THE ROARING TWENTIES

A period of Change

I CAN: Describe & evaluate the impact of

scientific & technological innovations of the 1920s.

Identify & evaluate the impact of new cultural movements on American society in the 1920s.

Identify characteristics of social conflict & social change that took place in the early 1920s.

AMERICAN LIFE CHANGES

The 1920s was a period of many changes for Americans

19th AmendmentGave women the right to vote in 1920

1920s Fashion

Flappers

Young women of the 1920s who defied traditional ideas of proper dress and behavior

They shocked society by chopping off their hair, raising their hemlines, wearing makeup, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and dancing in nightclubs

Flappers

Flappers

Urbanization

Effects of Urbanization

For 1st time in history more Americans lived in urban areas than in rural areas

Automobiles allowed people in rural areas to visit cities

An increase in education—states passed compulsory attendance laws

Conflicts over values

The change from rural to urban caused a shift in values

Values—the key ideas and beliefs a person holds

Conflicts over values

To many people rural America represented the traditional spirit of the nation: hardworking, self-reliant, religious, and independent

Cities represented changes that threatened those values

Ku Klux KlanGrew a lot during the 1920sA lot of rural members: mostly

workers, farmers, & small business owners

Saw their status declining and urban America’s as increasing

The Klan targeted recent immigrants (Catholics & Jews) as well as African-Americans

Fundamentalism

The uncertainty that comes with changing times caused many Americans to turn to religion for answers

Fundamentalism—a literal interpretation of the Bible

Fundamentalists

Billy Sunday—former ballplayer turned revivalist preacher; he condemned radicals & criticized the changing attitudes of women

Fundamentalists

Aimee Semple McPherson—preacher who embraced glamour, but preached fundamentalism & was known for healing the sick through prayer

Fundamentalists

Holy Hypocrisy?Sister Aimee Semple McPherson was at the center of a scandal in the 1920s when she disappeared and later was accused of staging her own kidnapping in which a ransom note demanded $500,000 for her safe return. McPherson ultimately was charged with obstructing justice, but the charges were later dropped. Still, her popularity waned after the kidnap scandal.

Fundamentalism vs. modern science

• Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution– Inherited characteristics of a population

change over generations and as a result of these changes new species sometimes arise

• Fundamentalists believed that this theory went against the teachings of the Bible

• Several states banned the teaching of evolution including Tennessee in 1925

Scopes Trial

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial

• Tennessee teacher John Scopes challenged Tennessee’s anti-evolution law

• One of Scopes’ attorneys was Clarence Darrow– The most famous

criminal lawyer in the U.S.

• William Jennings Bryan helped the prosecution– 3-time candidate for

president; leading fundamentalist

Prohibition

Many people had fought to outlaw alcoholWomen’s Christian Temperance Union

Arguments against alcohol:It hurt familiesIt promoted crimeGrain was needed for food during WWICertain immigrant groups abused

alcohol

Is that a promise?

Prohibition

18th Amendment—Ratified in 1919Made it illegal to

manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol in the United States

Prohibition

Alcohol consumption was reduced

Enforcing the law proved impossibleBootleggers—

alcohol smugglersOrganized crime

Al CaponeSpeakeasies—illegal

bars Al Capone

The Harlem Renaissance

Zora Neale HurstonBegan writing short stories and plays

Attended Barnard College & studied anthropology

Did scholarly work on African American folklore

Wrote novels during the 1930s

One of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance

Great MigrationDuring World War I, many African Americans fled the South

They were fleeing segregation, racism, and lack of good jobs

They went to northern cities such as New York, Chicago, and Detroit

This major relocation of African Americans is known as the Great Migration

The states in blue had the ten largest net gains of African Americans, while the states in red had the ten largest net losses.[

African Americans after World War IFound opportunities in the North but did not escape racism

Shortage of jobs after World War I caused racial tensions

Wave of racial violence in the summer of 1919

Riots

African Americans felt they had earned greater freedom by fighting in World War I

Many whites didn’t think so

HarlemBy early 1920s, about 200,000 African Americans had moved to New York City

Most of them moved into a neighborhood called Harlem

Harlem became the unofficial capital of African American culture and activism

W.E.B. Du BoisKey figure in the rise of Harlem

One of the founders of the NAACP

Editor of a magazine called The Crisis

Du Bois and The Crisis helped promote an African American arts movement in New York City

Harlem Renaissance

Marcus GarveyJamaican born, proud of his African heritage

Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association –UNIA

Promoted self-reliance for Blacks

Believed Blacks should look out for their own interests without whites

“Back to Africa”

Black Star Line

Critical of Du Bois and the NAACP

Convicted of mail fraud & deported

James Weldon JohnsonMan of many talents

Journalist, educator, lawyer, musician, poetWrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

Became NAACP’s official anthemLeader of the NAACP

Claude McKay, “If We Must Die,” 1919

If we must die, let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursed lot.If we must die, O let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!O kinsmen we must meet the common foe!Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!What though before us lies the open grave?Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Langston HughesHarlem Renaissance poet and writer

Harlem ArtistsWilliam H. Johnson

Aaron DouglasJacob Lawrence

William H. Johnson

Aaron Douglas

Jacob Lawrence

Harlem MusiciansPaul Robeson

Louis ArmstrongBessie Smith

Paul RobesonOne of the first African Americans to get a lead role on the American stage

JazzHarlem was a center for jazz

Jazz blended several different musical forms from the South into a wholly original American form of music

Jazz MusiciansLouis ArmstrongCab CallowayDuke EllingtonFats WallerBessie Smith

Blues singer

Louis ArmstrongJazz Trumpeter and Singer

Cab CallowayJazz Singer Band Leader

“Minnie the Moocher”

Duke EllingtonComposer,PianistBand Leader

Fats WallerJazz PianistOrganistComposerComedic Performer

Bessie SmithBlues singer

Savoy Ballroom

The Savoy was a popular dance venue from the late 1920s to the 1950s and many dances such as Lindy Hop became famous here. It was known downtown as the "Home of Happy Feet" but uptown, in Harlem, as "the Track". Unlike the 'whites only' policy of the Cotton Club, the Savoy Ballroom was integrated where white and black Americans danced together

Savoy Ballroom

Architecture

Art Deco

Chrysler BuildingWrigley Building

Empire State Building

Woolworth Building

Art Deco Posters

POPULAR CULTURE

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, Lottie Gee, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Ethel Waters, it generally denied admission to blacks

RADIO Invented by Guglielmo Marconi in the

late 1800s First commercial broadcast was in 1920

KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Radio helped to create a shared culture

in America

MOVIES Exploded in popularity during

the 1920s Movies became longer, more of

an art formThe Birth of a Nation

Movies had sound for the first timeThe Jazz Singer

THE BIRTH OF A NATION1915 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith; one of the most influential and controversial of American motion pictures

noted for its innovative technical and narrative achievements, and its status as the first Hollywood "blockbuster."

THE JAZZ SINGERFirst motion picture with talking

First “Talkie”

Starred Al Jolson

Heroes of the 1920s

Film Stars Charlie Chaplin

The Little Tramp

Film Stars Rudolph Valentino

Helen Kane Betty Boop Clara Bow

Film Stars Clara Bow

Hero

Lucky LindyFirst solo trans-Atlantic flightNew York to Paris—May 21, 1927Thirty-three and one-half hours

Charles Lindbergh

Hero

First woman to fly across the AtlanticDisappeared in 1937 attempting to fly around the world

Amelia Earhart

Sports Heroes Red Grange

The

Galloping Ghost

Sports Heroes Helen Wills

Helen Wills competing at the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, where she won gold medals in singles and doubles competition.

SportsHeroes Bobby Jones

Sports Heroes Babe Ruth

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