African-American Culture During The 1920's

The 1920’s was a great and important decade for the United States. After World War I, the United States went through events and changes that, overall, made the United States a much better place to live. New advances in technology and industry improved American life in more ways than just one. Americans had better wages during this time, more leisure time, and overall, had a better life than ever before. In addition, the 1920’s advocated social and cultural change as well. During this time period, the United States did not return to Normalcy, and instead developed attitudes that changed the life of the people of the United States forever thanks to social changes, cultural changes and changes in technology.

After World War I had ended, Americans found themselves living in an exciting time, often called the “Roaring Twenties”. This Features such as the prevalence of Automobiles, women finally receiving suffrage, and the rise in the variety of entertainment, all had a positive impact on America at the time. There were also social problems such as high levels of racism, constant infringement of the eighteenth amendment, and nativism. The “Roaring Twenties” were, in fact, the transitioning years to the twentieth century. The Twenties, as people had said, was a great time to be alive, because of all the positive aspects of it.

In the 1920s America was changing we just came home for the first world war and everything from economy to culture changed. The culture changed due to the Jazz Movement in 1929. Jazz became part of everyday culture in America due to its smooth and new sound. The creation of the Jazz movement in america is largely credited to African Americans, because they were the ones who originated it. One of the key people in the Jazz Movement was Louis Armstrong a famous trumpeter, composer, singer and actor who changed the 1920s with his musicianship, his fashion, and he eased the racial tension between blacks and whites at his time.

While the 1920’s seemed like an exciting time of new inventions, impactful social change, and exploration of new arts, under the surface reveals hardships such as racial injustice, oppression, and pure chaos. The 1920’s is referred to as many different names such as Flapper Era, Jazz Age, and the most well known one, The Roaring 20’s. The Roaring 20’s came to surface in the aftermath of World War I. From the rise of strong opinionated women, to an economic boom and crash, the Roaring 20’s was a captivating era in many ways. The shift between the two time periods, World War I and the 20’s, was a very dramatic change for America. The war had not only left Europe damaged, but it also motivated the political and economic changes in the US.

The 1920s was a period of economic flourishing and massive shifts in social norms. However, some of the more radical changes that came with such an influential decade inevitably incited controversy, which created new tensions. Mainly, the aftermath of World War I got the United States in pursuit of a “return to normalcy”, which -while pleasant to some- only placed further emphasis on the division between Old and New America. Differences in religious beliefs, racial tensions, and opinions on the broadening of rights caused widespread tensions between old and new Americans. They were further manifested in disparities such as the clash between urban and rural populations, the polarizing reactions to new forms of art and literature, and arguments surrounding women’s rights and prohibition.

The Roaring Twenties started in North America and spread to Europe as the effects of World War I diminished. In Europe, the years following the First World War (1919-1923) were marked by a deep recession. Europe spent these years in rebuilding and coming to terms with the vast human cost of the conflict. Unlike in the aftermath of World War II, the United States did little to try to rebuild Europe. Instead, it took an increasingly isolationist stance (Answers, 2006).

In the early 1900s, there was a lot tension and speculation on the subject of African American rights. This tension called many African Americans to want to demand change, including W. e. B. Du Bois, and others to want to maintain a hardworking attitude they hoped would bring them the rights that they were requesting, the philosophy of Booker T. Washington. The question is, which would have actually been successful in that time period? And would the terms have been lasting?

After World War I ended, the 1920’s brought on dramatic political and social changes. For most people, the 1920’s brought them more conflict. They did not like the new changes and were trying to keep them from happening. However, for a small group of young people the 1920’s was a great time to make progress and move forward from the conservative norm. After women got suffrage, they pushed through the double standards and tried and got jobs in factories and offices, instead of only doing domestic work. African Americans pushed through the discrimination they were facing and moved to the northern states, where they got better jobs and better opportunities to pursue their dreams in literature, art, music, and stage performance.

Brendan Campbell 12/8/14 In the 1900’s African Americans faced two main struggles in the South: segregation and discrimination. Due to these hardships, the Southern African Americans migrated North. This was called the Great Migration; which was a movement of 6 million Southern African Americans into Northern cities like Chicago and Harlem.

Laws are guidelines to help keep a society in tact and to give some sort of structure for the people of the United States. Our founding fathers started these laws and gave the people a starting line to perfect and make changes to them. But is it possible that some laws overstep some boundaries? Throughout the years, America has changed for the good and for the bad. Even though it may take time, we, as a country are making changes that people from the past would have never thought would happen. For example, back then, it was wrong and frowned upon for one gender to love their same gender, or for a girl to want to be a boy and vice versa. But we see today, though some may still not agree, a great amount of the population has started accepting

     Jazz music is a blending of both black and white tradition and heritages. New Orleans was the center of many different ethnicities, such as French, Spanish, American, and African

The 1920s, often referred to as the Roaring Twenties, was a time of great change and a time of powerful enthusiasm in many areas of society. The world had just finished the biggest war in history, the First World War, and the United States was left almost unharmed by the war. The United States was able to experience a decade of peace and success following the war. During this decade, America became the wealthiest country in the world (Trueman, 2000). The people in the United States went through a colorful period during the twenties. However, at the same time the 1920s was also a very rebellious and difficult time for many. The culture of the 1920s has influenced the culture of America’s society today.


Jazz blossomed in the city of New Orleans in the 1900s after the slave trade ended. It was a very multicultural

The 1920s is often stereotyped as the “Golden Twenties”, “Jazz Age”, and the “Roaring Twenties”. This was because the 1920s glorified and fantasized this era as being a wonderful time of excitement. During this time, there was also dramaturgic divide between the America’s pastime, and future. The nineteenth century, before World War I remained rooted culturally, without alteration. With the rise of the next generation, America seemed to disconnect its current attachment to the past, and guide into a more modern age. The divide between innovation and tradition created extreme contradictions as it switched over to urbanism and modernism (Zeitz). The 1920s also showed the economic boom from post World War I, the great migration of African American’s from the South to search for opportunity, and racial violence with the rise of the KKK.

“Jazz is a term which came into general use for a type of music which developed in the Southern States of United States of America in the late 19th century and came into prominence at the turn of the century in New Orleans, chiefly (but not exclusively) among black musicians”