1. The 1920s: A New Culture

2. A New Culture
1920 Census: more than half of the American population lived in urban areas
Culture of cities based on popular tastes, morals, and habits increasingly at odds with strict religious and moral codes of rural America

3. The Jazz Age
Youth expressed their rebellion by listening and dancing to jazz music
Jazz became a symbol of the “new” and “modern” culture of the cities
The advent of phonographs and the radio made this new style of music available to everyone

4. The Radio The popularity of jazz was due in large part to the radio
First commercial station went on air in 1920
By 1930, 800 stations broadcasted to over 10 million radios
The creation of CBS and NBC provided networks of stations that allowed people from coast to coast to listen to the same programs

5. The Movie Industry The movie industry became big business in the 1920s
Instead of politicians, the popular heroes and role models of the decade became movie stars and celebrities
The introduction of pictures with sounds (“talkies”) took the movie industry to new heights
By 1929, over 80 million tickets were sold each week

6. Popular Heroes
In this era, Americans looked up more to movie stars and sports celebrities than political leaders
Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe
The most celebrated person of the decade was Charles Lindbergh
Famous for flying nonstop across the Atlantic from Long Island to Paris
Lindbergh’s return home was larger than the welcome given to returning WWI soldiers

7. Gender Roles & The Family
Passage of the 19th Amendment did not change women’s status or U.S. politics as much as had been anticipated
Women who did vote just followed the voting patterns of their husbands or fathers
Most women were still expected to spend their lives as homemakers and women
New labor-saving appliances like the vacuum and electric washer only reinforced this concept
Employed women were still limited to certain categories of jobs (clerks, teachers, nurses, domestic work) and received lower wages than men

8. A Revolution in Morals
Most significant change among American youths was their revolt against sexual taboos
Premarital sex was seen as one of the inventions of the modern era
Movies, novels, automobiles, and new dances all encouraged greater promiscuity
Advocates of birth control gained greater acceptance in the 1920s

9. A Revolution in Morals
A special fashion called the flapper look set young women apart from the older generation
Young women shocked their elders by wearing dresses hemmed at the knee, wearing bobbed haircuts, smoking cigarettes, and driving cars
Many young women began focusing more on their careers before getting married

10. A Revolution in Morals
The 19th Amendment gave women more of a voice to demand changes in divorce laws
Made it easier to escape abusive or incompatible husbands
Liberalized divorce laws resulted in one in six marriages ending in divorce by 1930
Up from one in eight in 1920

11. Literature of the 1920s Two major themes in 1920s literature:
Scorning religion as hypocritical
Condemning sacrifices of WWI as a fraud perpetrated by money interests
Writers and poets expressed disillusionment with ideals of earlier time and the materialism of the consumer culture in the 1920s
These writers were known as the “lost generation”

12. Art and Architecture
Fusion of art and technology created a new style of architecture
Art Deco style captured modernist simplification of forms while using machine age materials
Painters imitated architectural styles
Explored the loneliness and isolation of urban life; celebrated the rural people and scenes of the heartland
On the stage, Jewish immigrants played a major role in the development of some of the greatest American musicals

13. The Harlem Renaissance
By 1930: 20% of African Americans lived in the North
The largest African American community developed in Harlem, New York
Approximately 200,000 people by 1930
Harlem became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of talented actors, artists, musicians, and writers
Their artistic achievements during this period became known as the “Harlem Renaissance”

14. The Harlem Renaissance- Poets & Musicians
Leading poets included Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay
Most Renaissance poets commented on African American heritage
Renaissance poetry expressed a wide range of emotions
Bitterness and resentment to joy and hope

15. The Harlem Renaissance- Poets & Musicians
Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong were so popular that the 1920s was often referred to as the Jazz Age
Blues signer Bessie Smith and multitalented actor and singer Paul Robeson were other important figures
Most Renaissance artists often found themselves playing to segregated audiences

16. Marcus Garvey & The UNIA
Garvey was a charismatic immigrant from Jamaica
Adopted ideas of black pride and nationalism
Established an organization for black separatism, self- sufficiency, and a back-to-Africa movement
Garvey’s investment practices got him convicted of fraud, jailed, and eventually deported from the U.S.
Civil rights leaders mostly disagreed with Garvey’s back-to-Africa idea but endorsed his emphasis on racial pride and nationalism