The 1920sThe Jazz Age

Why it Matters…

» The 1920s was a decade of rapid change and clashing values.

» Nativism again became popular, with many Americans wanting to focus on tradition and “traditional culture”.

» However, there was also a rising youth culture, that saw these values and wanted to rebel.

» Huge advancements in art, literature, and music, changed American society.

» For the first time, there were real celebrities - Hollywood actors, jazz musicians, models and “vamps”, explorers…

» Some say the ‘20s were the first “modern” age.

Anti-Immigrant feeling

» At the beginning of the 1920s, there were a few trends happening in America.-> Following WWI, there was a nation-wide recession

-> An influx of immigrants, and increasing racial and cultural tensions led to racism and nativism.

-> Nativism - anti-immigrant feeling» Many immigrants were coming

from Europe. Many Americans saw these immigrants as a threat to stability.

-> Immigrants were also a threat to jobs - millions of men had returned from war, and needed to return to their jobs.

-> Many new immigrants faced ethnic and religious prejudice.

Anti-Immigrant feeling

-> On April 15, 1920, two men shot and killed two employees of the Slater & Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, MA.

» The two killers then robbed the company.

-> Police arrested Nicola Sacco, shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish-seller.

» Newspapers revealed that the two men were anarchists, and that Sacco owned a gun similar to the murder weapon.

-> Before there could really be an investigation though, many jumped to the conclusion that Sacco and Vanzetti had committed the murders.Why would people jump to this conclusion?

Vanzetti Sacco

Sacco & Vanzetti

» Many assumed Sacco and Vanzetti had committed the murders because they were anarchists, and immigrants.

-> Without much evidence, Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty, and sentenced to death.

-> Many Americans applauded the verdict - anti-foreign and nativist feelings made people have an “us vs. them” attitude.

-> Over the next 6 years, Sacco, Vanzetti, and their lawyers fought the case. However, they were executed August 23, 1927.

» The entire time, they proclaimed their innocence.

Eugenics

-> Nativist and racist feelings in the 1920s were reinforced by a new movement - eugenics.

-> Eugenics is a psuedo-science (false science) that deals with improving hereditary traits.

» It was first developed in Europe, but became popular in the United States

-> Eugenics emphasized that human inequalities were inherited, and warned against “breeding the ‘unfit’ and ‘inferior’.”

» Eugenics seemed to support the nativist belief that the “original” group of Americans were superior.

» According to eugenics, white Protestants of northern European descent were the “ideal” group.

» This psuedo-science also gave fuel to racism.

Immigration Control

» After WWI, American immigration policies changed.

» Nativists argued to “Keep America American”

-> 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Emergency Quota Act.

» The Act established a quota system, limiting immigration.

-> According to the Act, only 3% of the total number in any ethnic group could immigrate in a year.

-> The Act appeared to be fair, but discriminated against Eastern Europeans.

The New Morality

->Many Americans during the 1920s embraced a “new morality”»Ideals of a happy family, a good career, and good friends became popular.»Women were also working outsidethe home more and more, especially single women.->These women – ones who worked in offices and as secretaries – were often called Girl Fridays.

» Women also attended college more frequently in the 1920s, and found support for their sense of independence.

-> The prevalence of the car also gave a new sense of freedom to 1920s youth.

Fashion

» Fashion also developed during the1920s

-> Women cut their hair into “bobs”, and wore pantyhose and stockings, paired with short dresses.

» The chic “flapper” became a style icon-> Flappers were young, dramatic, stylish and importantly, unconventional. The flapper smoked cigarettes, drank prohibited alcohol, and dressed in short skirts.

-> Coco Chanel became a fashion icon as well – her “little black dress” was soon in every closet.

Women’s Suffrage

» During the 1920s, women also fought for the right to vote – and won.

-> August 18, 1920: Speaker of the house, Gillett, signed the 19th Amendment.

-> Women are now granted the right to vote.

» Women had fought for the right to vote for nearly 100 years – many suffragettes did not live to see women get the vote.

Prohibition

-> Many progressives and traditionalists also supported prohibition - the banning of alcohol.

» Many believed the prohibition of alcohol would reduce unemployment, and reduce crime.

-> The Eighteenth amendment was passed in January 1920 - prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol in the United States.

-> A new branch of the government, the Prohibition Unit had trouble enforcing prohibition.

» During the 1920s, agents made more than 540,000 arrests, but most Americans ignored the law.

-> Speakeasies flourished in major cities - 32,000 in New York City alone.

Crime

-> Because of prohibition, bootlegging became big business.

» Organized crime in major cities made money by supporting and supplying speakeasies.

-> In part because of this, organized crime groups became more and more powerful. In some cities, gangsters could “buy” politicians and police officers.

-> Al Capone, gangster, bootlegger, and crime boss, had judges and police on his payroll.

» Al Capone was finally brought to justice by Eliot Ness, an agent of a special Treasury Department task force. Al Capone’s official crime: tax evasion.

-> Ultimately, prohibition was ended by the 21st Amendment - which repealed the 18th.

Fundamentalists

» Although many Americans followed the “new morality”, others waned a return to traditional values.

-> These Fundamentalists formed a religious group - they wanted a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible, and a return to a traditional way of life.

-> Fundamentalists especially had a problem with evolution - which had recently been proposed by Charles Darwin.

» Eventually, this would lead to a clash between creationists and evolutionists in the Scopes Trial.

Scopes Trial

-> In 1925, Tennessee passed the Butler Act» This Act outlawed any teaching that denied

the story of creation as told in the Bible.» The American Civil Liberties Union

wanted to stand up to this Act, and so advertised for a teacher who would be willing to be arrested for teaching evolution.The ACLU wanted to prove a point.

» John T. Scopes, a high school biology teacher, volunteered.

-> Scopes was arrested and put on trial for teaching evolution. This is known as The Scopes Trial or The Scopes Monkey Trial.

-> Scopes was found guilty (thought the conviction was later overturned) and the Act remained in place.

-> However, this case was widely publicized, and made the fundamentalist movement lose a lot of support.

1920s Slang

- Like any era, the 1920s had its own slang…- Egg – a man (a tough guy is a ‘hard boiled egg’)

- Applesauce, Baloney, Banana Oil – nonsense (BS)

- Big Cheese – important person- Bee’s Knees – something/someone you like- Cake-eater, Drugstore Cowboy, Lounge Lizard – Ladies’ man

- Heebie-jeebies – to be creeped out- Hotsy-Totsy, Cat’s Pajamas – Cute/attractive girl

- Kiddo – girl or young person- Pinch/Pinched – to get arrested- Swell – Awesome, great, the best

1920s Art

- During the 1920s, American artists and writers challenged traditional ideals.

-> Artists such as Edward Hopper focused on realism, he wanted to show the disenchantment that people often felt with the world.

-> Other artists took their cue from Europe – cubism and the art deco style started to become very popular, especially in cities.

1920s Literature

- Poets and writers of the time period varied greatly.

- Some poets and critics had an important impact on the literary culture. Gertrude Stein could make or break someone’s career by giving them a review.

-> Important playwrights of the time included Eugene O’Neill, who for the first time in theatre showed real people in real situations.

-> Poets, such as T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes were also important, and popular during the time (as they are now).

-> Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and other writers and novelists focused mostly on realism – Fitzgerald wrote about the ‘20s themselves, while Hemmingway wrote on war.

Harlem Renaissance

- After WWI, the population of African Americans in northern cities increased greatly.

- The cities were full of nightclubs and music.-> No neighborhood was more popular during this time than Harlem.

-> Harlem is considered the “heart and soul” of the African American renaissance.

- It’s in Harlem that African Americans created an environment that led to huge advancements in the arts, literature, and music, as well as social change.

Harlem Renaissance

- Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago from New Orleans – introducing the first form of jazz.

-> Jazz is a style of music influenced by Dixieland music (southern music), and ragtime.

- Armstrong broke away from the New Orleans tradition of playing in a band or ensemble and began performing solos.

- Armstrong became the first great jazz musician. -> Duke Ellington was also highly influential –

his piano and full- band pieces helped to define the new jazz genre. Years later, Ellington wrote about the music:

“Everything, and I repeat everything had to swing. And that was just it, those cats really had it; they had that soul. And you know you can’t

just play some of this music without soul. Soul is very important.”

Politics

-> The same pride in culture that fueled the Harlem Renaissance also changed politics.-> African-Americans became a powerful voting group in the 1920s.-> In 1928, African-American voters in Chicago gained a majority, and helped to elect Oscar DePriest – the first African American representative in Congress from a Northern state. -DePriest introduced new laws: providing pensions to formerly enslaved African Americans, to declare Lincoln’s birthday a public holiday, and to fine and imprison those officials who allowed lynchings.

Why is it so important that DePriest was elected?

The NAACP

- Throughout the ‘20s, the NAACP battled against segregation and discrimination.

- NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

-> One of the NAACP’s major points was to protest against lynching – executions by hanging that were often done without trial.

- Many members of the NAACP fought for desegregation, and equality of all people. However, other groups began to emphasize African-American nationalism.

-> This “Negro Nationalism” would emphasize and celebrate the unique aspects of African-American culture.

Marcus Garvey

- Originally from Jamaica, Marcus Garvey became an important leader of the “Negro Nationalism” movement.

-> Inspired by Booker T. Washington's call for African-American self- reliance, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

-> The UNIA aimed to promote black pride and unity.

-> The central message of Garvey’s movement was that African Americans could gain political power by educating themselves.

- Garvey also advocated (supported) separation of African Americans from whites.

Marcus Garvey

-> Garvey ultimately lost support over time. -> He wanted to remove African Americans from the United States, and settle in Liberia, which alienated many people.-Many people who had once supported Garvey began distancing themselves from him because of his extreme statements.-Garvey also alienated prominent members of the Harlem Renaissance, by saying that they were “flatterers of the white man”. -Garvey was ultimately convicted of mail fraud, and deported back to Jamaica. -> Though Garvey lost support, he and his movement inspired many African Americans to be proud of their heritage, and to embrace their own unique culture.

Harding

-> Warren G. Harding was elected President in 1920. -> Harding ran on the campaign of normalcy – a return to normal life following WWI. -Harding seemed relaxed, and easygoing. At first, he was a very popular president. -However, Harding lost popularity by appointing his friends to important positions.-> The Ohio Gang was made up of Harding’s poker friends, and soon many were given positions with political power. -Several scandals also began during Harding’s term, however, they became Calvin Coolidge’s problem.-Harding died of a heart attack before his term ended.

Scandal

- After Harding’s death, several scandals came to light.

-> The biggest of these was the Teapot Dome Scandal. - Harding’s secretary of the interior, Albert Fall, had allowed private people to invest in land that was supposed to belong to the U.S. Navy. This land (in Teapot Dome, Wyoming) was very rich in oil.

-> Another scandal involved Harding’s attorney general, Harry Daugherty. - Daugherty had accepted portions of a bribe from a German politician. The politician was trying to organize the sale of a German company to the United States.

-> Daugherty further incriminated himself by refusing to turn over bank records, and refusing to testify.

- President Coolidge demanded Daugherty’s resignation.

Coolidge

- Coolidge was a very different president from Harding. Harding was easygoing, and loved to talk. Coolidge preferred his privacy and his silence.

- Coolidge made many new appointments to the Cabinet, and wanted to distance himself from Harding.

-> Coolidge believed that a big part of being President was to make sure that government interfered with business as little as possible.

-> Coolidge finished Harding’s term, and then ran for election in 1924.

-> His slogan “Keep Cool with Coolidge” was very successful. People liked the idea of a scandal- free presidency.

International

-> Both Harding and Coolidge supported the idea of isolationism. -This meant that America would focus on rebuilding its own economy and society following WWI, and would not get involved in foreign affairs.-> However, because America traded so much internationally, it was impossible not to get involved, at least to some degree.-> The Dawes Plan offered a solution to some of the problems people were facing in Europe.-The goal of the Dawes Plan was to stabilize the European economy so that America could continue to make money trading in Europe.

Dawes Plan

-> The Dawes Plan was an agreement between the United States, Britain, and Germany.-As part of the Treaty of Versailles (that ended WWI), Germany had to make reparations, or payments, to other countries. But they were in debt. -> According to the Dawes Plan, American banks would make loans to the Germans that would allow the Germans to make the payments they owed other countries.-Britain and France would also agree to accept less money from Germany, to ease the strain.-> Though it was well-intentioned, however, the money basically moved in a circle…

Dawes Plan

Abolishing War

- Americans also wanted the threat of foreign war to be removed.

- In 1928, American Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand proposed a treaty to outlaw war.

-> On August 27, 1928, the United States proposed the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

- Eventually 62 nations would sign it.-> Though it had no binding force, the pact was very popular – it stated that all countries who signed it would agree to try to settle their differences through peaceful means, instead of war.

Crash!

- The good times of the 1920s came to an end very suddenly.

-> Herbert Hoover won the election of 1928, prohibition was lifted, and it seemed like times were better than ever before.

-> However, in 1929, the stock market crashed.

-> The nation fell into a Great Depression.