Who were the American composers of the Jazz Age?

Answer 1

One of the Composers of the jazz age was Jelly Roll Marten he was a great black man who loved to play Jazz

Society

Answers may vary, but should include some of the following information.

Great Migration

Between 1910 and 1920, more than 1 million black people left the South and moved to

the North and Midwest to find better jobs, better schooling, and a chance to get ahead.

New York's black population (centered in Harlem) increased by 66 percent and

Chicago's black population (centered in the South Side) increased by 50 percent.

Economy and Government

People concentrated on making money and buying things for themselves. The stock

market rose and land values boomed. People were able to buy things they never could

afford before.

In 1925, Wyoming elected Nellie Taylor Ross as the first woman governor. In 1927, The

United States Supreme Court in Nixon v. Herndonruled that a Texas law forbidding

blacks to vote in primary elections violated the Fourteenth Amendment and was

unconstitutional.

In Tennessee, the courts ruled that teaching evolution was unlawful.

Fads and Fashions

Many young women were cutting their hair short (bobbing it), wearing bathing suits that

left their legs uncovered, and wearing lipstick, rouge, and powder. Those women were

called flappers. Women also drove automobiles, got jobs, went to the movies, read

romantic novels, played table tennis, and danced.

Dancing, especially the Charleston, became very big. Dance contests and marathons

were popular. People tried to set records for dancing the longest or for being the best or

fastest dancers.

Entertainment

Ordinary people owned radios and listened to comedy shows and the nightly news.

Young people flocked to the movies, especially after 1927 when the movies began to

talk. Walt Disney produced the first animated sound film, Steamboat Willie, and

introduced Mickey Mouse.

Arts

The art world was filled with artistic geniuses, such as musicians George Gershwin and

Aaron Copland, writers Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald,

and artists Mary Cassatt, Grant Wood, and Thomas Hart Benton.

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Harlem Renaissance

Harlem became a hotbed for the arts. Playwrights, poets, musicians, artists, and actors

were sharing ideas. Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen began

writing poetry. Zora Neale Hurston and Jean Toomer wrote novels. Jacob Lawrence

and Romare Beraden painted pictures. Duke Ellington and a lot of other people made

music. This explosion of artistic excellence and creativity was known as the Harlem

Renaissance.

Sports

Answers may vary, but should include some of the following information.

Baseball and Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth helped change the game of baseball. His power as a hitter helped change

the emphasis in baseball from defense-a pitcher's game-to offense-a hitter's game.

Baseball games were broadcast live over the radio, which increased the number of

licensed radio stations and the use of radios. The popularity of the game of baseball

and its players also increased. Babe Ruth loved kids, and he spent a lot of time visiting

children in orphanages and hospitals. He became one of the nation's greatest heroes.

African Americans in Sports

In baseball, blacks and whites did not play separately until the old American Association

died. Then Cap Anson made sure the new leagues created white-only teams. The

blacks formed their own leagues. The Negro Leagues were filled with talented players,

such as Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell. Baseball for whites and

blacks was separate and unequal. In the black leagues money was short, the

equipment shabby, the travel brutal, and black players almost always had trouble

finding hotel rooms or restaurants that would accept them. Players did more than just

play ball to entertain the crowds, they barnstormed around the country wearing

costumes and doing ball tricks.

Jesse Owens was an African-American track star. He sometimes joined the

barnstorming Toledo Crawfords to help draw the crowds. Later, in 1936, he won four

gold medals at the Olympics in Berlin.

Joe Louis grew up during the Jazz Age and later gained a reputation as one of the

greatest boxers to ever live.

Women in Sports

Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias has been called the outstanding woman athlete of

the first half of the twentieth century because she competed successfully in basketball,

swimming, tennis, Track and Field, and golf.

Jackie Mitchell was 15 years old when the twenties ended. Two years later, she signed

on with the Chattanooga Look-outs as a pitcher. She struck out Babe Ruth and Lou

Gehrig. Baseball's commissioner, who disliked women, said Jackie Mitchell's contract

was void and she could not play with the Chattanooga Look-outs.