VA Standards of Learning

1. Arts & Culture
of the Roaring 20’s:
• Jazz Age
• Harlem Renaissance

2. The Century:
America’s
Time
Boom to Bust (1 of 3)
Start @ 4:05
End @ 12:00

3. How did life in
America change
during the 1920’s?
19th Amendment – August 18, 1920
18th Amendment – January 17, 1920
21st Amendment – December 5, 1933
Stock Market Crash – October 1929
Prohibition Speakeasies
GangstersWomen’s Vote
Commercialism
Consumer Goods
Advertising
Automobiles Communication
WWI Officially Ended – June 28, 1919
Great Migration – began in 1910

4. 1920 – 1930:
The Jazz Age
The Roaring 20’s
Harlem Renaissance

5. Who were the leaders in art, literature,
and music during the 1920’s and
1930’s?
K. Cultural Climate of the Roaring 20’s

6. Art:
1. Georgia O’Keeffe
 A painter known for painting
urban scenes and later,
paintings of the Southwest.
K.

7. Georgia O’Keeffe:
Early Urban Scenes

8. Literature:
2. F. Scott
Fitzgerald
 A novelist who
wrote about the
Jazz Age of the
1920’s.
K.

9. The Great
Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Preview:
The Great Gatsby (1974)

10. Literature:
3. John Steinbeck
 A novelist who
portrayed the
strength of poor
migrant workers
during the 1930’s.
K.

11. John Steinbeck
Life of Migrant Workers
“Grapes of Wrath” Movie
“The Harvest Gypsies”

12. Music:
4. Aaron Copeland
 Composer known for
his distinct style of
American
composition.
Copland’s
“The Promise of Living”
Copeland’s
“Lincoln Portrait”
K.

13. Music:
5. George Gershwin
 Known as one of the
most significant
American composers of
the 20th Century.
K.

14. George Gershwin:
American Composer of the 1920’s
Wrote the music for the
American folk opera,
Porgy and Bess about
African American life In
Charleston, SC during the
1920’s.
His composition, “Rhapsody in
Blue” was the first to
combine classical music with
the new element of Jazz.

15. Other than composing
“American” music, what did
Copland and Gershwin have
in common?
• Both were the sons of
Russian Jewish
Immigrants.
• Both were born in
Brooklyn, New York:
 Gershwin – 1898
 Copland - 1900

16. L. Harlem
Renaissance
1920 - mid 1930’s

17. Before 1920, how was African
American culture portrayed in the
arts?
Directions:
1. In your pods, examine the primary resources that
depict how African American culture was portrayed
in art, music, and theater.
2. Answer the questions in your notes.
*Remember, these images and documents represent viewpoints from a different time in our
history. We see them as offensive and unacceptable, but we study them to understand what
life was like for African Americans during that time period.
Music? Theater? Art?
Group Activity:

18. Questions:
1. Before 1920, how were African Americans portrayed in art, music, and theater
2. What were some of the common themes found in these forms of art or enterta
OLD FOLKS AT HOME
Way down upon de Swanee ribber,
Far, far away,
Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere’s wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation,
And for the old folks at home.
Chorus:
All de world am sad and dreary,
Ebry where I roam,
Oh! “Brothers” how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home.
All round de little farm I wandered when I was young,
Den many happy days I squandered,
Many de songs I sung.
When I was playing wid my brudder happy was I.
Oh! Take me to my kind old mudder, Dere let me live and
die.
Chorus

19. “A Great Day in Harlem”
How did the Harlem
Renaissance influence American
life?

20. Harlem
Renaissance
The leaders of the
Harlem
Renaissance drew
upon the heritage of
African American
culture to establish
themselves as
powerful forces for
cultural change.

21. Art:
Jacob Lawrence
1. A painter who
chronicled the
experiences of the
Great Migration through
art.
L.

22. Art:
Jacob Lawrence
Click Here
The Phillips Collection

23. Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series, Panel 3

24. Literature:
Langston Hughes
Biography Channel:
Langston Hughes
2. A poet who combined
the experiences of African
and American cultural
roots.
The Ballad of the Landlord
Mother to Son
L.

26. Music:
The Jazz
Age3. Louis Armstrong
“When the Saints Go Marching In”
“Dinah”
• Singer, trumpet player, and
one of the most influential Jazz
musicians of all time.
• Born and raised in New
Orleans, Louisiana, the city
known as the birthplace of
Jazz.
• Nickname – “Satchmo”
L.

27. Music:
The Jazz
Age4. Duke Ellington
Concert Video - 1933
Old Man Blues –
“Check and Double Check”
• Famous music composer,
pianist, and Jazz bandleader.
• Along with his orchestra, he
was a regular at the Cotton
Club, a famous nightclub in
Harlem, NY.
L.

28. Music:
The Blues
5. Bessie Smith
Biography Channel
• Known as the best blues
singer in America.
Bessie Smith, “St. Louis Blues”
with Louis Armstrong
L.