Chapter 14 Section 3 A Creative Era

The Emergence of Jazz The 1920’s is often called the Jazz Age because jazz music gained wide popularity during this time {Jazz originated among African Americans in the South} Early jazz musicians also experimented with another form of African American music called the blues The blues grew out of a long history of slave music and religious spirituals with heartfelt lyrics and altered or slurred notes that echoed the mood of the lyrics Jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong began to incorporate blues styles into their music

The Great Louis Armstrong

The popularization of Jazz During the Great Migration when African American’s moved northward, they brought jazz with them Musicians of different backgrounds began to use jazz elements in their music Concert pianist {George Gershwin combined classical music with American jazz in the composition “Rhapsody in Blue”} The development of big-band music brought jazz to a whole new audience Jazz clubs emerged, featuring famous musicians such as Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters and Cab Calloway Also many African Americans went to France after WWI, due to their racial tolerance and Jazz singer such as Josephine Baker gave France their own Jazz Age

George Gershwin

Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters and Cab Calloway

The Harlem Renaissance So many creative black writers, musicians and artists lived in Harlem (a New York City neighborhood) that the flourishing of artistic development in the 1920’s is known as the Harlem Renaissance Theatrical roles available to African Americans were restricted by prejudice. Nevertheless they staged and produced many successful Broadway plays and musicals {African American graduate of Columbia University Law School, Paul Robeson, went on to become one of the most highly acclaimed actors of the 1920’s.} Rose McClendon was a leading African American actress

Paul Robeson on the set of The Emperor Jones

Continued…. African American literature was paramount to the Harlem Renaissance Novelists produced work marked by bitterness and defiance but also by joy and hope Harlem poets, such as Langston Hughes, celebrated their ethnic identity and acknowledged the struggles they faced One of the most active Harlem Renaissance supporters was James Weldon Johnson. As executive secretary of the NAACP, Johnson raised money to support African American artists and art programs in Harlem {He also published The Book of American Negro Poetry}

Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers- Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers- Langston Hughes I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

The Lost Generation At the same time of the Harlem Renaissance a new generation of writers rose {Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis were all members of the Lost Generation} Their work reflected their horror of the death and destruction of WWI. They scorned middle- class consumerism and the superficiality of the postwar years

The Visual Arts Most artists of the 1920’s depicted the impact of growing cities and the increasing use of machinery on American life Photography came to be a widely appreciated as an art form. Photographer Alfred Stieglitz helped to popularize photography Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera became popular during this time as well. He was commissioned to paint a mural in Rockefeller Center, which was destroyed because it contained an image of Lenin. Creativity also emerged in the United States in architecture. A new style with rectangular shapes and clean lines came to be. Sky scrapers, such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, also came about at this time

Works of Alfred Stieglitz

Review Questions Where did Jazz originate? Where did Jazz originate? This man combined classical music with American jazz in the composition “Rhapsody in Blue” This man combined classical music with American jazz in the composition “Rhapsody in Blue” This man went on to become one of the most highly acclaimed actors of the 1920’s This man went on to become one of the most highly acclaimed actors of the 1920’s He published The Book of American Negro Poetry He published The Book of American Negro Poetry Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis were all members of this group Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis were all members of this group

Diego Rivera’s mural in Rockefeller Center. Can you find Lenin??