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Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s, 1920-29 The Urban Scene 1920 census: 51.2% of Americans in communities 2500

Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s, 1920-29 The Urban Scene 1920 census: 51.2% of Americans in communities 2500 or more 1922-1929, nearly 2 million people leave farms/towns – move to urban areas Largest cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia Caught between rural, urban cultures

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Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s, 1920-29 The Urban Scene 1920 census: 51.2% of Americans in communities 2500

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  1. Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s, 1920-29 • The Urban Scene • 1920 census: 51.2% of Americans in communities 2500 or more • 1922-1929, nearly 2 million people leave farms/towns – move to urban areas • Largest cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia • Caught between rural, urban cultures • Prohibition Experiment • 18th Amendment

  2. Supported by religious groups, rural South, West • Prohibition – production, sale, transportation of alcohol illegal • Government does not budget enough money to enforce the law • Speakeasies – hidden saloons • People make own – • Bootleggers smuggle- increasing crime rate • Organized Crime • Prohibition contributes • Al Capone – controls liquor business – kills competitors • 19% support Prohibition

  3. 18th Amendment until 1933 – repealed by 21st • American Fundamentalism • Movement based on literal interpretation of Bible • Skeptical of some scientific discoveries, - reject theory of evolution • Believe all important knowledge can be found in Bible • Revivals – Billy Sunday – Aimee Semple McPherson uses showmanship while preaching on radio • Scopes Trial – 1925, Tennessee passes law making it a crime to teach evolution • John T. Scopes – challenges law

  4. Clarence Darrow – defends Scopes • William Jennings Bryan – special prosecutor • Debates evolution, role of science, religion • Bryan admits Bible open to interpretation; Scopes found guilty The Flapper • Emancipated young woman, adopts new fashions, attitudes • Want equal status • Housework, child-rearing still woman’s job • Double Standard – observe stricter standards of behavior • Elders disapprove new behavior

  5. New Work Opportunities • Employers replace female workers with men • Clerical workers • Sales clerks, factory workers – paid less • Changing Family • Birthrate drops partly due to more birth-control information • Housewives can focus more on families, pastimes, not housework • Marriage based on romantic love • Children spend most of day at school – resist parental control

  6. School Enrollments • High School population increases dramatically due to • Prosperity • High standards for industry jobs • College bound/voc tech • Prepare immigrant children • School taxes increase • Mass Media shapes mass culture • Local newspapers replaced by chains • Reader’s Digest, Time • Radio – can hear news as it happens

  7. New Found Leisure Time • Sports • Charles Lindbergh • Makes first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic • Silent movies • Then sound • Broke with European traditions • George Gershwin - jazz • Painters – realities, dreams • Georgia O’Keeffe – paints

  8. Writers • Sinclair Lewis – first American to win Nobel Prize for lit – criticizes conformity, materialism • F. Scott Fitzgerald - negative side of gaiety- said the 20s was the jazz age • Edna St. Vincent Millay celebrates youth, independence in poems • Move to Europe – Lost Generation • Ernest Hemingway – simple, tough, American style • 1910 – 1920 – Great Migration south to north • 1920 – 40% of African Americans live in cities • Racial tensions – 25 race riots in 1919 • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) protests racial violence-lynchings

  9. James Weldon Johnson leader of NAACP fights for civil rights legislation • Marcus Garvey - Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) • Black Pride, businesses, return to Africa • Harlem Renaissance • Harlem largest black urban area • Literary, artistic movement, express pride in African-American experience • Claude McKay’s poems – resist prejudice, discrimination • Langston Hughes’s poems describe difficult lives or working class – many written in jazz, blues tempo • Zora Neale Hurston – folkways, values of poor blacks

  10. African-American performers win large followings • Paul Robeson – major actor • Jazz born in early 20th century New Orleans • Trumpeter Louis Armstrong makes personal expression key part of jazz • Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington – jazz pianist, orchestra leader – one of America’s greatest composers • Cab Calloway, Armstrong popularize scat (improvised jazz singing) • Bessie Smith – Blues singer – best vocalist of decade

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