{"id":1212,"date":"2017-07-11T03:02:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T03:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ushistory2os\/chapter\/primary-source-images-the-new-era\/"},"modified":"2022-06-16T20:21:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T20:21:20","slug":"primary-source-images-the-new-era","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/primary-source-images-the-new-era\/","title":{"raw":"Primary Source Images: The New Era","rendered":"Primary Source Images: The New Era"},"content":{"raw":"The 1920s\u00a0so reshaped American life that it came to be called by many names: the New Era, the Jazz Age, the Age of the Flapper, the Prosperity Decade, and, perhaps most commonly, the Roaring Twenties. The mass production and consumption of automobiles, household appliances, film, and radio fueled a new economy and new standards of living, new mass entertainment introduced talking films and jazz while sexual and social restraints\u00a0loosened. But at the same time, many Americans turned their back on political and economic reform, denounced America\u2019s shifting demographics, stifled immigration, retreated toward \u201cold time religion,\u201d and revived with millions of new members the Ku Klux Klan. On the other hand, many Americans fought harder than ever for equal rights and cultural observers noted the appearance of \u201cthe New Woman\u201d and \u201cthe New Negro.\u201d Old immigrant communities that had predated new immigration quotas, meanwhile, clung to their cultures and their native faiths. The 1920s were a decade of conflict and tension. Whatever the decade was,\u00a0as\u00a0the following sources reveal, it was not \u201cnormalcy.\u201d\r\n

Advertising<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"771\"]\"Old Figure 1:<\/strong> \u201cAdvertising Section\u201d Photoplay (October 1924) Museum of Modern Art Library, via Archive.org.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn the 1920\u2019s Americans across the country bought magazines like Photoplay in order to get more information about the stars of their new favorite entertainment media: the movies. Advertisers took advantage of this broad audience to promote a wide range of goods and services to both men and women who enjoyed the proliferation of consumer culture during this time. \u201cAdvertising Section\u201d Photoplay (October 1924) Museum of Modern Art Library, via Archive.org<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Klan Gathering (1920s)<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"]\"KKK Figure 2:<\/strong> Underwood and Underwood, \u201cKlan assembles Short Distance from U.S. Capitol,\u201d (ca. 1920\u2019s). Library of Congress.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nThis photo by popular news photographers Underwood and Underwood shows a gathering of a reported 300 Ku Klux Klansmen just outside Washington DC to initiate a new group of men into their order. The proximity of the photographer to his subjects for one of the Klan\u2019s notorious night-time rituals suggests that this was yet another of the Klan\u2019s numerous publicity stunts.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

The 1920s\u00a0so reshaped American life that it came to be called by many names: the New Era, the Jazz Age, the Age of the Flapper, the Prosperity Decade, and, perhaps most commonly, the Roaring Twenties. The mass production and consumption of automobiles, household appliances, film, and radio fueled a new economy and new standards of living, new mass entertainment introduced talking films and jazz while sexual and social restraints\u00a0loosened. But at the same time, many Americans turned their back on political and economic reform, denounced America\u2019s shifting demographics, stifled immigration, retreated toward \u201cold time religion,\u201d and revived with millions of new members the Ku Klux Klan. On the other hand, many Americans fought harder than ever for equal rights and cultural observers noted the appearance of \u201cthe New Woman\u201d and \u201cthe New Negro.\u201d Old immigrant communities that had predated new immigration quotas, meanwhile, clung to their cultures and their native faiths. The 1920s were a decade of conflict and tension. Whatever the decade was,\u00a0as\u00a0the following sources reveal, it was not \u201cnormalcy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertising<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"Old<\/p>\n

Figure 1:<\/strong> \u201cAdvertising Section\u201d Photoplay (October 1924) Museum of Modern Art Library, via Archive.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In the 1920\u2019s Americans across the country bought magazines like Photoplay in order to get more information about the stars of their new favorite entertainment media: the movies. Advertisers took advantage of this broad audience to promote a wide range of goods and services to both men and women who enjoyed the proliferation of consumer culture during this time. \u201cAdvertising Section\u201d Photoplay (October 1924) Museum of Modern Art Library, via Archive.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Klan Gathering (1920s)<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"KKK<\/p>\n

Figure 2:<\/strong> Underwood and Underwood, \u201cKlan assembles Short Distance from U.S. Capitol,\u201d (ca. 1920\u2019s). Library of Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This photo by popular news photographers Underwood and Underwood shows a gathering of a reported 300 Ku Klux Klansmen just outside Washington DC to initiate a new group of men into their order. The proximity of the photographer to his subjects for one of the Klan\u2019s notorious night-time rituals suggests that this was yet another of the Klan\u2019s numerous publicity stunts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>