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The 1920s. A New Culture Emerges. A New Urban Culture. After WWI, a change in attitudes/culture occurred in America. Mostly in cities. This was the 1 st time in US History that there were more people living in cities rather than the country. Names Given to New Culture. The Roaring 20s.
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The 1920s A New Culture Emerges
A New Urban Culture • After WWI, a change in attitudes/culture occurred in America. • Mostly in cities. • This was the 1st time in US History that there were more people living in cities rather than the country.
Names Given to New Culture • The Roaring 20s. • The Jazz Age
The Old Victorian Culture • Small town ideals were predominant. • Central was the idea of Self-Making. • Hard Work + Proper Moral living = success. • People were supposed to emulate their parents (especially women).
New Urban Attitudes • More care-free, living-for-the-moment. • Hedonistic—self-gratification above all else. • Instead of Progressive crusades, people want to enjoy life.
Causes of the New Culture • 1. Disillusionment with WWI and the Progressive era (backlash). • Ezra Pound—Men had died, “For an old bitch gone in the teeth. For a botched civilization.” • 2. Change from 60hr work week to 40 = more free time. • 3. Modern technology—Auto, Radio, Movies.
Automobile • By 1927, Americans owned 4 out of every 5 cars in the world. • Automobile manufacturing became America’s biggest industry during the 1920s. • Also boom for steel, gasoline, glass, and rubber.
How the Car Transformed American Culture • People began taking day-trips. • People could live in suburbs outside of the cities where they worked. • People took cross-country vacations. • Young people took joy-rides and used cars for dating. • Many consumers bought cars on credit.
Buying Habits • In the 1920s, Americans started buying things like cars, furniture, appliances, radios, etc. on credit. • Chain Stores that carried many items in one place began to dominate the retail sector. • Sears and Roebuck, JC Penny, Safeway, A&P. • Advertising became a mass media.
Radio • KDKA of Pittsburgh was the 1st radio station (1920). • Soon radio networks (such as NBC and CBS) began to form. • News, sports, music, and variety shows. • In 1929, $852 million worth of radios sold. • Radio is most responsible for creating a national mass culture.
Movies • Movie industry takes off in the 20s—it becomes the 5th largest business in the US (100 million people per week). • The Jazz Singer, starring AL Jolson, was the 1st talking picture. • Air Conditioning. • Like radio, helped spread a mass culture.
Sports • With more leisure time and the mass media of radio, sports became popular in the 20s. • Baseball’s biggest star was Babe Ruth. • In football, it was Red Grange. In one game he had TD runs of 95, 67, 55, and 45 yards the first 4-times he carried the ball. • Boxing—Jack Dempsey.
The Biggest Hero • Aviator Charles Lindbergh— “The Lone Eagle.” • Became the 1st person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. • Plane was the Spirit of St. Louis.
Music • Big Bands and Jazz became the most popular music. • Louis Armstrong became the most popular performer. • New dances such as the Charleston.
Literature • The 1920s were the beginning of the “Golden Age” of American Literature. • Many of the writers were disillusioned with America and WWI. • The themes of their works dealt with alienation, disillusionment, and cynicism. • Many of these writers left America to live in Paris. • Others lived in Greenwich Village in New York.
“The Lost Generation” • Gertrude Stein called the expatriates “the Lost Generation.” • Writers included: William Faulkner, • John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Dreiser, and Sinclair Lewis. • Literary Critic = H.L Mencken “Booboisie” • Theatre = Eugene O’Neill.
Harlem Renaissance • A flowering of Black Culture that was centered in Harlem. • Included literature, music, theatre, and art. • Dealt primarily with celebrating blackness and the notion of being black in America. • Key figures were: Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen.
Freud and Sex • Sigmund Freud was a doctor from Vienna, Austria who pioneered psychoanalysis. • Argued that sexual repression was responsible for a variety of nervous and emotional illnesses. • His works became popular in America during the 1920s. • During the 20s, attitudes towards sex began to change—Sexuality came into the open. • Dating replaced courting. • This was especially true for women.
Flappers • A look and an attitude. • Short skirt, bobbed hair, no hips or breasts. • Wore Make-up. • Smoked and drank. • Not shocked or offended by lewd jokes.
