1. Cultural Achievements and African
American Achievements in the 1920’s

2. Art and Literature
Charles Lindberg flew from NY
to Paris, France.
Became national hero; first
transatlantic flight.

3. Greenwich Village (New York) and
the South Side (Chicago)
 Many artists,
writers, and
intellectuals
flocked to these
areas to share ideas
 People lead
bohemian, or
artistic and
unconventional,
lifestyles

4. Modern American Art
European art began to influence
American art.
Cubism and realism were new forms
of art

5. Poets and Writers
 Poets and writers of the 20’s were very
different than previous times
 Carl Sandberg used common speech to
glorify the Midwest
 T.S. Eliot described a world of ”empty
men and hollow dreams," showing the
20s weren't perfect

6. Poets and Writers
 Eugene O'neill was a playwright; wrote
realistic, tragic plays
 Ernest Hemingway - one of the most
famous American writers of all time;
wrote about anti-heroes (or flawed main
characters); wrote in a direct or simple
way
 F. Scott Fitzgerald - wrote The Great
Gatsby, a book that exposed the
superficiality of the 1920s lifestyle.
 Question: What seems different about
these writers from the writers who
came before them?

7. II. Popular Culture
Sports
 Thanks to radio and movies,
baseball and boxing became
incredibly popular.
 Babe Ruth, baseball's homerun
king (at the time), became a
national hero
 Jack Dempsey was boxing's
heavyweight champ from 1919 to
1926.
 Football, tennis, and golf all also
gained in popularity.

8. Hollywood
 Movies still had no
sound yet. Someone
in the theater played
piano; movie had
subtitles.
 Charlie Chaplin was
a famous silent movie
star.
 1927 - The Jazz Singer
- the first "talkie" or
movie with sound

9. Popular Radio Shows and Music
 In 1920 there was one
radio station. In 1922
there were 400.
 One popular radio show
was Amos 'n' Andy. It
was about two African
Americans and the
trouble they got into, yet
it was acted out by two
white actors; reinforced
negative stereotypes.

10. What’s wrong with this picture?

11.  Mass Media: radio,
movies, newspapers,
magazines. (Not TV yet).
These things did more than
entertain. They unified the
United States. They spread
new ideas and attitudes.
 Question: Why was mass
advertising, the radio,
and movies important in
the 1920s?

12. 7.3 African American Culture

13. I. The Harlem Renaissance
 Thousands of blacks had moved
northing during the Great
Migration to escape
segregation, find better jobs,
and build better lives
 New York City was one such
place; In Harlem, they created
an environment of art, racial
pride, sense of community, and
political organization: this is
known as the Harlem
Renaissance.

14. The Writers
 Claude McKay - from
Jamaica; shocked by racism
in America; wrote boldly,
defiantly about racism in
two books of poetry
 Langston Hughes - born in
Missouri; leading writer of
African American experience
in America. Wrote about
African American
achievements.

15. I, Too by Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

16. Question: Artists during the
Harlem Renaissance such as
Langston Hughes and Claude
McKay shared what common
theme in their art?

17. Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
 Jazz - improvisational
music introduced by
Louis Armstrong
 Duke Ellington had
a ragtime sound
 Many black musicians
got their start at the
Cotton Club, a
famous Harlem
nightclub.

18.  Bessie Smith –
famous blues singer;
at one time the
highest paid singer
in U.S.
 Blues – soulful style
of music that
involved themes of
love, poverty,
oppression

19. II. African American Politics
The NAACP Battle Lynching
 NAACP = National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
 Fought, often unsuccessfully, against
discrimination
 The main issue they fought for was
anti-lynching laws (failed during 1920s
and 30s)
 One success: they were able to help
block the nomination of a racist
Supreme Court Justice, John Parker.

21. Black Nationalism and Marcus
Garvey
 Marcus Garvey – a dynamic
black leader from Jamaica
 became very popular; argued for
African American self-reliance.
 Proposed a plan for black
Americans to return to start a new
country in Africa; became a “fringe
movement” and failed.
 He was eventually arrested and
deported.

22. Question: Why did the NAACP
and Marcus Garvey’s “Back to
Africa” movement exist?