Duke Ellington: The Perfect Nation

Technology advancements and innovations served as, in my opinion, the most drastic life changing factors during this time period. For instance, the invention of the assembly line had a major impact on American workers. In fact, “By the mid-1920s one of eight U.S. workers was somehow involved in the production, sales, service, and fueling of automobiles.” (Kyvig, p.28) This is a major primary source that Kyvig uses as evidence to support his thesis and to help portray the fact that this time period changed the way Americans lived their lives. Just the automobile in general, “significantly changed the way people worked, conducted their business, shopped for necessities and desires, and spent leisure time.” (Kyvig, p.28) The automobile was unquestionably the most noteworthy of all new technologies that had gained popularity in the 1920s. As a secondary source of evidence, there were other inventions that gained popularity as

As a nation coming out of a devastating war, America faced many changes in the 1920s. It was a decade of growth and improvements. As immigrants fled from Europe, the economy improved, and new machines offered convenience and luxury from the kitchen to the streets. However, with all change comes opposition. The 1920s revealed a conflict between traditional America and the new attitude and lifestyle through the changing role of women, continued dominance of Christian values, and racism.

Technology played a vital part in helping America become the great economic and cultural success that it was during the 1920s. New advancements, new discoveries, and new inventions improved American lives in every imaginable way but not without a few negative side-effects. As mentioned earlier, the automobile really came into play during the 1920s by making traveling a common thing for anyone who could afford a car (Trueman, 2000). Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company, which began to mass produce affordable automobiles known as the Model-T. Ford's Model-T car became such an irresistible success that by the end of the decade, there was almost one car per family in the United States (Bruce, 1981). The automobile seemed to give people a type of new freedom, but the automobile also proved to be a dangerous item in the hands of many irresponsible people who loved to drink during the 1920s. The washing machine, telephone, and radio made their arrival during the twenties. People were discovering life to be far easier than the previous generations because of technology, but they were also slowly being driven into an industrial nation. People were lured

The 1920’s, was a decade of change, when Americans owned cars, radios and other electronics for the first time. The cars brought great transportation and the need for new roads. The radio brought music and entertainment to all. Electronics became a wide phenomenon where it helped with things from transportation to cooking. The 1920’s was a new era which brought immense change to Americans but after WWI, the nation suffered with strikes and a targeted upon communists and foreigners. This was also the time of the red scare. The Red Scare had begun following the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917; a nationwide fear of communists, socialists and anarchists.

He was born in Washington D.C but later on he moved to New York City.

to the utmost of his dreams. At such a crucial time in the history of

music while others had a taste for the old, more familiar styles. Ned Williams, who became Ellington’s publicist, commented on Ellington’s first performance at the Cotton

The Harlem Renaissance was different than I thought it was. I had imagined it was a time of African American’s gathering together in small groups and reading poems and writing stuff. When I began researching, the things that I found blew my mind. Seeing all of the big names of the Renaissance was cool because I have heard these names all my life, but never realized why those names were significant. Being a student in band, the name Louis Armstrong has been a name I have heard since 6th grade. Up until this project, I never knew the extent of the impact he made on the world of music.

Duke left the security that Washington offered him and moved to New York, in 1923. Through the power of radio, listeners through out New York had heard of Duke Ellington,

     The technology and science during the twenties was very important. Many new ideas and inventions were introduced to Americans that influenced their lives. Henry fords automobile changed American life. Ford wanted to “democratize the automobile”. He wanted to everyone to be able to afford an automobile and have one. To help this he paid his workers five dollars a day, for doing this he was known as the friend of the worker. Ford also lowered the price of his cars. The model t ford became the “family pet of the nation” (Gales research, 1998). By 1929, 23.1 million passenger cars were in use in the United States. The privacy and mobility offered by the car would transform the Americans lived. The spread of technology affected consumerism. The United States economy went through a steady growth and expansion during this time. The radio became very popular in the twenties. By 1922, 3 million Americans households had radios. Many new electric appliances such as: vacuum cleaners, toasters, washing machines, televisions and refrigerators were introduced. These appliances helped the American housewife. Women became America’s greatest consumer. People started going to see motion pictures. The first movies were called silent screens.

During the years of 1914-1945 Americans experienced both the best and the worst times in American history. For example, Americans had to deal with two world wars, the great depression, and the great dust bowl, which all caused a great amount of deaths, and have all made a major change in the US economy both good and bad. An important person during this era was Eisenhower, due to the fact that he was president of the united states during a crucial part of the cold war, was the commander of allied forces in Europe, and Africa during WWII, and was the Supreme Commander of NATO. Furthermore, an event that had a major impact at the time on Americans was WWII. It was a gruesome event that took the lives of roughly 60 million people, 6 million of

Duke Ellington is considered to be one of the most influential African-American composers of the twentieth century. He was a composer, bandleader, songwriter, and a musician.  Duke Ellington was born in Washington D.C on April 29, 1899 and died on May 24, 1974 in New York, New York. Often times,  Duke’s music was called “American Music” because it was for America, later his music was placed under the category of Jazz. After his death, Duke’s musical reputation was widely spread across America gaining more popularity.

His first compassion ever “Soda Fountain Rag” was at the age of 15, he started playing professionally at 17, Duke Ellington 50 years of compositions, and a lot of his great work came from his teenage years and his late 20s. in 1923 duke and some of his friends came to New York they form the group the Washingtonians, they took part in the Harlem Renaissance and started playing in homes for income.

Langston Hughes compositions are known for being the voice of the Harlem Renaissance. A considerable number of his written work shared the feelings of that time. This particular poem "Trumpet Player" mirrors that music can lift the agony remembered, but one always remembers the hardships. The poem shares that freed blacks still experienced the impacts of slavery. Because of this, they held onto music as a method for soothing the agony they persevered.

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born April 29th, 1899 in Washington DC to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Ellington. His parents were both pianists, and Duke would later follow suit. At the age of seven Duke began piano lessons, but didn’t really gain interest in piano till he was 14. At age 15, Ellington wrote his first song, the ‘Soda Fountain Rag’. He did not know how to read and write music at this time in his life, so his tune was crafted by ear. Later, Ellington would learn to read sheet music from Oliver “Doc” Perry, another known pianist. After more education, Duke began to play gigs in clubs and cafes in his home city. His love for music was so strong at this time that Duke actually turned down an art scholarship, and dropped out of school to pursue his passion and make his full time career his music.1