1. Roaring ’20s & The Great Depression

2. Popular Culture
Hollywood movies
Douglas Fairbanks
Clara Bow

3. Harlem Renaissance
Drew on European, African, and African American influences
Poets: Langston Hughes
Dinner Guest: Me
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being wined and dined,
Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkness U.S.A. –
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois
“I’m so ashamed of being white”

4. Jazz Music Origins of Jazz & Blues in New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago
Radio helped the spread of Jazz
1923 – 190,000 radios produced
1929 – approximately 5 million radios produced
Lyrics expressed themes of working class people
Women who sang the blues asserted their sexuality, their passion, sorrows, & strength

5. Changing Sexual Behavior
The role of Eugenics
Buck v. Bell, 1927
The automobile
Flappers

6. Prohibition “Dry” and their political motives
“Wets” included alienated intellectuals, Jazz age rebels
Federal agents responsible for enforcing law, but it was impossible
Speakeasies, “bathtub gin,” & moonshine
Organized crime

7. Cult of Celebrity: Babe Ruth

8. Cult of Celebrity: Charles Lindbergh
In 1927, Lindbergh flew non-stop from New York to Paris in 33 ½ hours
Cult of Celebrity: Charles Lindbergh

9. Consumption Almost half of all households owned a car or radio
Almost a third of households owned a washing machine or vacuum cleaner
Critics of consumerism cautioned of the potential for economic disaster & conformity
Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt (1922)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (1925)

10. Advertising
Offered a means to eliminate personal and embarrassing flaws such as bad breath and dandruff

11. Advertising
Using celebrity to sell a product

12. Advertising
Suggestions at health benefits

13. Advertising
Appealing to desires for beauty

14. Roaring ‘20s
The reality is not everyone experienced the roaring ‘20s as carefree and full of excess
Many didn’t have access to the glamorous life
There was widespread poverty in rural areas and urban ghettos
One African American noted, “The Negro was born in depression. It only became official when it hit the white man.”

15. Depression Foreign Economic crisis Surplus Capitol Stock Market Crash
Credit Crunch
Lack of Economic Diversity
Poverty

16. Grapes of Wrath

17. Roaring ‘20s & The Great Depression
Key terms: Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes,
Buck v. Bell, Flappers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dawes Plan, “Black
Tuesday”, “Hoovervilles”, Dust Bowl