U.S. History / Unit 7: The 1920s, Great Depression and New Deal
7.3 The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance
Notes
- Jazz, rooted in Black musical traditions from New Orleans, spread nationwide through radio and records. Stars included Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
- Flappers were young women who cut their hair short, wore shorter skirts and challenged traditional rules.
- Movies (the first major "talkie," The Jazz Singer, in 1927) and sports heroes like Babe Ruth created a national popular culture.
- The Harlem Renaissance: a flowering of Black art, music and literature centered in Harlem, New York. Writers included Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay.
- Marcus Garvey promoted Black pride and economic independence, and a "back to Africa" movement.
- The Great Migration made Northern cities centers of Black culture.
Practice
The Harlem Renaissance was:
Writers like Langston Hughes celebrated Black life and identity.
A young woman in 1925 bobs her hair, dances to jazz and wears a short skirt. She would be called a:
Flappers symbolized new freedoms and changing roles for women.
Which leader urged Black pride and economic independence and started a "back to Africa" movement?
Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association had a large following in the 1920s.
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