Roaring 1920s

1. Roaring 1920s Era of Sudden Change

2. Dramatic Changes • Role of Women: • 19th Amendment – Women get right to vote – 1920 • First woman governor in Wyoming – Nellie Tayloe Ross • Women voting had little impact – voted same as husband • Work place changes – during boom of 1920s women went back to work • Still held most of lowest paying jobs • College attendance went up among middle and upper class women • Still was caretaker of home – sought more equality with men • Flappers emerge – young women who defied traditional values of women • Primarily found in large cities • Angered many of traditional women’s rights groups – did not like image

3. Dramatic Changes • Urbanization – the movement of people from the farms to the city • Causes of rise of urbanization • Farm life was hard and farmers were poor • 1920s saw the first time more people lived in urban areas • Rise of automobiles • Increase in education – grew with growth of industry • Effects of Urbanization: • Caused a shift in values of Americans – value warfare between urban and rural people • Caused growth in Ku Klux Klan • Rise of Fundementalism – literal interpretation of Bible • Famous preachers: Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson • Famous Court Case of Fundementalism – Scopes Trial • Christian Creationism vs. Evolution • Clearance Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan

4. Dramatic Changes • Prohibition – made the national law by the 18th Amendment • Prohibition restricted making, distributing, and selling of alcohol • Volstead Act – law enforcing prohibition • Problems with Prohibition: • Drinking alcohol was still legal • Those who wanted it could still get it – created smuggling rings • Organized crime groups (mobsters) rose – Al Capone • Saw creation of speakeasies – illegal bars • Bootlegging become a major business – smuggling of alcohol • People made their own alcohol – moonshiners • Doctors prescribed medicinal alcohol • Government spent a great deal of money on stopping alcohol

5. Harlem Renaissance • Causes: • Great Migration – Started in 1910 • Blacks moved from South to North looking for freedom • Moved to neighborhood in Manhattan (New York City) called Harlem • Still found racism in the North – Chicago riot of 1919 • Many blacks felt military service earned them rights/freedom • Inspiration of Renaissance • W.E.B DuBois – started magazine called The Crisis • Magazine was outlet promoting African writing and poetry • Marcus Garvey – started Universal Negro Improvement Association which promoted a “Back to Africa” movement • Charged with mail fraud went to prison and then deported from country

6. Harlem Renaissance • Harlem Renaissance – explosion of art, writing, music, and entertainment from the African American culture of Harlem. • Writers and Poets: common theme was black defiance to white oppression • James Weldon Johnson – wrote book of poetry called God’s Trombones • Langston Hughes • Claude McKay

7. Harlem Renaissance • Artists: work focused on experiences of African Americans • William H. Johnson • Aaron Douglas • Jacob Lawrence • Performers and Musicians • Paul Robeson – actor, singer • Josephine Baker – actor, singer, dancer • Louis Armstrong – major jazz musician • Jazz got its start in Harlem Renaissance – blended music that was mostly improvised • Other artists: Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Bessie Smith

8. 1920s Popular Culture • Driven by new media: broke down old barriers that separated the nation • Radio – brought radio shows and music into homes • Movies • became feature films with themes • D.W. Griffith – made Birth of a Nation • Became equipped with sound • Jazz Singer • Animated movies were born • Walt Disney – Steamboat Willie featured Mickey Mouse

9. Heroes of Culture • 1920s becomes era of heroes – all walks of life • Film stars – Charlie Chaplain, Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. • National Heroes: • Charles Lindbergh – first to have transatlantic flight • Amelia Earhart – first woman to fly across Atlantic • Disappeared trying to fly around the world • Sports Heroes: • Red Grange – football player “Galloping Ghost” • Helen Willis – tennis player • Bobby Jones – golfer • Babe Ruth – baseball – ushered in Golden Age of Baseball

10. Arts of the 1920s • Writers: themes focused on things going on during the age • F. Scott Fitzgerald – wrote The Great Gatsby (rich vs. poor) • Sinclair Lewis – wrote Babbitt (middle class life) • Ernest Hemmingway – writer impacted by World War I • Wrote Farewell to Arms • Women were also writers • Edna St. Vincent Millay – poetry • Willa Cather and Edith Wharton – novelists • Music writers • George Gershwin – wrote Rhapsody in Blue