THE JAZZ AGE1920-1929

TIME OF TURMOILThe Jazz Age (1920-1929)

Essential Question

How did prejudice and labor strife affect the nation following WWI?

The Red Scare After WWI, Americans grew more suspicious

of foreigners and those holding views different than their own

1917 – Bolshevik Revolution set up a Communist state in RussiaUrged workers around the world to overthrow

Capitalism Government under Herbert Hoover arrested

and/or deported more than 10,000 suspected communists

and anarchists

Strikes Sweep the Country Industrial workers went on strike for

better working hour, wages and union rights

Employers saw them as “Red agitators” (Communists/Bolsheviks) and many strikes ended violently

Racial Unrest

In the North, many whites resented African American competition for factory jobs

Racial tensions led to violence in the South1919 – More than 70 African Americans

lynched1919 – Race riots and fighting between

black and white street gangs left many dead and injured

Race Riots

Strange Fruit – Billie HolidaySouthern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter cry

Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday 1. What is “strange fruit”?

2. What injustice is portrayed in “strange fruit”?

3. What might have been the danger of Billie Holiday’s performance of this song during this era?

Making Connections

How did prejudice and labor strife affect the nation following World War I?

DESIRE FOR NORMALCY

The Jazz Age (1920-1929)

Essential Question

In what ways did the election of Harding and Coolidge reflect America’s changing mood?

Warren G. Harding

Election of 1920 campaign slogan: “Return to normalcy”

Ohio Gang: Wilson gives jobs political supporters

Harding administration plagued by scandal although he was not directly involved

Dies of a heart attack while in office (1923)

“Silent Cal” Takes Over

Laissez-faire approach to government

Cut spending and lowered taxes for the wealthy and large corporations

Overturned laws regulating women’s wages and child labor

Foreign Policy Harding and Coolidge both favored a limited

role in foreign affairs Many Americans supported this policy of

isolationism Promoted peace among foreign nations and

the United StatesFive Power Treaty

○ Signed by US, Britain, France, Italy and Japan○ Agreed to limit the size of their navies

Coolidge negotiates a peace treaty with Mexico

Making Connections

In what ways did the election of Harding and Coolidge reflect America’s changing mood?

○ “RETURN TO NORMALCY”○ Favored business over labor and promised

this support would lead to prosperity

A BOOMING ECONOMY

The Jazz Age (1920-1929)

Essential Question

How did technology and new forms of transportation change American life?

Growth in the 1920s

Recession after World War I Shift to steady growth for most of the

1920sGNP (1922) = $70 billionGNP (1929) = $100 billion

Technology spurred rapid industrial growth

Electricity powered American industry

Management and Workers Mass production techniques and

assembly lines increase productivity and lowers prices

Business tried to build better relationships with workersSafety programs lowered the risk of death or

injury on the jobSome provided health and accident insuranceOther encouraged workers to buy stock in the

company

The Consumer Economy

People acquired electric appliances that cut time on household choresRefrigerators StovesVacuum CleanersRadios

Stove

Radio

The Automobile Age

Henry Ford (Detroit, MI) responsible for making the automobile sturdy, reliable and inexpensive

Industries Affected by the Automobile New roads and highways needed Businesses along major roads profited Steel industry Rubber Industry Glass Industry Contributed to the spread of suburbs

Those Left Behind Farmers

Had to compete with European agriculture after the war

Food prices fell and farm income droppedMany lost their farms due to high debt

Railroad WorkersTrucksElectricity used for power instead of coal

Textile FactoriesSynthetic fibers begin to be used instead of cotton

Making Connections

1. Evaluate: Who benefited from the increased popularity of the automobile?

2. Analyzing: Discuss the pros and cons of installment buying for the American consumer.

3. Answer the Essential Question: How did new technology and forms of transportation change American life?

THE ROARING 20’SThe Jazz Age (1920-1929)

Essential Question

How did social change affect the arts, the role of women and minorities?

Changes for Women 1920 – Ratification of the 19th Amendment

(Women’s right to vote) Number of women working outside the home

grew steadily Flapper: the new “liberated” woman of the 1920’s

Carefree young woman “bobbed” hairHeavy make upShort skirtsMany saw the flapper as a sign of changing morals

and new freedoms

Movies and Radio

Mass media reaches millions of people Better technology gives people more

leisure time to enjoyNewspapersMagazinesPhonograph recordsThe radio (brought entertainment into

people’s homes)Movies (movies with sound introduced in

1927)

Sports and Fads

Radio added to the popularity of sports (Sports stars became heroes)

Fads like board games, crossword puzzles, flagpole sitting and dance marathons

Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance Rooted in African American music Uses dynamic rhythms and improvisation

Louis ArmstrongDuke EllingtonBessie Smith

Harlem Renaissance (NYC)Blossoming of cultureAfrican American experience

presented in novels poems and

short stories (Langston Hughes,

Zora Neale Hurston)

A Clash of Cultures

***During the 1920s, American society was divided by a clash between traditional and modern values***

"Boys and girls in the three upper years of high school marked the number of times they go out on school nights and the hour they get in at night more frequently than any other sources of friction with their parents. …"

Robert and Helen Lynd

Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition (1919)

A total ban on the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol in the United States

Had little support in the cities Continuing demand for alcohol led to widespread

law breakingSpeakeasies: illegal bars and clubs where alcohol was

soldMany states in the east eventually stopped enforcing

ProhibitionOrganized crime including bootlegging and gangsters like

Al Capone 1933: Twenty-first Amendment repeals Prohibition

Nativism Belief that native born Americans are

superior to foreigners and their way of life Revival of the Ku Klux Klan

Terror TacticsLynchingAnti-immigration

1921 – Congress responds to nativist fears with a quota systemLimit on the number of immigrants who could

enter the country

The Scopes Trial (1925) Cultural clash involving the role of

religion in society Tennessee Christian fundamentalists passed a

law making it illegal to teach evolution in schools High School teacher John Scopes deliberately

broke the law to bring it to trial William Jennings Bryan: Lawyer who defended

the law Clarence Darrow: Defended Scopes Law was overturned based on the idea that it

imposed specific religious beliefs on the entire state

Election of 1928

Herbert Hoover (“dry” candidate) vs. Alfred E. Smith (“wet” candidate)

Hoover wins by a landslideWorked to promote cooperation between

government and business

"Boys and girls in the three upper years of high school marked the number of times they go out on school nights and the hour they get in at night more frequently than any other sources of friction with their parents. …"

Robert and Helen Lynd

Making Connections

What forms of art and entertainment became popular during the 1920s?

Answer the Essential Question: how did social change affect the arts, the role of women and minorities?