Unit IV:
America Between
The Wars
Harlem Renaissance
Venn diagram depicting different categories that key figures fell
into during the Harlem Renaissance
(Wenzel, 2011)
Harlem Renaissance: a literary and artistic movement
celebrating African American culture.
• Above all, it was a literary movement led by well-educated, middleclass African Americans.
I Dream A World
I, Too
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hand its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankindOf such I dream, my world
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
—Langston Hughes
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
— Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
• Poems described the
difficult lives of
working class African
Americans
Langston Hughes
(U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection, 1936b)
Paul Robeson
• Major dramatic actor
• Performed in
Shakespeare’s Othello
• Lived abroad
• Political and civil rights
activist
Paul Robeson
(U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1942)
Zora Neale Hurston
• 1920s Writer
• Their Eyes Were
Watching God
Zora Neal Hurston
(U.S. Library of Congress, n.d.)
“Their Eyes Were Watching God”
“The wind came back with triple fury, and put out
the light for the last time. They sat in company
with the others in other shanties, their eyes
straining against crude walls and their souls asking
if He meant to measure their puny might against
His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but
their eyes were watching God.”
—Zora Neale Hurston
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
(U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1953)
• Part of the Creole Jazz
Band
• Trumpet player
• One of the most
important and
influential players in
the history of Jazz
Bessie Smith
• Female blues singer
• 1927 became the
highest paid Black
artist in the world
Bessie Smith
(U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection, 1936a)
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington
• Jazz pianist and
composer who led a
ten-piece orchestra at
the Cotton Club
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943
(U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, 1943)
Marcus Garvey
• Charismatic personality
inspired the controversial
UNIA and its most public
role in society: the Black Star
Line
• Jailed for mail fraud and
deported
Marcus Garvey
(U.S. Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection, 1924)
Alain LeRoy Locke
• Scholar noted for coining
the term “New Negro” in
reference to the rising
cultural progression of
African Americans
(Alain LeRoy Locke, n.d.)
Alcohol; Auto & Organized
Crime
From Puck magazine, a cartoon showing politics discussed around a bottle.
(Keppler, 1883)
Changing Ways of Life
Image showing the disposal of alcohol during prohibition
(Prohibition Disposal, n.d.)
• Banning of Alcohol: 18th Amendment (Jan. 1920)
• Billy Sunday (evangelist) predicted a new age of virtue and
religion.
• Failure of Prohibition
• Millions move from the farm to the city
The Prohibition Experiment
• Prohibition Era: during
which the manufacture,
sale, and transportation
of alcoholic beverages
were legally prohibited
• Liquor considered
prime cause of
corruption
• Support came from
rural South and West
with large populations
of native born
Protestants
(Carry A. Nation, 1908)
Volstead Act
• The Anti-Saloon League led
the drive to pass
Prohibition
• The Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union helped
to push it through
• Saloons closed their doors
• Eventually failed due to
lack of government funding
• The Volstead Act
established a Prohibition
Bureau in the Treasury
Dept.
Volstead Mother Goose
(Dinsmore, 1922)
Speakeasies & Bootleggers
• To obtain liquor drinkers
would go to hidden
saloons and nightclubs
• You spoke quietly, or
“easily” to avoid
detection
• Had to have a card or
password
• Prescriptions &
sacramental wine
• Bootleggers: carried
liquor in the legs of
boots
Above: A membership
card to the New Stock
Club, a speakeasy
club during
prohibition.
(Cornell University
Library, 1932)
Left: A woman
displaying her flask
hidden in her boot.
(U.S. Library of
Congress, National
Photo Company
Collection, 1922)
Organized Crime
• Prohibition contributed
to organized crime
• Chicago was noted for Al
Capone ($60 million
empire)
• By mid-1920s only 19%
of Americans supported
Prohibition
• Most Americans wanted
the 18th Amendment
repealed
• It would remain in force
until 1933 when
repealed by the 21st
Amendment
Al Capone
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1929)
The Impact of the Automobile
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Changed the American landscape
Paved roads were the most visible effect
Route 66
Architecture changes
Gasoline stations
Was used frequently in bootlegging and organized crime
A route for people going west from Chicago to California
Houses change also because they now have a garage or
carport and driveway and a smaller lawn
• These begin to grow rapidly along with repair shops,
public garages, motels, tourist camps, and shopping
centers
References
Alain LeRoy Locke [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Alain_LeRoy_Locke.jpg
Carry A. Nation Signature [Image]. (1908). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nation_Carry_A_Signature.jpg
Cornell University Library. (1932). Stork Club speakeasy membership card 1932-1933 [Image]. Retrieved October 12,
2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stork_Club_speakeasy_membership_card_1932-1933.jpg
Dinsmore, J. (1922). Volstead Mother Goose [image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HotDog0822MotherGoose.jpg
Federal Bureau of Investigation (1929.) Al Capone. [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone#/media/File:Al_Capone_in_1929.jpg
Keppler, J. (1883). Bottled politics [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bottled_politics_LCCN2012645526.jpg#/media/File:Bottled_politics_L
CCN2012645526.jpg
Prohibition Disposal [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_Prohibition_Disposal(9).jpg
U.S. Library of Congress (n.d.) Zora Neal Hurston [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hurston-Zora-Neale-LOC.jpg
References
U.S. Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection (1924). Marcus Garvey. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcus_Garvey_1924-08-05.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection. (1922). Woman with boot flask. [Image]. Retrieved
October 12, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_with_boot_flask.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1942). Paul Robeson [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015,
from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Robeson_1942.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1943). Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943 [Image].
Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duke_Ellington_at_the_Hurricane_Club_1943.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (1953). Louis Armstrong [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015,
from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_Armstrong_restored.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection (1936a). Bessie Smith [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bessiesmith-2.jpg
U.S. Library of Congress, Van Vechten Collection (1936b). Langston Hughes [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Langston_Hughes_1936.jpg
Wenzel, B. (2011). New Negro Movement [Image]. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Negro_Movement.gif