9/2008

Society in the 1920s

• Men came back from the war disillusioned

• Women gained some independence during the war

–many had entered the workforce

–all were given the right to vote

• Hemlines rose from 9 inches above the ground to knee-length

• Amount of fabric in dresses changed from 19.5 yards to 7

• Women ‘bobbed’ their hair

Society in the 1920s

• Women began wearing make-up

• Women began smoking and drinking in public

Society in the 1920s

• 15% of working women worked in professional careers

• 20% of working women worked

in clerical positions

• Women were expected to quit when they married or became pregnant

• Women earned less than men in the same positions

• Women were still closed out of many professional positions

• Example - women doctors were only allowed to treat female patients

• Women won the right to vote in 1920• Only about 35% of women initially voted• Increased as women became used to the idea

• Demographics–1920 census showed over 50% of

Americans lived in cities

–Rural farmers faced severe economic problems

–Manufacturing plants increased production and hired employees

• Demographics

–Attendance in public schools doubled to 4.4 million by 1930

–Americans moved to the suburbs as transportation systems improved

• African Americans continued to migrate north

• Mexicans and other Latinos also moved to the USA and worked on American farms and factories

Society in the 1920s

• Lucky Lindy flew across the Atlantic in 1927

• His flight was 33 1/2 hours long

• He inspired a generation of aviators, including Amelia Earhart

Society in the 1920s

• Professional and amateur sports flourished in the 1920s

• Babe Ruth set home run records of 60 in a single season and 714 in his career

• Jim Thorpe, a Native American, became a professional football player after having his Olympic medals stripped

Society in the 1920s

• Prior to the 1920s most people had very parochial, or narrow views

• Largely due to the mass media, an American culture emerged

Mass Media & the Jazz Age

• Cecil B. DeMille rented a barn and began to produce silent movies

• The barn expanded into a huge movie studio

• It was located in a little known suburb of Los Angeles named Hollywood

Mass Media & the Jazz Age

• Between 1920 - 1930 the number of movie theaters quadrupled to 22,500

• Tickets sales averaged 80 million each week; the countries population was 125 million

• The countries first ‘talkie’ was The Jazz Singer in 1927

Mass Media & the Jazz Age

• Newspapers and magazines became larger, averaging over 50 pages in some

• Tabloids were popular for entertainment; they concentrated on sports, movies, and scandals

• Many newspapers merged or were bought out by conglomerates

Mass Media & the Jazz Age

• In 1920 an engineer from Westinghouse began broadcasting recorded music and baseball scores

• The world’s first radio station, KDKA of Pittsburgh, soon followed

• The National Broadcasting System (NBC) formed to link individual stations together

The Jazz Age

• Jazz music came to symbolize the freedom of the 1920s

• Jazz…….“an expression of the times, of the breathless, energetic, superactive times in which we are living”. (Leonard Stokowski)

• The 1920s came to be called The Jazz Age

• Jazz began in New Orleans before the turn-of-the-century

• With the radio playing to millions, it would sweep the nation in the 1920s

• Duke Wellington wrote and performed over 1000 original songs

• You are currently listening to Louis Armstrong

The Jazz Age

Black performers played

jazz

for white

audiences

The Cotton Club of Harlem was the most famous Jazz Club

The Jazz Age• Paintings by Edward Hopper and

literature by Sinclair Lewis depicted a different view of the 1920s

• Lewis wrote The Babbit in 1922 about conformity in the middle class

• Hopper concentrated on ordinary people

The Jazz Age• The “lost generation” was a group of

artists and writers that were disillusioned with America

• Disliked conservative politics, prohibition, consumerism, and conformity

• Most of them spent the 1920s in Europe• The Great Gatsby was written about the

self-centered, shallow people in the USA

The Jazz Age

• In the Harlem Renaissance, people like Langston Hughes wrote about the difficulties of being black, being human, and being an American

• The following poem is entitled Cross, by Langston Hughes

My old man's a white old man

And my old mother's black.

If ever I cursed my white old man

I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,

I'm sorry for that evil wish

And now I wish her well

My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.

I wonder were I'm going to die,

Being neither white nor black?

Cultural Conflicts

• Prohibition

• Religion

• Racial Conflicts

Prohibition

• The 18th amendment outlawed the sale, use, and manufacture of alcohol

• People used homemade stills and made “bathtub gin”

• Bootlegging, or smuggling alcohol, became very profitable

• Did not stop people from drinking

• Helped to establish organized crime in the USA

• Was repealed with the 21st amendment in 1933

Prohibition

Religion• Science and religion were in conflict

• Scientists believed in evolution, or the development of the world over time

• Fundamentalists interpret the bible literally; the bible says that the world was created by God in 6 days

• Clashes between the 2 groups continue to this day

Scopes Trial• John T. Scopes was arrested for

teaching evolution in the classroom in 1925

• He was found guilty and fined $100

• This ‘trial of the century’ was the 1st to be broadcast on the radio

• This sparked an intensive debate on the roll of religion in public education

Racial Tensions• Race riots killed hundreds of

people in northern cities

• The KKK, which had died out after Reconstruction, was revived in 1915

• Between 1922-1924 its membership grew to 4 million

Racial Tension

• NAACP and other groups fought for anti-lynching legislation

• Marcus Garvey called for a separation of the races and urged African-Americans to return to Africa

Postwar Social Change

In spite of the many societal conflicts, the mood of the country was upbeat and hopeful, giving rise to the nickname

Music Credits:

• It Don’t Mean a Thing by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills

• Stormy Weather by Billie Holiday

• Mack the Knife by Louis Armstrong

• Dream a Little Dream of Me by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

The End!