Thinking Slide:
List some of the most famous
people in the U.S.
Fads:
- something people
follow with great
excitement for a short
period of time
Flappers – women
who cut their hair
short and wore loose
clothing that flapped
in the wind
Fads included- (1)
Flag pole sitting, (2)
Dance Marathons, and
(3) Flappers…
Radio:
-Like
today’s TV, families
would gather around the
radio for news and
entertainment
On Nov. 2, 1920,
Pittsburgh Radio station
KDKA was the 1st to
report the presidential
election results (who
won?).
-
-By
1929, 10 million
radios were in American
households
Nickelodeons
-Called
Nickelodeons
because they only
cost a nickel for
admission.
-Early
movies were
silent until…
-The
Jazz Singer,
starring Al Jolsen
was the first movie
with sound.
1920s
Sports:
-Organized
sports
became more popular,
Americans made
celebrities out of star
athletes
-Jim
Thorpe was
considered one of the
greatest athletes of the
1920s
-Babe
Ruth would
become one of
baseball’s greatest
homerun hitters.
Daredevils:
-Charles
Lindbergh became
the 1st person to fly across the
Atlantic (many died before
him)
-His
plane was called “The
Spirit of St. Louis”
-A
year later, Amelia Earhart
became the 1st woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic Ocean
The Harlem Renaissance
Two forms of music emerged from the
1920s. Blues and Jazz. Listen to the next
two songs. Tell me which is Jazz and
which is Blues. Also, What is the
difference? (instruments, rythmn, etc.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQCwoas3rk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N1ZSXfFD_M
Terms
Harlem is an area of New York
City which became a black
community during the
twenties.
Renaissance means a rebirth
or revival of intellectual
and/or artistic achievement.
(Michaelangelo was a product
of the Italian Renaissance,
which marked the transition
from medieval to modern
times.)
As a result, Harlem became
the nation’s largest AfricanAmerican community in the
1920s.
Purpose of the
Harlem
Renaissance:
This literary movement gave
black men and women a chance
to create their own images and
express their unique experiences
as black Americans in the United
States.
College-educated African
American men and women
flocked to Harlem to share their
ideas, write poetry and novels,
paint pictures, and produce
movies. Their written and
artistic works celebrated the
vitality of life and reflected the
black cultural heritage.
African-Americans found a new
sense of independence and
developed pride in their own
traditions.
- As a result, Harlem became
the country’s largest African
American Community in the
1920s
Problems of the
Harlem
Renaissance:
1.
2.
3.
Overcrowding and high
rents. Often, White land
lords would charge rent
that was far above the
market value.
Unable to support
themselves with their art,
African Americans often
took menial jobs. Often
causing dissention
amongst AfricanAmericans.
Whites would flock to
Harlem for entertainment
but still did not accept
African-Americans as
equals. Banning them
from the Harlem theaters
and clubs where they
performed.
Blues Music

Formed in the Mississippi
Delta
Developed from Spirituals
that enslaved AfricanAmericans sung
 Instruments used were:
1. guitar 2. harmonica 3.
piano
* W.C. Handy was
considered the “Father of
Blues Music”
Jazz Music





Developed in the South (Cities
like New Orleans)
Some Jazz musicians include:
Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton,
Edward “Duke” Ellington and
Charlie “Bird” Parker
Jazz music was so captivating
that people often refer to the
1920s as The Jazz Age.
Inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to
write “The Great Gatsby”,
capturing the spirit of the Jazz
age
2 new styles of music
“Enslaved” by Claude
McKay














OH when I think of my long-suffering race,
For weary centuries despised, oppressed,
Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place
In the great life line of the Christian West;
And in the Black Land disinherited,
Robbed in the ancient country of its birth,
My heart grows sick with hate, becomes as
lead,
For this my race that has no home on earth.
Then from the dark depths of my soul I cry
To the avenging angel to consume
The white man's world of wonders utterly:
Let it be swallowed up in earth's vast womb,
Or upward roll as sacrificial smoke
To liberate my people from its yoke!
“The City’s Love” by
Claude McKay








For one brief golden moment rare
like wine,
The gracious city swept across the
line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien
guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart
to win,
Caught me in passion to her
pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a
strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour
my pride to prove.
Poetry from Harlem