Section 2 Cultural Innovations Chapter 20 The Jazz Age Section 2 Cultural Innovations

Art & Literature During the 1920s, American artists, writers, and intellectuals began challenging traditional ideas as they searched for meaning in the modern world.

Greenwich Village and the South Side The artistic and unconventional, or Bohemian, lifestyle of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and Chicago’s South Side attracted artists and writers. These areas were considered centers of creativity, enlightenment, and freedom from conformity to old ideas.

Modern American Art The European Art movement influenced American modernist artists. Edward Hopper revived the visual accuracy of Realism.

Poets and Writers Carl Sandburg – used common speech to glorify the Midwest and the expansive nature of American life.

Poets & Writers Edna St. Vincent Millay – expressed women’s freedom and equality and praised a life intensely lived.

Poets & Writers T.S. Eliot – described a world filled with empty dreams and foresaw a world that would end “not with a bang but a whimper.”

Poets & Writers Eugene O’Neil – focused on the search for meaning in modern society.

Poets & Writers Ernest Hemingway – Often created characters who were “heroic antiheroes” – flawed individuals who still had heroic qualities of mind and spirit.

Popular Culture The economic prosperity of the 1920s afforded many Americans leisure time for enjoying sports, music, theater, and entertainment. Radio, motion pictures, and newspapers gave rise to a new interest in sports.

Baseball Babe Ruth – became a national hero, famous for hitting hundreds of homeruns (714).

Babe Ruth

Boxing Jack Dempsey – World Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1927.

Football Red Grange – aka “the Galloping Ghost” was one of the most famous football players of the 1920s

Golf Bobby Jones – best golfer of the decade. First golfer to win the U.S. Open and British Open in the same year.

Tennis Bill Tilden – dominated the tennis world.

Swimming Gertrude Ederle – shattered records by swimming the English Channel in a little over 14 hours.

Gertrude Ederle

The Rise of Hollywood Motion pictures became increasingly popular. The first “talking” picture, The Jazz Singer, was made in 1927. The golden age of Hollywood began.

Popular Radio Shows & Music The mass media – radio, movies, newspapers, and magazines – helped break down the focus on local interests. Mass media helped unify the nation and spread new ideas and attitudes.

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