Unit IV:America Between

The Wars

Harlem Renaissance

Venn diagram depicting different categories that key figures fell into during the Harlem Renaissance

(Wenzel, 2011)

Harlem Renaissance: a literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture.

• Above all, it was a literary movement led by well-educated, middle-class African Americans.

I Dream A World

I dream a world where manNo other man will scorn,Where love will bless the earthAnd peace its paths adornI dream a world where allWill know sweet freedom’s way,Where greed no longer saps the soulNor avarice blights our day.A world I dream where black or white,Whatever race you be,Will share the bounties of the earthAnd every man is free,Where wretchedness will hand its headAnd joy, like a pearl,Attends the needs of all mankind-Of such I dream, my world

—Langston Hughes

I, Too

I, too, sing America.I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I’ll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody’ll dareSay to me“Eat in the kitchen,” Then.

Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

— Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

• Poems described the difficult lives of working class African Americans

Langston Hughes(U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection, 1936b)

Paul Robeson

• Major dramatic actor

• Performed in Shakespeare’s Othello

• Lived abroad

• Political and civil rights activist

Paul Robeson (U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1942)

Zora Neale Hurston

• 1920s Writer

• Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neal Hurston(U.S. Library of Congress, n.d.)

“Their Eyes Were Watching God”

“The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”

—Zora Neale Hurston

Louis Armstrong

• Part of the Creole Jazz Band

• Trumpet player

• One of the most important and influential players in the history of Jazz

Louis Armstrong (U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1953)

Bessie Smith

• Female blues singer

• 1927 became the highest paid Black artist in the world

Bessie Smith(U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection, 1936a)

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington

• Jazz pianist and composer who led a ten-piece orchestra at the Cotton Club

Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943 (U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1943)

Marcus Garvey

• Charismatic personality inspired the controversial UNIA and its most public role in society: the Black Star Line

• Jailed for mail fraud and deported

Marcus Garvey(U.S. Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection, 1924)

Alain LeRoy Locke

• Scholar noted for coining the term “New Negro” in reference to the rising cultural progression of African Americans

(Alain LeRoy Locke, n.d.)

Alcohol; Auto & Organized Crime

From Puck magazine, a cartoon showing politics discussed around a bottle.(Keppler, 1883)

Changing Ways of Life

• Banning of Alcohol: 18th Amendment (Jan. 1920)

• Billy Sunday (evangelist) predicted a new age of virtue and religion.

• Failure of Prohibition

• Millions move from the farm to the city

Image showing the disposal of alcohol during prohibition(Prohibition Disposal, n.d.)

The Prohibition Experiment

• Prohibition Era: during which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited

• Liquor considered prime cause of corruption

• Support came from rural South and West with large populations of native born Protestants

(Carry A. Nation, 1908)

Volstead Act• The Anti-Saloon League led

the drive to pass Prohibition

• The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union helped to push it through

• Saloons closed their doors• Eventually failed due to

lack of government funding• The Volstead Act

established a Prohibition Bureau in the Treasury Dept.

Volstead Mother Goose(Dinsmore, 1922)

Speakeasies & Bootleggers

• To obtain liquor drinkers would go to hidden saloons and nightclubs

• You spoke quietly, or “easily” to avoid detection

• Had to have a card or password

• Prescriptions & sacramental wine

• Bootleggers: carried liquor in the legs of boots

Above: A membership card to the New Stock Club, a speakeasy club during prohibition.(Cornell University Library, 1932)

Left: A woman displaying her flask hidden in her boot.(U.S. Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection, 1922)

Organized Crime• Prohibition contributed

to organized crime• Chicago was noted for Al

Capone ($60 million empire)

• By mid-1920s only 19% of Americans supported Prohibition

• Most Americans wanted the 18th Amendment repealed

• It would remain in force until 1933 when repealed by the 21st Amendment

Al Capone(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1929)

The Impact of the Automobile

• Changed the American landscape

• Paved roads were the most visible effect

• Route 66

• Architecture changes

• Gasoline stations

• Was used frequently in bootlegging and organized crime

• A route for people going west from Chicago to California

• Houses change also because they now have a garage or carport and driveway and a smaller lawn

• These begin to grow rapidly along with repair shops, public garages, motels, tourist camps, and shopping centers

ReferencesAlain LeRoy Locke [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Alain_LeRoy_Locke.jpg

Carry A. Nation Signature [Image]. (1908). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nation_Carry_A_Signature.jpg

Cornell University Library. (1932). Stork Club speakeasy membership card 1932-1933 [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stork_Club_speakeasy_membership_card_1932-1933.jpg

Dinsmore, J. (1922). Volstead Mother Goose [image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HotDog0822MotherGoose.jpg

Federal Bureau of Investigation (1929.) Al Capone. [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone#/media/File:Al_Capone_in_1929.jpg

Keppler, J. (1883). Bottled politics [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bottled_politics_LCCN2012645526.jpg#/media/File:Bottled_politics_LCCN2012645526.jpg

Prohibition Disposal [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_Prohibition_Disposal(9).jpg

U.S. Library of Congress (n.d.) Zora Neal Hurston [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hurston-Zora-Neale-LOC.jpg

ReferencesU.S. Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection (1924). Marcus Garvey. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcus_Garvey_1924-08-05.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection. (1922). Woman with boot flask. [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_with_boot_flask.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1942). Paul Robeson [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Robeson_1942.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1943). Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943 [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duke_Ellington_at_the_Hurricane_Club_1943.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1953). Louis Armstrong [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_Armstrong_restored.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection (1936a). Bessie Smith [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bessiesmith-2.jpg

U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection (1936b). Langston Hughes [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Langston_Hughes_1936.jpg

Wenzel, B. (2011). New Negro Movement [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Negro_Movement.gif