The Jazz Age in the 1920’s
Grade: 8th
Unit: The Roaring Twenties
WARNING: This unit may create an
appreciation of jazz, art and literature of
the 1920’s.
Table of Contents
• Changing Fashions - People in Societies
and Culture
• New Music and Musicians-World
Interactions, American Heritage
• New Generation of Writers-American
Heritage
• The Harlem Renaissance- Culture
– Art
Table of Contents
Heroes of the Roaring Twenties-Science and
Technology
– Charles Lindbergh
– Henry Ford
Democratic Practices
– Censorship?
– Stock Market Crash
– Nineteenth Amendment
Overview of the Jazz Age
Why were the 1920’s called the Roaring
Twenties and the Jazz Age?
Have student preview the answer to
this question by visiting the following
website:
http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/k
c/ decade20.html#events
The Roaring Twenties:
A Revolution?
Student should watch video The Roaring
Twenties on the following concepts:
• Consumer revolution
• Commercialization of leisure
• Revolution in manners and morals
• automobile culture
• Harlem Renaissance
People in Societies/Culture
Changing Fashions
Presenting Fast Facts
 A New York City newspaper
reported on 09/28/22 that a
young woman wore
“knickerbockers and a coat of
mannish cut, done in robin’s egg
blue, and swung a bamboo
cane. Knee length stockings, a
masculine collar, and a hat…..
-Frederick Schwarz, “The Time
Machine”
Fads, Knickers and Flappers
Learn more about this topic by viewing
parts of several films and hearing clips
of radio broadcasts.
• Internet:www.sns.com/~rbotti/main.htm- Find
“Boarding the Silver Screen” in the Flapper
Station.
• Interpret transparency of the Battle of Big Horns
p. D-57 in American Nation Resources.
• Recreate a radio show using findings in the
internet site.
Harlem Renaisssance
Musicians
Teachers and Students!
Duke Ellington Online Activities
http:http://dellington.org/lessons/lesson00.html
http://www.harlem.org/ Students can form a complete
biography on various artists by picking and clicking on
them in this photo.
Harlem Renaissance
Activities:
 Map Mystery-Why Was it a Renaissance?
Defines the word “Renaissance” and asks
student to determine whether it had taken
place according to a map
Read Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader.
Viking, 1994.
Complete reproducible pages in American
Nation Resources p.57 “Roots of American
Music” p.58 “Great Figures in American Music”
Listen to audiocassette Take the A Train by
Louis Armstrong
Writers and Authors
• Zora Neale Hurston Their
Eyes Were Watching God
• Ernest Hemingway The
Old Man and the Sea
• Langston Hughes
Selected Poems of
Langston Hughes. New
York, Alfred Knopf, 1954.
Writers and Authors
Activities:
Biography Flashcard - Who Am I?
Students are to guess which writer is being
described based off of information given.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by
Langston Hughes. Student can connect
the rivers that the author speaks of with
a cultural heritage of African Americans.
Art and Culture
Writers and artist of the
Harlem Renaissance often
stressed the African
Heritage of black
Americans. What point
do you think this artist is
making?
The Automobiles
The 1920’s would not be the
same without the automobile.
Students should visit the Henry
Ford Website.
*An actual visit would make a
great field trip
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf
Charles Lindbergh
Students should read “The Lindbergh
Baby Kidnapping” American History
Students can formulate a plan to
survive in the Atlantic with no map,
no parachute, and no radio.
The Nineteenth Amendment
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution
extending the right of suffrage to women.
Visit this website to investigate further
http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/
decade20.html#events
The Stock Market Crash
• During the 1920s, stocks and bonds were
frequently sold to investors on the basis of glittering
promises of fantastic profits - without disclosure of
any meaningful information. The securities laws of
the United States were developed by Congress in
the early 1930s as a direct response to these
market abuses, which were blamed in large part for
the disastrous Stock Market Crash of 1929, and the
ensuing Great Depression. As a result, the
regulation of investment securities is one of the few
areas in American law that starts with a
presumption that the regulated conduct is illegal.
Stock Market ActivityProduction/Consumption
What caused the stock market
to crash?
Visit this website and identify
two things that could be
linked to the boom and bust
theory.
http://www.nyse.com/search/
search.html
Debates
• Was the Jazz Age a revolutionary period?
• Is music a bad influence on people?
• Should music and literature be censored?