2. The Roaring 20’s

3. The first Great Migration at the end of the Civil War saw freed slaves leave the misery of plantation life for a new beginning in the West. A second migration in the 1900’s sent southern blacks to America’s northern cities. A Great Migration

4. Could you live knowing that at any moment you might be attacked by an angry mob or that your house might be burned down? Life in the deep south was brutal for people with dark skin. Jobs for African Americans in the South were scarce (not many available), and the one’s that were available were low paying. Violence and discrimination were a constant reminder that at any moment, a person of color could be strung up from a tree and hanged. Leaving the Jim crow south A lynching that occurred in Jefferson County, Alabama.

5. The Great Migration was fueled by the growing number of violent acts against blacks in many Southern states. Members of the Ku Klux Klan, hidden in robes and hoods that masked their faces, began lynching (murdering) innocent people. At least 4,000 African Americans were murdered between 1900 and 1930. The reasons for lynching were usually over minor insignificant details, but horrifying in their results. For example one black teenage boy was hung for sending a Christmas card to a white girl. Another had dared to try and stop a white man from bothering his little sister. It was tragic, and moving away seemed to be the only answer. A rising tide of hatred in the south

6. The National Council for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) tried everything in their power to make the world aware of the situation in the South. They ran ads like this one in newspapers in the North to stir up support. This poster from 1916 encourages blacks to "remember this scene" when they go to the ballot box, encouraging them to vote for candidates who were against lynching.

7. I can’t find a job in the South, and the jobs my friends have are so low paying I wouldn’t want one! We have heard of better job opportunities in northern cities, so we are moving to Detroit to work for Henry Ford! The violence and racism in the South is so bad we must leave. The KKK is threatening my family!

8. The cities of the North and Midwest offered a safer life. There were jobs there and better schools for children. It was possible to vote without being harassed. But there were also many problems discrimination & Violence.. For better and worse For a period of 25-30 years Harlem, New York had the largest urban black population in the world.

9. Disc 2: Boom Red Summer 26:04 – 32:15 (6 min 11 sec) America the Story of Us

10. The youthful energy that dominated life in the 1920’s and 1930’s played a large role in American culture. That energy could be found in the pages of books that made Americans stop and reflect. It could be heard in new music that made us swing and sway. It could be seen in paintings that dazzled the eye with brilliant colors and vivid shapes. A New Cultural Climate

11. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American novelist who gave the 1920’s the nickname of the “Jazz Age.” He finished four novels during his lifetime including This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Great Gatsby (1925), and Tender is the Night (1934). Noted for writing about the Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald

12. John Steinbeck was one of the best known and most widely read American novelists of the 20th century. He wrote Of Mice and Men (1937), and the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Both novels examine the lives of poor migrant workers during the Great Depression, a time when the U.S. economy crumbled. His writings focused on the challenges faced by the poor migrant workers in the 1930’s John Steinbeck

13. John Stenbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939. The novel describes the Joad family’s struggle during the Great Depression.

14. Georgia O’Keeffe was an American artist who began her career by painting urban scenes. Later in her life she moved to the American Southwest where her firm brush strokes captured paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones, and landscapes that gained her recognition around the world. Georgia O’Keeffe

15. New York With Moon 1925

16. City Night 1926

17. Radiator Building at Night 1927

18. Oriental Poppies 1927

19. Red Poppy 1927

20. Lawrence Tree 1929

21. Black Mesa 1930

22. Rams Head 1935

23. Aaron Copland was an accomplished composer of concert and film music, as well as a brilliant pianist. Copland is often referred to as the “dean of American music” for his distinctly American style of composition. His most popular works include the ballets Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), which won a Pulitzer Prize. Aaron Copland

24. “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner” Commercial 1994 Song: Hoe Down from Aaron Copland’s Ballet Rodeo (30 sec)

25. George Gershwin was an American composer who wrote most of his music with his elder brother, Ira Gershwin. Many of Gershwin’s compositions have been used on television shows and in numerous films. One of his more popular works, Rhapsody in Blue (1924), is featured in the Walt Disney Movie Fantasia 2000. George Gershwin

26. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (Chapter 5) 15:49 – 29:15 (13 min 26 sec) Disney’s Fantasia 2000

27. Music brought some of the biggest changes in the 1920’s, as white Americans fell in love with the free- spirited, hip swinging sounds of black musicians who had invented a whole new sound called jazz. Jazz had first become popular when African American soldiers brought their music to Europe during World War I. The Europeans loved the exciting new sound, and by the 1920’s jazz was everywhere! The vibrant sound was so popular that the years from 1920-1929 were called the “Jazz Age”. African Americans had given the world a brand new beat. More than anything else, music began to break down the huge walls that racism had built. The sounds of Africa meet America

28. People could sense the energy in the air when walking down the streets of Harlem (a mostly black New York City neighborhood), during the 1920’s. Some people believed that Harlem was the center of a new cultural universe, where the freshness and variety of African American culture could be celebrated. An African American Awakening… - The Harlem Renaissance- The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem during the 1920’s. Although the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the 20’s, it generally denied admission to blacks.

29. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was an American jazz composer, pianist, and band leader. He was born in 1899 in Washington D.C. and went on to become one of the most influential figures in jazz music. A man of suave demeanor and wit, Ellington was one of the twentieth centuries best known African American celebrities. Some of his biggest hit include “Black and Tan Fantasy” (1928), “Mood Indigo” (1931), “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932), “Cocktails for Two” (1934), “Take the A Train” (1941), and “Black, Brown and Beige” (1944). Duke Ellington

30. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing” 2 min 45 sec

31. Nicknamed “Satchmo”, short for “satchel mouth," because of his big smile, Armstrong was a charismatic, jazz musician from New Orleans, Louisiana who is best known for his flashy trumpet playing and raspy signing voice. Armstrong preferred his name pronounced “Lewie”, which is the French pronunciation of “Louis”, and is commonly used in Louisiana. Some of his most popular hits include “St. Louis Blues” (1925), “Mack the Knife” (1955), “Hello Dolly!” (1964), and “What a Wonderful World” (1968). Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong

32. Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” 2 min 20 sec

33. Known as the “Empress of the Blues”, Smith was the most popular and successful female blues singer of the 1920’s and 1930’s. She made nearly 200 recordings, often with musicians such as Louis Armstrong. Some of her more popular recording include “Downhearted Blues” (1923), “St. Louis Blues” (1925), and “Empty Bed Blues” (1928). Bessie Smith

34. 4 min 25 sec

35. Langston Hughes was an African American poet and writer who is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. His most popular works include his first poetry book titled Weary Blues (1926), and a book of short stories titled The Ways of White Folks (1934). Langston Hughes

36. Dream Variations (1926) 2 min 45 sec

37. Jacob Lawrence is one of the best known twentieth century African American painters. Lawrence’s “Migration Series” made him nationally famous when it was featured in a 1941 issue of Fortune Magazine. The “Migration Series” depicts the mass movement of African Americans north during the 1930’s known as the Great Migration. Jacob Lawrence

38. The Migration Series

39. Around the time of WWI, many African-Americans from the South left home and traveled to cities in the North in search of a better life.

40. There was a shortage of workers in Northern factories because many had left their jobs to fight in the First World War.

41. The factory owners had to find new workers to replace those who were marching off to war.

42. Northern industries offered Southern blacks jobs as workers and lent them money, to be repaid later, for their railroad tickets. The Northbound trains were packed with recruits.

43. Nature had ravaged the South. Floods ruined farms. The boll weevil destroyed cotton crops.

44. The war had doubled the cost of food, making life even harder for the poor.

45. Railroad stations were so crowded with migrants that guards were called in to keep order.

46. The flood of migrants Northward left crops back home dry and spoil.

47. For African-Americans the South was barren in many ways. There was no justice for them in courts, and their lives were often in danger.

48. Although slavery had long been abolished, white landowners treated the black tenant farmers harshly and unfairly.

49. And so the migration grew.

50. Segregation divided the South.

51. The black newspapers told of better housing and jobs in the North.

52. Families would arrive very early at railroad stations to make sure they could get on the Northbound trains.

53. Early arrival was not easy, because African-Americans found on the streets could be arrested for no reason.

54. And the migrants kept coming.

55. In the South there was little opportunity for education, and children labored in the fields.

56. These were more reasons for people to move North, leaving some communities deserted.

57. There was much excitement and discussion about the Great Migration.

58. Agents from Northern factories flocked into Southern counties and towns looking for laborers.

59. Families often gathered to discuss whether to go North or to stay in the South.

60. The promise of better housing in the North could not be ignored.

61. The railroad stations were crowded with migrants.

62. Letters from relatives in the North and articles in the black press portrayed a better life outside the South.

63. Many migrants arrived in Chicago and labored in meat packing plants.

64. In Pittsburgh migrants labored in the steel mills, and across the North they helped build the railroads.

65. And the migrants kept coming.

66. Southern landowners, stripped of cheap labor, tried to stop the migration by jailing the labor agents and the migrants.

67. Sometimes the agents disguised themselves to avoid arrest, but the migrants were often taken from railroad stations and jailed until the trains departed.

68. Black and white Southern leaders met to discuss ways to improve conditions to stop the flow of workers North.

69. Although life in the North was better, it was not ideal.

70. Many migrants moved to Pittsburgh, which was a great industrial center at the time.

71. Although they were promised better housing in the North, some families were forced to live in overcrowded and unhealthy quarters.

72. The migrants soon learned that segregation was not confined to the South.

73. Many Northern workers were angry because they had to compete with the migrants for housing and jobs. Many riots broke out.

74. Longtime African-American residents living in the North did not welcome the newcomers from the South, and many looked down at them.

75. The migrants had to rely on each other. The storefront church was a welcoming place and the center of their lives, in joy and in sorrow.

76. Black professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, soon followed their patients and clients North.

77. Female workers were among the last to leave.

78. Life in the North brought many challenges, but the migrants' lives had changed for the better. The children were able to go to school, and their parents gained the freedom to vote.

79. And the migrants kept coming.

80. The popularity of the great African American artists from Harlem soon spread to the rest of society. Harlem became the “popular” place to go. Wealthy white people drove to fancy nightclubs like the “Cotton Club” in Harlem to see African American artists perform, while the rest of America listened to them on the radio. More than anything else, African American music and arts began to slowly break down the barriers between black and white. From the Streets of New York… To the Heart of America