The 1920s was a time of great change. From fashion to politics, this period is known as one of the most explosive decades in American history. After WWI, America became one of the world’s most formidable superpowers. The rise to power prompted the 1920s to become a decade of evolution for women’s rights, African American’s rights, and consumerism. In the early twentieth century, women’s status in society was continuously evolving. Women began to defy societal rules and expectations. They showed more skin, drank alcohol, and smoked cigarettes (Document E). These types of activities were considered scandalous at the time, but only then could they be done as a sign of protest. After WWI, women became more integrated into the workforce and …show more content…
The 1920s paved the way for many developments in African American culture and resolutions to their challenges. Consequently, out of the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was born. The Harlem Renaissance was a reawakening of African American culture throughout the decade. During this period, an explosion of art and music, particularly jazz, advanced the perception of African American culture and people (Document H). Additionally, the Great Migration made a better life possible for African Americans. During and after WWI, African Americans moved north to evade the rampant racism and discrimination in the south and to seize opportunities for jobs and new land (Document G). White Americans, their oppressors, began to see African Americans as humans because of their supposedly new culture and aspirations. While they weren’t viewed as equal, it was still a start. As expected, when juxtaposing the racial climate of the 1920s and 1998, there is a great disparity. In the late 90s, a time also known for great societal change, African Americans had been given the same rights as white Americans, but not quite the same societal status. The discrimination was to a much lesser degree and usually thought of as socially unacceptable. Howard Johnson, an African American newspaper editor from the 1990s, gave his thoughts on social change in the African American community during …show more content…
Cars, washing machines, heaters, and bath tubs are just some examples of the inventions in the 1920s that were created in order to make life easier for the populous. The rise of materialism in the 20s lead the older generation to believe that the younger generation was spoiled with all the machines and conveniences and created a since of entitlement in them (Document C). The accumulation of material things lead to great lifestyle changes in the general population. People often cared more about their things than the values and morals taught to them by previous generations and their forefathers. The rise of materialism was born from the expansion of capitalism, where entrepreneurs were free to create products and build businesses to cater to the demands of the 20s generation. This expansion of the capitalistic system lead to the rejection of communist principals (Document F), where production of goods is controlled by the state. Communist ideals were vehemently rejected by the consumers and businesses in the
During the mid-to-late-1900s, there was a lot of controversy surrounding race. Although slavery had been abolished around a century ago, many people still did not treat African Americans as equals. Even the supreme court had declared that white people and black people should remain “separate but equal”, in their landmark case Plessy Vs Ferguson (“Separate but Equal - Separate Is Not Equal.”, n.d.). The “separate but equal” doctrine meant that African Americans were to be given separate facilities and opportunities from white people, given that they were equal to each other.
Women’s ongoing fight for equality from the 1920s to the 1970s was reflected through their attire. The 1920s were marked by the shockingly short hemlines and their right to vote. While women struggled to get fair pay in the 1930s, they got hired more often than men, which gave them greater independence. However, due to the gloom of the Great Depression, women lost their confidence and their clothing became more conservative. By contrast, the 1940s provided greater opportunities as the United States went to war.
Years before we started our constitution with “we the people…;” years before we distinguished society to be separated into colors -- black, white or somewhere in between; years before we pledged together to be “...one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all…,” we lived under the British rule. However, with the sacrifices of many men who made history come to life, we gained our freedom. Soon our America turned into my America -- my as in the “white” America. The cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance approached later on in the early twentieth century, where vibrancies of new perceptions emerged in the minds of many African Americans. However, this white America proved to be an obstacle, taking away the freedom and excitement that the African Americans felt after years of oppression.
The Harlem Renaissance took place in the 1920s , the African-Americans developed a new culture and they could freely express themselves / ideas . Before this , they experienced the Jim Crow laws from the south . The African-Americans escaped it by moving to harlem . The Harlem Renaissance helped the Africans shine with their culture and arts . The whites came to harlem to enjoy the blacks music and shows .
Well in the 1930’s this was totally okay, all mistreatment of blacks were okay. People were called names excluded from public places and shut out of schools. This irritated many people and they tried to improve their treatment. That didn't really work because people were still being treated wrong.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, artistic, and musical explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. This time period, was also known as the "New Negro Movement", named by Alain Locke. The Movement included new African American expressions of their culture. These changes took place across areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States that were affected by the African-American Great Migration, in which Harlem was by far the biggest. The Harlem Renaissance is considered to be the rebirth of African-American arts.
After the north had won the Civil War, the treatment of African Americans was on the rise. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were passed, churches and schools were built, and the Freedman’s
The Harlem Renaissance began and thrives during the roaring twenties. It unveiled an incredible amount of black artistic and literary creativity. Harlem Renaissance writers and artists expressed pride in their African American culture through extraordinary performances. It was a time of great discovery, mostly in the arts, and gave provided Americans something else to focus on besides the current economical status. Many wonderful African American poets, authors, musicians, and artists emerged in that time period and are still highly regarded today.
They hoped that an increased cultural output would work against the American notion of white supremacy and show that Blacks were no longer willing to accept their alleged status of an uncivilized people without culture. Many held the opinion that white Americans would not treat them as equals unless and until the former slaves proved themselves to be equal, so the importance of culture experienced a huge increase during the early 1920s. The topics that prevailed during the Harlem Renaissance reflected that feeling of marginality and alienation that African Americans were facing. These themes occurred in literature of that period as well as in arts and music. Still, the Harlem Renaissance was as diverse as a movement as the people that created
The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, is a time period in American history that bred the likes of Langston Hughes, W.E.B Dubois, and Zora Neale Hurston. Despite the name, the Harlem Renaissance is not exclusive to the city of Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance period is an “interdisciplinary cultural movement” (Jones 2008) that unleashed creativity in the African American community and allowed the ingenuity of the community to be shared with the world. The Harlem Renaissance is the beginning of the age of modernism. This artistic movement included creative explosions in the areas of literature, poetry, dance, and music.
Introduction: Thesis: The 1920s was an era of dramatic social and political change that brought along the greatest change for women. After World War I, the image of women completely transformed and the changing attitudes of America, allowed them to enroll in colleges, enter the workforce, participate in politics and play a greater role in society and public life. Paragraph I: Before 1920s Paragraph II:
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement.
The 1920s were the first years of the new, modern America, with a growing consumer society and new ideas and rules. America saw many changes throughout this decade, including but not limited to social, economic and political changes. Throughout this time, new values were made with the growth of new forms of entertainment and education. After the Progressive Era, the ideas of political figures changed with a new focus on conservative politics and less labor issues. With the new ability for people to buy other products than basic needs, their money went to new inventions, causing new industries to grow.
Americans understand the Harlem Renaissance to be a time in recent United States history during which African art came to life and made strides in improving the African Americans’ reputations and involvement in American politics and economy. It was during this same time that we see tremendous development in African American children’s literature, as its use shifted from entertaining yet degrading to instrumental in the development of the New Negro. Research on the children alive during the Harlem Renaissance and the less popular “ ‘centrality of the children’ to the movement as an ‘ideological center point of the New Negro’, ” reveals that African Americans involved children in the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement more historians
During the Roaring Twenties and before The Great Depression, the span between 1918 to 1929 created a new artistic explosion of African-American Arts. This explosion was called The Harlem Renaissance due to the fact that it was took place in Harlem, New York. It can be also known as the New Negro Movement named after an excerpt by Alain Locke. Not only did this movement influence the arts, but also the expression of cultural and social experiences. “In a few short years it created a flowering of black talent that has left an ineradicable cultural legacy.”