Popular Culture in the 1920s

Big Idea: The 1920’s were a radically new time for most Americans

Essential Question: How did popular culture, the arts, and literature change in the 1920’s

Popular Culture • In the 1920’s culture was changing rapidly, with flappers, speakeasies, and now music and live entertainment.

• Books and modern art where also changing to reflect a new and exciting time in pop culture.

• Also during this time Americans began to flock to the new media, which were radio, movies, newspapers, and magazines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfeKUNDDYs

African American Culture• In the 1920’s hundreds of

thousands of African Americans made the Great Migration from the rural south to the urban north.

• After WWI African American populations grew in northern cities. Many people were looking for jobs and opportunities that were not in the south

• These northern cities were filled with nightclubs and music halls, particularly in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem

The Harlem Renaissance•Harlem became the

center of music, artistic development, racial pride, and political organizations

•The result of this build up of African American arts became known as the Harlem Renaissance

Jazz and the Blues• In 1922 Louis

Armstrong introduced a new form of jazz music.

• Armstrong broke away from the normal jazz and became a successful solo artist.

• He inspired other artists like Duke Ellington who played at the Cotton Club, Apollo theater and other places

African Americans and 1920’s politics•African Americans

became an important voting block in the U.S.

•Most African Americans voted republican, because that had been the party of Abraham Lincoln.

•This gave African Americans some political power come election time

•The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP fought to protect African Americans

• They fought against discrimination and segregation.

•This was the beginning of the civil rights movement

• Cities where a big influence on modern art. Young artists gathered in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and Chicago’s south side.

• The artistic and unconventional, or bohemian lifestyle of these allowed artists freedoms to express themselves.

• Poets and writers like Carl Sandburg and Willa Cather used common speech to glorify the Midwest

1920’s Writers • Many American writers began to write about their disillusionment with WWI.

• These writers were called the “Lost Generation”

• Ernest Hemingway was one such writer, he wrote novels like For Whom the Bell Tolls, and A Farewell to Arms

• While other writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the upper class in The Great Gatsby

•Americans began to go to big movie theaters rather than there local nickelodeons.

•Movie stars became more popular then ever. Actors like Charlie Chaplin became popular

•The first “talking picture” was The Jazz Singer, which was produced in 1927

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF38g4z_l_4&feature=related

Mass Media•People also turned to radio

which was putting out daily shows like The Eveready Hour, which offered everything from classical music to comedy

•These movies and radio shows along with newspapers were the new mass media of the day.

•Mass Media: gave a sense of shared experience that helped unify the nation

In the 1920’s sports began to grow in popularity.

People could now listen to games live other the radio and follow there favorite players.

It wasn’t long until companies began to pay sports hero to start advertising their products