Luis ReyesBrian Youn

Cristian Sanchez

Mass Culture

The Harlem Renaissance

• A new group of African-American intellectuals was forming a new type of culture in Harlem.

• This brought jazz music to the mainstream with the opening of many nightclubs, such as the Cotton Club.

• Such famous jazz musicians were Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Fletcher Henderson.

• Harlem also became known for its theaters.

Cont.

• Although audiences were mostly made up of African-Americans, they also contained many whites.

• This renaissance became a major source of literature and art.

• It was heavily influenced by African culture. • Key figures: Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and

Zora Neale Hurston.• Langston Hughes: “I am a Negro-and

beautiful.”

Lost Generation

• The young generation of the 1920s that felt much opposition towards the ideals of the new society.

• They were influenced by the traditional principles of the older generations.

• Unlike the older generations, they did not want to reform society.

• They wanted to get away from it in order to work for personal fulfillment.

Cont.

• Key figures: Ernest Hemingway-A Farewell to Arms

(1929)F. Scott Fitzgerald-The Great Gatsby (1925)

Creation of Mass Culture: Radio• The radio was highly growing in popularity

throughout the 1920s.• Most families owned a radio towards the end of

the decade.• It was a great source for entertainment and

information.• KDKA-Pittsburgh-1920-First commercial American

radio station.• The National Broadcasting Company-1927-First

national radio network.

Creation of Mass Culture: Movies

• Throughout the 1920s, the amount of people watching movies was vastly increasing by tens of millions.

• The first talkie-The Jazz Singer (1927)• Movies were largely influential in society.• Ex: The Birth of a Nation

Creation of Mass Culture: Popular Magazines

• Some magazines were directed to the rural South.

• Ex: The Saturday Evening Post • Many other magazines were contemporary and

wanted to be efficient and convenient for its readers.

• Ex: The Reader’s Digest-1921-DeWitt and LilaWallace

Time magazine-1923-Henry Luce and Briton

Hadden

Leisure Time, Sports, Amusement Parks, and National Parks

• During the 1920s, most Americans were becoming preoccupied with consumerism and materialistic beliefs.

• The advancement in the automobile allowed for a substantial amount of Americans to travel to new places.

• As a result, Americans focused more on their leisure time than previous generations, which led to them going to sporting events, amusement parks, and national parks.

Cont.

• Baseball was America’s past time with icon baseball teams such as:

• Brooklyn Dodgers• New York Yankees, including the infamous Babe

Ruth that hit 60 homeruns in one season.• Boston Red Sox. etc• Baseball games would attract mass crowds and

fill up stadiums with a large crowd of over thousands.

Baseball [America’s Past Time]

Cont.• Amusement Parks provided different ways that

families would spend time.• Ex:• Coney Island• Santa Monica Pier• National Parks were another way people would

spend their leisure time. • Many of them took the family on the open roads.• Ex: Yosemite National Park