The 1920’s Culture

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The 1920s Culture
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JAZZ

• Who were the first Jazz Musicians?
• African Americans
• Where was Jazz born?
• New Orleans
• When did Jazz appear nationwide?
• The early 1920s
• Why did Jazz spread past New Orleans?
• Violence and racism resurfaced in New Orleans and
  Jazz musicians fled to cities like Chicago, New
  York, and Kansas City

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JAZZ

• "The true spirit of jazz is a joyous revolt from
  convention, custom, authority, boredom, even
  sorrow--from everything that would confine the
  soul of man and hinder its riding free on the
  air." J.A. Rogers, "Jazz at Home," The Survey
  Graphic, 1925

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1920s Jazz Musicians
Bix Beiderbecke
Duke Ellington
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1920s Jazz Musicians
Jelly Roll Morton
Earl Hines
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1920s Jazz Musicians
Kid Ory
Louis Armstrong
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1920s Jazz Musicians
Paul Whiteman
Joe King Oliver
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The Charleston

• The Social dance - popular in the mid-1920s.
• Thought to have come from Cape Verdes Isles in
  Africa

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1920s Fashion
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1920s Fashion
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1920s Fashion The Men

• Stemmed from sports or gangsters
• Wanted to appear dapper.
• Baggy pants, polished shoes, and a handkerchief
  in the pocket
• The baggy zoot suit worn for fancy occasions

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Flappers

• F. Scott Fitzgerald said "lovely, expensive, and
  about nineteen.
• Rebelling from societal norms
• Short Sleek hair, short shapeless dresses, lots
  of makeup
• Frequenters of nightclubs

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1920s Fashion The Flapper
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Flappers

• The Playful flapper here we see,The fairest of
  the fair.She's not what Grandma used to be,
  --You might say, au contraire.Her girlish ways
  may make a stir,Her manners cause a scene,But
  there is no more harm in herThan in a submarine.
• She nightly knocks for many a goalThe usual
  dancing men.Her speed is great, but her
  controlIs something else again.All spotlights
  focus on her pranks.All tongues her prowess
  herald.For which she well may render thanksTo
  God and Scott Fitzgerald.
• Her golden rule is plain enough -Just get them
  young and treat themrough.

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Prohibition

• 18th Amendment outlawed the transporting,
  selling, manufacturing of Alcohol.
• Widely ignored
• Lead to Organize Crime

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The 1920s Night Club Speakeasies

• Offered an intense experience
• Entertainment tended toward adult fare
• Alcohol" was central to the experience.
• The Night Clubs also had their dark side.

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Two Cultural Movements

• The Harlem Renaissance
• - Rebirth of African-American culture
• - Literature, art, music, dance
• - Took place primarily in Harlem
• Factors in the development of the Harlem
  Renaissance were
• African-American urban migration
• Trends toward experimentation throughout the
  country
• The rise of radical African-American
  intellectuals.
• Never before had so many Americans embraced the
  African-American culture.

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The Harlem Renaissance
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The Harlem Renaissance

• Dreams
• Hold fast to dreams
• For if dreams die
• Life is a broken-winged bird
• That cannot fly.
• Hold fast to dreams
• For when dreams go
• Life is a barren field
• Frozen with snow.
• by Langston Hughes

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Two Cultural Movements

• The Lost Generation
• Rejection of American Materialism
• Looking for the Meaning of Life, after quick
  change from war.
• Intellectuals, poets, artists and writers

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The Lost Generation

• "The Hollow Men"
• We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men
  Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw
  Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are
  quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or
  rat's feet over broken glass In our dry cellar
• by T.S. Eliot

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Motion Pictures

• New Pastime THE MOVIES!
• Silent movies became "talkies" when sound was
  finally added.
• Charlie Chaplin most famous silent actor

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Motion Pictures

• The best movies of the decade were "Treasure
  Island" and "Ben Hur and The Jazz Singer.

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Baseball

• The New American Pastime
• Radio Broadcasts, Stadiums, and Sports Sections
  in Newspapers
• Celebrities like Babe Ruth
• A Spectator Sport for the Working Class Myth vs.
  Reality

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Slang Words
describes a wrong idea or person He's all wet.
All wet
what you say when you are angry "Oh, applesauce!"
Applesauce
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Slang Words
the most important person the boss
The Big Cheese
something splendid or wonderful the best
The Cats Meow
Cheaters
eyeglasses
OK Everything is Jake.
Jake
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Slang Words
Dogs
Feet
Giggle Water
Alcohol
Heebie Jeebies
A Scary Nervous Feeling
Jalopy
An Old Car
Moll
A Gangsters Girlfriend
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Slang Words
Pushover
Someone easily convinced
Scram
Alcohol
Swell
Wonderful
Upchuck
Vomit
Whoopie
Have a good Time
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Is the 1920s for you?

• Would you want to live in the 1920s? Why or Why
  not?