2. The Harlem Renaissance
• A new group of African-American intellectuals
was forming a new type of culture in Harlem.
• This brought jazz music to the mainstream
with the opening of many nightclubs, such as
the Cotton Club.
• Such famous jazz musicians were Duke
Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Fletcher
Henderson.
• Harlem also became known for its theaters.
3. Cont.
• Although audiences were mostly made up of
African-Americans, they also contained many
whites.
• This renaissance became a major source of
literature and art.
• It was heavily influenced by African culture.
• Key figures: Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and
Zora Neale Hurston.
• Langston Hughes: “I am a Negro-and
beautiful.”
4. Lost Generation
• The young generation of the 1920s that felt
much opposition towards the ideals of the
new society.
• They were influenced by the traditional
principles of the older generations.
• Unlike the older generations, they did not
want to reform society.
• They wanted to get away from it in order to
work for personal fulfillment.
5. Cont.
• Key figures:
Ernest Hemingway-A Farewell to Arms (1929)
F. Scott Fitzgerald-The Great Gatsby (1925)
6. Creation of Mass Culture: Radio
• The radio was highly growing in popularity
throughout the 1920s.
• Most families owned a radio towards the end of
the decade.
• It was a great source for entertainment and
information.
• KDKA-Pittsburgh-1920-First commercial American
radio station.
• The National Broadcasting Company-1927-First
national radio network.
7. Creation of Mass Culture: Movies
• Throughout the 1920s, the amount of people
watching movies was vastly increasing by tens
of millions.
• The first talkie-The Jazz Singer (1927)
• Movies were largely influential in society.
• Ex: The Birth of a Nation
8.
9.
10. Creation of Mass Culture: Popular
Magazines
• Some magazines were directed to the rural
South.
• Ex: The Saturday Evening Post
• Many other magazines were contemporary and
wanted to be efficient and convenient for its
readers.
• Ex: The Reader’s Digest-1921-DeWitt and Lila
Wallace
Time magazine-1923-Henry Luce and Briton
Hadden
11.
12. Leisure Time, Sports, Amusement Parks,
and National Parks
• During the 1920s, most Americans were
becoming preoccupied with consumerism and
materialistic beliefs.
• The advancement in the automobile allowed for a
substantial amount of Americans to travel to new
places.
• As a result, Americans focused more on their
leisure time than previous generations, which led
to them going to sporting events, amusement
parks, and national parks.
13.
14.
15. Cont.
• Baseball was America’s past time with icon
baseball teams such as:
• Brooklyn Dodgers
• New York Yankees, including the infamous Babe
Ruth that hit 60 homeruns in one season.
• Boston Red Sox. etc
• Baseball games would attract mass crowds and
fill up stadiums with a large crowd of over
thousands.
17. Cont.
• Amusement Parks provided different ways that
families would spend time.
• Ex:
• Coney Island
• Santa Monica Pier
• National Parks were another way people would
spend their leisure time.
• Many of them took the family on the open roads.
• Ex: Yosemite National Park
