{"id":232,"date":"2015-08-21T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/ushistory2os2xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=232"},"modified":"2022-08-25T18:12:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T18:12:35","slug":"why-it-matters-the-jazz-age","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/why-it-matters-the-jazz-age\/","title":{"raw":"Why It Matters: The Jazz Age","rendered":"Why It Matters: The Jazz Age"},"content":{"raw":"

Why learn about the Jazz Age?<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"497\"]\"Photograph Figure 1.<\/strong> Photograph of Carter And King Jazzing Orchestra a jazz quintet\u00a0in Texas, 1921. Photograph by Robert Runyon,\u00a0image\u00a0courtesy Wikimedia Commons.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe Jazz Age, known as the Roaring Twenties, was an era of American history that began after\u00a0World War I and ended with the start of the Great Depression in 1929.\u00a0The popularity of the new jazz culture resulted in both positive and negative consequences within American society in the 1920s.\r\n\r\nJazz was an early bridge between the American mainstream and Black culture, it was the first time we see a minoritized group included in popular culture.\u00a0Although White performers took over the music and navigated its spread within American society, the music was an early vehicle for the integration of some aspects of Black culture into White society.\u00a0Jazz music represented\u00a0a symbol of freedom in the form of lyrical prose and musical expression that\u00a0quickly became popular among middle-class White Americans.\u00a0Young people in the 1920s, <\/span>captivated\u00a0by jazz, were the first generation of teenagers and young adults to rebel against their parents' traditional culture. The influence of jazz also positively impacted the women\u2019s rights movement. As women\u00a0gained the right to vote after World War I, they also achieved more\u00a0<\/span>social and financial freedom, which allowed some women to live more liberated lives<\/span>\u00a0that challenged traditional gender roles. Women were finally allowed to be free with their language, style of dress, and personal relationships. The shifting cultural landscape also allowed like-minded women to cultivate new forms of political solidarity<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nThis Jazz Age was also a period of upward mobility and increased acceptance for many Black Americans, though a White backlash to this disturbance of existing hierarchies soon followed. The Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1866 after the Civil War, grew to <\/span>over four million members\u00a0in the 1920s, and a number of\u00a0<\/span>other White supremacist groups formed during this time.\u00a0The Klan's movement railed against the \"urban\" popular culture captivating White youth as well as the growing wages of Black <\/span><\/span>entertainers.\u00a0<\/span>The Klan created a nationwide campaign that called for society to \"Americanize Americans\", proclaiming that Black persons, immigrants, Jews, and Catholics were not true Americans, and therefore were a problem that needed to be removed.\r\n
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Think About It<\/h3>\r\nAs you read this module, keep in mind the question: how did the culture in America change during the Jazz Age?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

Why learn about the Jazz Age?<\/h2>\n
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\"Photograph<\/p>\n

Figure 1.<\/strong> Photograph of Carter And King Jazzing Orchestra a jazz quintet\u00a0in Texas, 1921. Photograph by Robert Runyon,\u00a0image\u00a0courtesy Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Jazz Age, known as the Roaring Twenties, was an era of American history that began after\u00a0World War I and ended with the start of the Great Depression in 1929.\u00a0The popularity of the new jazz culture resulted in both positive and negative consequences within American society in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

Jazz was an early bridge between the American mainstream and Black culture, it was the first time we see a minoritized group included in popular culture.\u00a0Although White performers took over the music and navigated its spread within American society, the music was an early vehicle for the integration of some aspects of Black culture into White society.\u00a0Jazz music represented\u00a0a symbol of freedom in the form of lyrical prose and musical expression that\u00a0quickly became popular among middle-class White Americans.\u00a0Young people in the 1920s, <\/span>captivated\u00a0by jazz, were the first generation of teenagers and young adults to rebel against their parents’ traditional culture. The influence of jazz also positively impacted the women\u2019s rights movement. As women\u00a0gained the right to vote after World War I, they also achieved more\u00a0<\/span>social and financial freedom, which allowed some women to live more liberated lives<\/span>\u00a0that challenged traditional gender roles. Women were finally allowed to be free with their language, style of dress, and personal relationships. The shifting cultural landscape also allowed like-minded women to cultivate new forms of political solidarity<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This Jazz Age was also a period of upward mobility and increased acceptance for many Black Americans, though a White backlash to this disturbance of existing hierarchies soon followed. The Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1866 after the Civil War, grew to <\/span>over four million members\u00a0in the 1920s, and a number of\u00a0<\/span>other White supremacist groups formed during this time.\u00a0The Klan’s movement railed against the “urban” popular culture captivating White youth as well as the growing wages of Black <\/span><\/span>entertainers.\u00a0<\/span>The Klan created a nationwide campaign that called for society to “Americanize Americans”, proclaiming that Black persons, immigrants, Jews, and Catholics were not true Americans, and therefore were a problem that needed to be removed.<\/p>\n

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Think About It<\/h3>\n

As you read this module, keep in mind the question: how did the culture in America change during the Jazz Age?<\/p>\n<\/div>\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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