Culture in the 1920s

1. Culture in the 1920s

2. Objectives • Describe the new fads and heroes that emerged during the 1920s and how they affected American culture. • Identify the origins, importance, and spread of a new musical style—jazz. • Explain how new literature styles described American society in a new, more critical way.

3. Terms and People • Charles Lindbergh – the first airplane pilot to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean • jazz – a style of music developed in New Orleans in the 1920s • Sinclair Lewis – author of Babbit, a novel about the hypocrisies of middle-class culture • Langston Hughes – Harlem Renaissance poet whose poems express racial pride

4. What arts and culture symbolized the Jazz Age? The 1920s produced a burst of cultural change and artistic creativity. New heroes captured the spirit of the time. Jazz music was created in New Orleans. Writers produced enduring literary works.

5. During the 1920s, feelings of optimism ran high. Many Americans expressed their new exuberance through dance. Dance marathons Dances such as the Charleston Americans participated in other amusing fads as well. The Chinese game of mah-jongg Flagpole-sitting competitions

6. Sports entertainment also gained popularity at this time, and sports heroes became celebrities. Baseball player Babe Ruth was one such hero. The mass media made Ruth a style setter. Millions of fans copied his style.

7. Charles Lindbergh was the most beloved hero of the time. In 1927, he made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. He became an instant hero. New York City held a huge parade in his honor. Lindbergh symbolized American energy and optimism.

8. The 1920s also saw the creation of a new musical sound: jazz. Jazz combined elements of music from around the world. Jazz Music West African rhythms Caribbeanrhythms Southernwork chants and spirituals Europeanharmonies Jazz was created by black musicians in the port city of New Orleans, where these cultures met.

9. Jazz music gained popularity among African American audiences. Many African American jazz musiciansbecame famous. Trumpet player Louis Armstrong Band leader Duke Ellington Singer Bessie Smith

10. Jazz quickly spread beyond the African American community. People all around America heard jazz on the radio. White composers, band leaders, and audiences embraced jazz. Jazz became one of the most important American contributions to world culture. The 1920s became known as the “Jazz Age.”

11. Jazz music provoked both positive and negative reactions. Many young people found jazz music exciting. Many older Americans found jazz rhythms jarring. They enjoyed its emphasis on improvisation and experimentation. Some thought its emphasis on pleasure was a bad influence on the young.

12. Like music, American literature flourished during the 1920s. Many writers seemed disillusioned by the postwar generation. They complained that Americans had become greedy and selfish after World War I.

13. Many writers acted as social critics, writing novels that pointed out society’s flaws. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the emptiness of rich people’s lives in his novel The Great Gatsby. In his novel Babbitt,Sinclair Lewispointed out the hypocrisies of middle-class culture.

14. Some writers found American society so intolerable that they became expatriates, people who leave their own country to live abroad. This experience is reflected in his novel The Sun Also Rises. Ernest Hemingway lived for a time with American expatriates in France.

15. During the 1920s, a vibrant African American culture grew in Harlem, a part of New York City. Writers Musicians Poets During the Harlem Renaissance, African American artists expressed the hope of black Americans and reacted against prejudice.

16. Writers were an important part of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes wrote poems that expressed racial pride. He wanted his poems to sound like jazz music. James Weldon Johnson combined poetry and politics. He also worked as an organizer for the NAACP.

17. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the most important women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurstonrecorded folk songs and folk tales to preserve and analyze them. She is most remembered for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.