IV.1920’S CULTUREUnit 6: The Roaring Twenties

A. RISING INCOMES AND LABOR SAVING DEVICES, SUCH AS WASHING MACHINES, GAVE FAMILIES MORE FREE TIME.

B. MILLIONS OF AMERICANS BEGAN TO ATTEND THE MOVIES REGULARLY. EXAMPLES) RUDOLPH VALENTINO (LEFT) AND CHARLIE CHAPLIN (RIGHT)

C. THE FIRST “TALKIE,” OR MOVIE WITH SOUND WAS THE JAZZ SINGER (1927) WHEN AL JOLSON SAID THE WORDS, “WAIT A MINUTE! WAIT A MINUTE! YOU AIN’T HEARD NOTHIN’ YET.”

Sisters tuning a radio in the mid-1920’s

D. RADIOS ALSO BECAME VERY POPULAR DURING THE 1920’S AS FAMILIES GATHERED AROUND THE RADIO TO LISTEN TO MUSIC, COMEDIES, AND MYSTERIES.

Do Now: Make a list of fads that you know of.

Fad – activity or fashion that is very popular for a short time

http://www.starmagic.com/catalog/2440849P.JPGhttp://msnbc.com/modules/take3/may/img/rewind/petRock.jpg

Dance marathon, 1923

E. FADS CAUGHT ON QUICKLY DURING THE 1920’S. EX.) DANCE MARATHONS, FLAGPOLE SITTING

http://www.crazyfads.com/

F. SPORTS “HEROES” INCLUDED BASEBALL STAR BABE RUTH

G. OTHER AMERICAN “HEROES” INCLUDED AVIATORS CHARLES LINDBERGH, WHO FLEW HIS PLANE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS COMPLETING THE FIRST NON-STOP FLIGHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC…

Lindbergh Arrived in Paris, 1927

Lindbergh arrives in New York

… AND AMELIA EARHART WHO BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN TO DO THE SAME. (1932)

H. Jazz music was created by African-Americans by combining African rhythms and European harmonies. Famous artists included Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

Video: “Tiger Rag” by, Louis Armstrong 1932 (2:57)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TGSYmYVYdghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TGSYmYVYdghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TGSYmYVYdg

BLUES SINGER BESSIE SMITH WAS ALSO POPULAR.

Ex.) the Charleston and the shimmy

I. Jazz music brought new forms of dancing.

Video: The Charleston – Harlem, NY, 1950’s (1:50)

Contemporary Application: Video: Get Lite – Bronx,

NY, 2007 (4:13)

Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston in Paris, France, 1926

http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3chrlst.htmhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5503642495903886691&q=charleston&total=11737&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5503642495903886691&q=charleston&total=11737&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTYoCCX_ePAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTYoCCX_ePA

J. Older Americans worried that jazz music was a bad influence on the nation’s young people.

Tales of the Jazz Age, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1922

Harlem Renaissance – flowering of African American culture in the 1920’sExamples: Countee Cullen – writer/poet

“Incident” by, Countee Cullen

Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember.

http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/index.htmhttp://www.jcu.edu/harlem/index.htmhttp://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/a_f/cullen/cullen.htmhttp://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/a_f/cullen/cullen.htm

Examples: Langston Hughes – writer / poet

“Harlem” by, Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Harlem Renaissance – flowering of African American culture in the 1920’s

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/index.htmhttp://www.jcu.edu/harlem/index.htm

Examples: Zora Neale Hurston – writer / poet

“The whole matter revolves around the self-respect of my people. How much satisfaction can I get from a court order for somebody to associate with me who does not wish me near them?”

- Zora Neale Hurston (1955)

Harlem Renaissance – flowering of African American culture in the 1920’s

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blhurston.htmhttp://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blhurston.htmhttp://www.jcu.edu/harlem/index.htm