Chapter 14
THE Roaring 20’s & the JAZZ AGE
Section 1: Boom Times
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
Section 3: A Creative Era
Section 1: Boom Times
Objectives:
 How did the economic boom affect consumers and
American businesses?
 How did the assembly line spur the growth of the
automobile industry?
 How did Henry Ford change working conditions during the
1920s?
 How did widespread automobile use affect the daily lives
of many Americans?
 How did American industries encourage changes in
consumer practices?
Social Tensions
Alcohol
City
Country (rural)
FOR
AGAINST
Gambling
Promiscuity
Science &
technology
Entertainment
& Play
Religion
3
Section 1: Boom Times
Effects on consumers
 Wage increases for workers increased their
purchasing power.
 Increased consumer demand led to the
development of new products.
 Electricity became more available.
Section 1: Boom Times
Effects on business
 Businesses used scientific management to increase
productivity.
 Factories became more efficient.
The assembly line
Section 1: Boom Times
 cut production time and costs
 enabled reductions in price
 allowed more consumers to buy cars
Changes made by Henry Ford
Section 1: Boom Times
 developed the assembly line
 increased productivity but work became repetitive
 increased wages
 shortened the workday
Section 1: Boom Times
The automobile’s effect on daily lives
 linked rural areas to urban areas; contributed to
growth of suburbs
 use of trains and trolley cars reduced; horse-drawn
vehicles replaced
 growth in popularity of auto-touring
 new social opportunities for teenagers
 reduced sense of community
Section 1: Boom Times
Changing consumer practices
 offering of installment plans
 introduction of new materials and designs
 use of advertising
 beginning of planned obsolescence
 establishment of retail chain stores
SECTION 1
Boom Times
new materials and designs
installment plan
planned obsolescence
CHANGING
CONSUMER
PRACTICES
advertising
retail chain stores
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
Objectives:
 What impact did prohibition have on crime?
 What were the characteristics of the new youth
culture?
 How did celebrities and new forms of popular
entertainment help create a mass culture?
 What did the religious movements of the 1920s
and the Scopes trial reveal about American
society?
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
Prohibition’s impact on crime
Prohibition of alcohol increased crime by creating an
illegal market that manifested in speakeasies,
bootlegging, and people making their own liquor.
Prohibition
 1920-1933
 18th amendment -prohibits
 21st amendment repeals
 Some Key terms
 Speakeasies - place where liquor was sold illegally
 A wide variety of home made and in many cases
dangerous liquors appeared.
Bootlegging
Take a look
Jack Brandy
Made in Virginia, made of peaches and
caused fingernails to bleed
Monkey Rum
Made from molasses
Goat Whiskey
Indiana
Rye Sap
Midwest
Whiskey
Soda Pop Moon Philadelphia
YackYack
Bourbon
Made from iodine and burnt
sugar
A fellow named Henry S. rented a saloon where he
could sell soda pop and malt over the bar. If a
customer asked for beer, Henry would take a shot
of moonshine, pour it into the malt, hit the bottle
with a rubber mallet and the moonshine and malt
would mix to make beer.
This bottle of moonshine
was kept on a trap door behind the bar.
A string was attached to the door which could be
pulled from any place behind the bar.
If any federals, or suspicious looking persons
came in, Henry could pull the string, the trap
door would open, the bottle would fall down onto
a pile of rocks in the cellar and the evidence was
gone.
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
Characteristics of the youth culture
 The “new woman” sought social and economic
independence.
 College enrollment tripled.
 New fashions were worn.
 New leisure activities such as dance marathons
and flagpole sitting became popular.
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
Creation of a mass culture
 Radio, books, and magazines allowed people to
share ideas, information, and entertainment.
 Movies and sports gave common cultural
experiences.
 Celebrities and heroes allowed people to share
common acquaintances.
Section 2: Life in the Twenties
American society
 Americans had different opinions about social
change.
 There was a deep division between traditional
religious values and new values based on
scientific thought.
 There were different values about what was
appropriate in movies and radio.
Women
 Flappers - named for women of the 20’s adopting new
styles including the “bob” hair style, smoking cigs and
drinking and wearing the shorter skirt
 The skirt change was understandable
 why?
Women
 The long dress
 collected too much
 street dirt
 WW1 used a lot
 of fabric for war
 creating a shortage
flappers
Education
 1914 ½ million HS STUDENTS
 1926 4 MILLION
 Why?
 There were better jobs to be gained by education
in the industries
 Taxes helped pay for schools
In the News
Lindberg
 33 ½ hours from NY to Paris
 25 years old
 Spirit of St. Louis
 Left Long Island and landed at an airfield in
France with 50,000 people waiting for him
 Reason for flying: $25,000 prize since 1919
Famous Photo
The flight
 451 gallons of fuel
 Bad weather –made him consider turning back over New
Foundland –sleet and hard rain
 used a periscope to see where he was going
d
 Took 34 hours
The flight
 Only real danger was at night
 Key instrument was earth indicator compassbased on earth’s magnetic field to airplanes
magnetic field
 1st time he passed up the airfield
 Became known as Lucky Lindy
Babe Ruth
 1921-1932- 7 world series
 1923 –built new stadium
– House that Ruth built
 1948 set up foundation to
help under privileged kids
Sports
 Black Sox scandal of 1919 The Babe brought people
back to the ball park after this scandal kept them away
 Eight players were accused of fixing the world series
and throwing the series
 A jury found them innocent but Commissioner Landis
banned the 8 players anyway
Shoeless Joe
Jackson
Red Grange
Helped
popularize
football in the
Midwest at
Western Illinois
Knute Rockne
 Legendary Irish football
coach for Notre Dame
college in Indiana
4 horsemen of Notre Dame
Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney
 Dempsey was the
Manassa Mauler
 2 great fights both
won by Tunney –
eventually led to 1
million dollar purses
A then-record crowd of
120,757, which paid a thenrecord live gate of $1.8
million, packed
Sesquicentennial Stadium on
Sep. 23, 1926 and braved a
driving rainstorm to watch the
biggest and most anticipated
sporting event in history.
Bobby Jones
Only golfer to
wins golf’s grand
slam in the same
year
He was an
amateur –he was
independently
wealthy
Man O War
Triple
crown
champion
Entertainment and Writers
 Charlie Chaplin
 Al Jolson – starred in Jazz Singer – the first movie
with sound was in 1927
 Writers wrote against materialism
F Scott Fitzgerald
Women -1920’s- Suffrage
 Women’s contribution of WW 1 led to the 19th
amendment and voting rights in 1920.
 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the National
Woman's party and held parades and marches
 The amendment was named the Anthony
amendment after Susan B Anthony
SECTION 2
Life in the Twenties
movies
radio
books and
magazines
SHARED
CULTURAL
EXPERIENCES
sports
celebrities
and heroes
Section 3: A Creative Era
Objectives:
 How did jazz and blues become popular
nationwide?
 What impact did the Harlem Renaissance have on
American society?
 How did writers of the Lost Generation portray
American life?
 What were some of the major inspirations behind
new movements in the visual arts and architecture?
Section 3: A Creative Era
The popularity of jazz and blues
 originated in the South
 spread nationwide as musicians moved north
 began to be played by white musicians also
 popularized in jazz clubs and by big bands
Section 3: A Creative Era
Impact of the Harlem Renaissance
 source of pride for African Americans
 new respect for black theater
 celebration of ethnic identity
 exposure of African American struggles
Black Renaissance
 Fueled by:
 Population shift from
South to North
a] Henry Ford opens the
assembly line to
Black workers in 1914
b] boll weevil destroys
cotton fields in 1914
Harlem Renaissance
 Center for the
nations black
intellectuals
including
cultural, music,
literature,
dance, drama
and painting
 Trumpeter that
helped along with Louis
King Oliver bring
about jazz
 Traveled North of the
Mason Dixon Line
 Along with Duke
Ellington(Harlem
1923) helped create
the Jazz sound
Armstrong
Josephine Baker
 Lived in Paris as a singer and dancer
During World War I The Chicago Defender started an
aggressive (and successful) campaign in support of
"The Great Migration" movement. This movement
resulted in over 1,500,000 southern blacks migrating to
the North between 1915-1925. The Defender spoke of
the difficulties in the South and praised life in the
North. Job listings and train schedules were posted to
facilitate the relocation. The Defender's support of the
movement caused southern readers to migrate to the
North in record numbers. At least 110,000 came to
Chicago alone between 1916-1918.
Founder Robert
Abbott
Racial Tensions
 Chicago Riots
 1919 – a 17 yr. Old black
swimmer crossed from the
Lake Michigan black
beach to the white beach
while swimming
 White bathers threw rocks
at him until he drowned
 That led to riots which
killed
23 blacks, 15whites and
injured 520
W.E.B. Dubois
Booker T Washington
Militant black leader who
wanted to strive for higher
education goals and equality
immediately . Helped found
the NAACP. At this time,
blacks had little role in either
Political party
Founded the Tuskegee
Institute to gain skills for
African Americans to gain
trades and an economic
freedom first before pressing
for political gains
Marcus Garvey
 Started the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement
Association) from his native Jamaica and he enrolled
½ million Americans
 Started the Back to Africa Movement
 Started the Black is beautiful theme
James Weldon Johnson
 African American – a lawyer
 Introduced anti lynching law to Congress because
between 1889-1919 there were 3,224 lynching
without a trial
 Ida Wells Barnett helped establish an anti lynching
league
Section 3: A Creative Era
Life as portrayed by the Lost Generation
writers
 War was devastating and useless.
 College life was superficial.
 Pursuit of wealth and status led to emptiness.
 Middle-class life was empty and required
conformity.
Section 3: A Creative Era
Inspirations for the visual arts and
architecture
 urban and industrial settings
 nobility of workers
 tyranny of the wealthy
 Sullivan’s ideas about form and function
 Frank Lloyd Wright’s “prairie style”
SECTION 3
A Creative Era
PORTRAYAL OF AMERICAN LIFE BY LOST GENERATION WRITERS
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sinclair Lewis
showed the
devastation and
uselessness
of war
revealed
superficiality of
college life and the
emptiness
associated with
the pursuit of
status and wealth
discussed the
emptiness and
conformity of
middle-class life