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The 1920's is often called the Jazz Age , because of the importance of the new form of African American music.This ‘rebirth’ in the interest of African American culture became known as the “Harlem Renaissance”. The Renaissance was more than just about the music, it included dance, visual arts, literature, and poetry. -
Publisher found that average people bought sheet music for popular tunes, just so they could play this music at home.
Vaudeville became the most popular form of entertainment and its shows had a great need for music. Musicians like, Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin became famous. -
During the 1920s many African Americans began moving out of the South to the ‘Promised Land’ of the Northern cities.
This mass movement became known as the Great Migration.
They left in search of jobs in the industrial cities, and to escape sharecropping, tenant farming, and the deep racism of the South. It changed the culture of these northern cities, especially Harlem, a section of New York. -
The 18th Amendment known as prohibition is the ban on making and selling of alcohol. When this went into effect saloons were forced to close down. People who liked alcohol didn't like the government interfering, and found ways to get a hold of it. An example was going to speakeasies, illegal nightclubs. Other people made their living by selling alcohol they were known as bootleggers. Another result of the amendment was high crime levels. -
Women wanted equality with men in all areas.
In 1920, the 19th amendment gave women suffrage or the right to vote. -
In 1920, Warren Harding won the presidency a landslide Pres. Harding captured the national spirit with his campaign slogan of ‘return to normalcy’. Harding focused less on foreign policy and more on peace and prosperity at home.
Under Harding the USA refused to join the League of Nations, lowered taxes, and restricted immigration. -
The single most important factor behind the prosperity of the 1920's was the expanded use of the automobile. Cars greatly affected all aspects of American life, as ownership rose from 8 to 24 million owners. By 1929 1 out of every 9 jobs was in an auto-related business. It also stimulated other industries like oil, steel, glass, & rubber. -
In the 1920's many southern states passed laws making it illegal to teach Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in schools. John Scopes taught evolution in his Tennessee Biology class and was arrested and put on trial for it. The Scopes Monkey Trial became the most sensational trial of the decade. -
In the 1920's a $25,000 reward was offered to the 1st person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the mail. On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic. Lindbergh’s flight made him a national hero and he opened the way for commercial flights between America and Europe! -
Amelia Earhart was the first women passenger to cross the Atlantic . -
The American public saw that prohibition was a ‘failed experiment’.People had been unwilling to accept the law, Pres. Harding even served alcohol in the House. The 21st Amendment repealed or did away with prohibition. Prohibition proved that unpopular laws are often unenforceable