poet during of the Harlem Renaissance –flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in Harlem Part of the “New Negro” movement –Proud to be black –“black is beautiful” –Urged African Americans to reach their American Dream The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

Harlem Renaissance

Conclusion The Jazz Age was viewed by traditionalists as an attack on tradition American values