1920s and 1930s Popular Culture

Discover 1920s-1930s culture: Jazz, Flappers, Fireside Chats, and major societal shifts!

Popular culture began to evolve into an age of modernism that challenged traditional values. Modernism marked the beginning of a period in the 1920s and 1930s that rejected conventional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. The movement was reflected in art, architecture, literature, music, entertainment, and fashion.Mass media and communications helped to change our culture. People gathered around the radio to listen entertainment programming, sporting events, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. The Fireside Chats were the first time that a president addressed the entire country. Sixty million people listened to the first chat, which helped the people tounderstand what he was trying to accomplish with the New Deal. His first chat had a direct impact on the economy. He told people to put their money back in the banks. (People had been scared to keep money in the banks after the Great Depression.) When banks opened the morning after the chat, deposits far outweighed withdrawals and the banking crisis was over. Jazz became a popular music form because of radio airplay. Movies became more popular as they became an escape from Depression-era realities. Newspapers and magazines shaped cultural norms, established a consumer culture, and sparked fads.During the 1920s and 1930s there were also a number of challenges to traditional values. Traditional religion was challenged with Darwin’s theory and the Scopes Trial. In 1925 in Tennessee the state outlawed any teaching that denied the story of creation in the Bible. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked for a teacher who was willing to be arrested for teaching evolution. John Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, volunteered. He taught evolution and was arrested. William Jennings Bryant, who had been a three-time presidential candidate, was the prosecutor who represented creationists (those who believed in the Bible story of creation). Clarence Darrow was the lawyer who represented Scopes and evolution. The trial was broadcast on the radio and hurt the Christian Fundamentalist cause, even though Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. (Although the conviction was later overturned on a technicality. While more people, women included, were drinking alcohol, the movement was growing to ban alcohol in the 1900s. The 18th Amendment which prohibited the sale and transport of alcohol had gone into effect in January 1920. The U.S. Treasury Department was tasked with enforcing Prohibition. Although the arrested people for not following the ban, there were many Americans that blatantly ignored the law. People went to secret bars called speakeasies where they could purchase alcohol. Organized crime thrived on the illegal production and distribution of alcohol. The battle to repeal Prohibition began almost as soon as the 18th Amendment passed. The 21st Amendment was ratified in 1933 which repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition.Another challenge to society's values was about the traditional role of women. Women won the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th amendment, and many saw this as another step toindependence. More women began working. Women's fashion changed and women cut their hair in short bobs. Flappers came to be known as women who smoked cigarettes, drank liquor, and wore make-up and short sleeveless dresses. Though flappers were not the norm, the look personified the changing woman. More women also were earning college degrees at this time. There was an increase in the use of birth control as well, particularly among middle class couples. Open immigration led to the rise of new Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The white supremacist group wanted to restrict immigration. They claimed to be fighting for "Americanism." William Simmons had founded a new Klan in Georgia in 1915, but hadn't attracted many new members until 1920. By 1924, due to resistance to open immigration policies, the group had reached 4 million in the South and began to spread to Northern cities as well. When immigration restrictions were put in place, they lost one of their major speaking points, and membership began to decline again.The Red Scare became a major nationwide panic leading into 1920. The wave of union strikes helped to build fears that Communists were trying to start a revolution in the United States. The Soviet Union had become Communist and there was a growing threat that Communist ideas were spreading. The nickname for Communists was "reds' and so the fear of Communism spreading through the United States became known as the Red Scare. The fear of Communism caused people to turn against each other accusing one another of being a part of the Communist revolution. Which aspect of American life was most challenged by the passage of the 19th Amendment? Organized religion Role of women Segregation Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Scopes trial challenged - traditional religious values traditional women's roles the idea of open immigration Franklin D. Roosevelt started broadcasting his Fireside Chats primarily to – argue in favor of upholding prohibition defend his rational for the New Deal programs explain civil rights issues to the American people Which type of music was popularized by radio in the 1920s? Jazz Bluegrass Folk The 18th Amendment to the Constitution _. Granted women the right to vote after decades of Women's Suffrage Taxed Alcohol, but this only hurt the producers not the buyers Banned alcohol, but this was repealed by the 21 Amendment. The Red Scare was a fear of _ German Invasion Communist Revolution Socialism