The Roaring Twenties and Jazz completely transformed the American culture. This time, known as the “Jazz Age” was filled with turmoil and tested the nation’s core beliefs. As this era gave rise to a scandalous and frivolous culture, it shocked Americans as they quickly saw their traditional culture fading away. American’s witnessed first hand the convergence of diversities in the America.
The Harlem Renaissance played a huge role in the creation of jazz and the “Jazz Age”. Jazz began as an African American folk music and as blacks from the south began to move to northern cities in search of work they brought this new soulful style with them. Jazz migrated from New Orleans to Chicago, where it quickly became hugely popular amongst both whites and blacks. Jazz spread like a wildfire amongst the cities due to the new/developing technology of the time. During this time radio shifted from being a service solely for communication to being used for entertainment as well. Louis Armstrong was an extremely important figure in jazz and the Swing Era as he helped to spread jazz across the nation.
For the first time in American history, more people lived in the cities than in rural areas. The standard of living increased and this meant Americans had more money to spend on recreational activities. During this time there was a huge boom in the sport and movie industry, bringing about many movie stars who lived scandalous lives and began to live in America’s spotlight. Historically young women only had their mothers and family friends to look up to, but their attention quickly shifted to the newly famous celebrities who seemed to live such glamorous and fast paced lives. Young women began to learn their morals and manners from what the starlets had to say, what the magazines had to preach and what they saw in films. The common theme amongst all these was their emphasis on “sex, sin and sensation”. Women were quickly becoming more independent. The “new woman” known as a “flapper” was much more carefree and asserted herself in a man’s world. Flappers appeared in speakeasies and openly drank and smoked. This younger generation of more carefree men and women soon came to be known as “the lost generation”. Amongst them there seemed to be greater sexual freedom and modestly and chivalry were going out of style. These changing sexual attitudes were reflected in the newly popular type of dancing and music, jazz. As swing became more and more popular amongst the dancers at the speakeasies, a slightly different sound of jazz developed in which the saxophone replaced the violin as the dominant instrument in the orchestra. Not everyone was a fan of the new craze, “the music is sensuous, the embracing of partners – the female only half dressed – is absolutely indecent, and the motions – they are such as may not be described without any resect for propriety…” (Goldberg, 95). The music played such a large role in society. It was the pulse of the speakeasies, the courage for women to become more independent. Jazz was not only a pastime for young Americans it was a way of life, “they had their rules, and celebrities and even a president, must go along with the game” (Mordden, 210).
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Works Cited
Mordden, Ethan. That Jazz!. Toronto: Longman Canada, Limited, Toronto., 1978. 179-211. Print.
Allen Goldberg, Ronald . America in the Twenties. 1st ed. Syracuse : Syracuse University, 2003. 83-101. Print.
