14-3+USH

Abby Regan 3/9/12 USHCP Mr. Masterson

Key Terms: Jazz: Music combining a variety of musical styles; originating with African American musicians in New Orleans and gained national popularity in the 1920s. Blues: Music that grew out of slave music and religious spirituals, featured heartfelt lyrics and altered or slurred notes that echoed the mood of the lyrics. Harlem Renaissance: Period of great African American artistic accomplishment that began in the 1920s in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Lost Generation: A group of writers whose works reflected the horrors of the death and destruction of WWI and criticized consumerism and superficiality in the post war society.

Key People: Bessie Smith: Blues singer that helped appeal blues music to a wider audience. Louis Armstrong: A jazz musician in New Orleans that began to use blues in his music. Bix Biederbecke: A white musician that incorporated jazz into his music. Duke Ellington: A famous jazz musician. Langston Hughes: An African American poet who focused on everyday experiences of African Americans. Paul Robeson: One of the most critically successful actors of the 1920s who was African American. Rose McClendon: Another leading African American actor. James Weldon Johnson: One of the most active Harlem Renaissance supporters. Ernest Hemingway: A writer of the Lost Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Author of the Great Gatsby, another Lost Generation writer. Alfred Stieglitz: A man who helped make photography popular. Diego Rivera: A mural painter from Mexico

Summary:

Music
 * The 1920s is often referred to as the Jazz Age because jazz music originated in that time.

The Emergence of Jazz
 * Many musicians began experimenting with improvisation, which is how blues came to be.
 * As blues became more popular, many jazz musicians incorporated it into their music.

Jazz Moves North
 * Many African Americans moved north in the late 1910s, and brought jazz music with them.
 * The Creole Jazz Band became famous in Chicago.

The Popularization of Jazz
 * Musicians of many different backgrounds started using jazz elements in their music.
 * Because it was dancing music, many people started adding new twists to traditional dances, such as the cheek to cheek fox-trot.
 * Jazz club emerged, but many only let white people in, even when the entertainers were black.
 * Jazz music expressed the many feelings that came with being black, including sadness, pain, and joy.
 * Many people of different racial backgrounds traveled to France, either because of the greater racial tolerance or because of the artistic spirit.

The Harlem Renaissance
 * In the 1920s, many African Americans expressed pride in the heritage, especially in Harlem.

Theatre
 * African American theatre became more popular and more critically acclaimed in the 1920s due to the soulful interpretation of the people.
 * Although there was still discrimination in the theatre business, many African Americans produced and staged several successful Broadway shows.

Literature
 * African American writers wrote with bitterness and defiance, but also included hope and joy in their works.
 * Harlem poets celebrated their racial background but still recognized the problems many African Americans faced.
 * James Weldon Johnson excelled as a student and studied classic poetry and was an official in NAACP.
 * As a writer Johnson produced a wide variety of works.
 * Johnson's main claim to fame was his support of other authors.
 * Johnson supported the arts because he thought that the Harlem Renaissance would help the "everyone should be treated equal" cause.

The Lost Generation
 * The Harlem Renaissance identified with a new type of writers, the Lost Generation.

Stories of Disillusionment
 * Ernest Hemingway served as an ambulance driver during WWI, and in his writing expressed his anger of and uselessness of the war.
 * F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed his concerns of the jazz age by writing books such as the Great Gatsby, which portrayed a man's pursuit for money and happiness.
 * Fitzgerald's life paralleled some of his character's tragic experiences.

Criticizing The Middle Class
 * Sinclair Lewis criticized the emptiness and conformity of the middle class in his books.
 * H.L. Mencken criticized the works of the Lost Generation, and often made fun of those who opposed the Jazz age.

The Visual Arts
 * Artists of the 1920s brought attention to impact of growing cities and and the increased use of technology on American life.

Painting and Photography
 * Many 1920s painters made paintings of cities and industrial scenery.
 * Photography became very popular in the 1920s as photographers experimented with the objects they took pictures of.

Murals
 * Murals originated in Mexico, and they portrayed the wealth and joys of ordinary people.
 * Rivera focused on workers problems and industrial developments in his American murals.
 * Some Americans found Rivera's paintings and views on politics offensive.

Architecture
 * Architecture was another way of expressing creativity in the 1920s.
 * Frank Lloyd Wright, who trained under famous architect Louis Sullivan, developed the prairie style of architecture.
 * Many architects shared Sullivan and Wright's idea that a building's materials and form should reflect it's purpose.
 * NYC experienced a rapid growth of skyscraper construction in the 1920s, and the Chrysler and Empire State buildings were built during this time.