Music and literature in post-war America
The 1920’s was the golden age in post war America, the economy was booming, women were granted suffrage and more social independence but this time was also coined as “The Jazz Age”. This was due to the movement happening in Harlem, New York known as the Harlem Renaissance which was the widespread movement of African American culture through music and literature which was mainly poetry. Famous musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong were staples in the music part of the Renaissance as Ellington was known for writing thousands of songs for stage, screen and contemporary songbook. Possibly the most famous jazz musician ever was Louis Armstrong, he was able to make jazz so popular during this age that it started to be performed not only in Harlem, but in speakeasies all over the country which helped spread the influence of African American culture to people of all ethnicities.
The literature side of the Harlem Renaissance was dominated by great writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Hughes wrote many works of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and children’s books that he made that help to promote racial equality, condemn racism and celebrated African American culture, humor, and spirituality. Hurston was a novelists famously known for her book Their Eyes Were Watching God that inspired women with self empowerment and self reliance. All these great influential people and movements could have only of happened in Harlem due to it being a predominantly African American neighborhood and the increase of racial pride and expression would’ve only have meant that the renaissance could have only of happened here.
How did women’s fashions change in the twenties? Have these styles survived or ever been revived? How do they reflect the new freedoms many women were enjoying in the twenties?
Since the start of civilized time, women have been made to wear clothes that cover them up and preserve their modesty. However, after WWI women were granted the right vote after their service in factory jobs helping in the war efforts. This time of progression in jobs and suffrage had lowered the social standards for women and this lack of normal standards greatly affected clothing. Fashion went from long dresses that covered the whole body and women with long hair to short dresses that went higher up the leg and cutting their hair short. The fashion was referred to as “free spirited” and represented the move into the jazz age and women gaining rights and independence. Some other trends included wearing looser fitting clothes that provide better freedom of movement for women and women also adopted loose fitting undergarments such as the camisole which replaced the traditional victorian. In modern time some of these styles have been revived such as the shorter clothing as women are allowed to wear clothing that doesn’t have to cover a lot of skin and creations such as new undergarments and even more looser fitting clothes that provide even greater freedom in the modern age that allows women to participate in more activities that men have done such as sports, business and even help in the military. These new fashion choices had shown the freedom and independence that women gained the 1920’s. This is shown as many women became known as “flappers” or party girl with an intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behavior. Women were able to go out dancing and party during the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties showing off new styles and many prominent female fashion designers came out and helped create new styles that let women enjoy their new found independence and freedom.
Research Marcus Garvey and his “Back to Africa” movement to resettle African Americans in Africa during the 1920’s. Who was receptive to his message, and why?
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican-born black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement. He and Booker T. Washington, a prominent black civil rights leader who was born into slavery, worked together with him which raised his popularity. He also was the leader of the UNIA(the Universal Negro Improvement Association) which he founded in 1914. The UNIA’s goal was to promote racial equality and to help blacks improve themselves in the face of white discrimination.
As the leader of the UNIA, he spread his ideas of black nationalism to the public. He believed that African Americans’ quest for social equality was delusional as the could not assimilate with white people. His most prevalent idea was that blacks should move back to Africa to create their own society and that sparked the Back to Africa movement. This was due to the aforementioned claim Garvey made and also because of religious movement. After the Great Awakening, slaves became Christians and evangelicals felt that they couldn’t hold “their brothers and sisters captive.” So Reverend Moses Tichnell and Reverend Samuel R. Houston freed slaves to Liberia in 1855 and 1856 so that they could be more connected with their roots.
The claim he made was found to be very controversial. The Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group, was the one that supported Marcus Garvey’s ideas who was a black nationalist. They supported it because white nationalists had a deep hate for African Americans and it’s almost as if Garvey himself was driving the blacks out of America which the KKK wanted so that the idea of white supremacy would prevail in America. The Ku Klux Klan grand master even agreed to meet with Garvey. This led to him having black enemies such as A. Philip Randolph and W. E. B DuBois, another civil rights leader that was the first black man to get a Phd at Harvard and encouraged other blacks to get a liberal arts education. Also, this led to Garvey being supervised by J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI and his eventual arrest in 1922 because of mail fraud with relation to the Black Star Line, Garvey’s shipping company that would ship goods to Africa and also African American people.
Negro World is the voice of the UNIA. Marcus Garvey created this in 1918 in Harlem, New York as a way to educate African people about the need of racial uplift and self-determination. It had garnered international attention, which also resulted in an increase of people who were interested in joining the UNIA, which had around 4 million members in 1920. His writing impacted the African-American community and was able to spread his ideas through Negro World.
Explain why the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was so controversial. What was the general feeling towards immigrants at the time and how might that have affected the trial’s outcome?
The case of Nicola Sacco, a 32 year old shoemaker and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a 29 year old fish peddler was very well known in the 1920s. They were accused of double murder. The paymaster and guard were shot to death during a robbery and the guard had $15,776 on him at the time of the robbery. Sacco and Vanzetti were charged 3 weeks after the incident. This unfolded into one of the most controversial cases in America since they were being persecuted because of their radical beliefs and they were also immigrants
The case was so controversial due to the fact that they were Italian immigrants who were also anarchists, which are people who oppose any form of government. There was a heightened concern of immigrants because of the Red Scare, the spread of communism after Lenin took control of Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and people thought that they were dangerous. So Attorney General Arnold Palmer raided known Communists’ homes to get rid of the threat. Sacco and Vanzetti were targeted for their beliefs and the evidence provided was flimsy and not conclusive. The judge even made derogatory remarks towards Sacco and Vanzetti. However, they were both found guilty and were sentenced to death by the electric chair. Protests rang out in the United States and even in Latin America and Europe. They came out in support and poet Edna St. Vincent donated the money she made from her poem “Justice Denied in Massachusetts” to their defense. So people saw the injustice that occurred.
The general feeling towards immigrants was mostly negative. The rise of communism was prominent and that led to some paranoia about whether or not immigrants were affiliated with the Soviet Union or communism in general. So the anti-Communist sentiment was due to the growing threat of communism. That had a momentous effect on the trial as their beliefs overtook themselves and showed the nativist attitude they had. People were no longer judging off of evidence, which was already inconclusive. They had assumed they committed the crime because they were immigrants and also anarchists. They were mistreated and that led to their deaths. If not for the anti-Communist beliefs and unfair treatment, there would have been a chance that they could have been acquitted.
What was the Stock Market Crash of 1929?
Amid the 1920s, the U.S. stock market experienced quick development and growth, achieving its top in August 1929, after very speculative period of time. At that point, creation of products had just declined and obdurate joblessness had risen, leaving stocks in incredible abundance of their genuine value. Among alternate reasons for the market breakdown were low wages, the increase in debt , a battling farming sector and an overabundance of vast bank advances that couldn’t be exchanged.
In early September and October of 1929 stock prices began to decline, and on October 18 the prices began to plummet. This started a panic and on October 24 a record number 12,894,650
stocks were traded. This day was known as Black Thursday. On Friday there was moderate rally because of a couple investment companies and leading bankers that were trying to stabilize the market by buying huge amounts of stock. On Monday the market went into a huge free fall. After Black Monday came Black Tuesday where 16,410,030 shares were traded in one day on the New York Stock Exchange. Billions of dollars were lost, clearing out a great many financial specialists, and stock tickers ran hours behind on the grounds that the hardware couldn’t deal with the enormous volume of exchanging.
After October 29, 1929, stock prices couldn’t go anywhere but up, so during the following weeks there was a considerable recovery. However, overall prices continued to fall as the United States plummeted into the Great Depression, and stocks in the summer of 1929 were worth only about 20 percent of their value by 1932.The 1929 stock market crash was not the only cause of the Great Depression, but it acted to accelerate the collapse of the global economy, which was also a symptom. Almost half of America’s banks had failed by 1933, and unemployment was approaching 15 million people, or 30% of the workforce.
The stock market crash helped bring us into the Great Depression because any people were buying stocks on margin. This means they bought shares for a fraction of the cost but they would still need to pay it off with the money they didn’t or did make. When the market crash happened no one had money to pay off the shares. Now that people were broke and out of money they also didn’t have money to pay for all the stuff they were buying on credit. This led to huge amounts of bankruptcy and foreclosure.
19.2.2019