The Counter Culture of the 1920s Essay - 1493 Words

The counter culture of the 1920’s has affected the way the American lifestyle is today. Counter culture is a culture that primarily consists of younger people, with values and lifestyles opposing those of the original established culture. (Dictionary.com) A need for change. The 1920’s are also known as the â€Å"Jazz Age,† which was coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the â€Å"Roaring Twenties.† It was a decade of change. (Hakim, 41) The counterculture of the 1920’s resulted from the Age of Jazz, Flappers, and the Harlem Renaissance. Out of the streets of New Orleans, a new form of music arose. This new type of music was not known as African or European, but simply American. It was jazz. In 1900 jazz first developed, but it wasn’t until the†¦show more content†¦Louis was born in New Orleans where he grew up and learned to play the trumpet. He also learned to sing. Because of his long improvised solos, he inspired jazz so that long solos became an important part of jazz pieces and performances. (Cayton, 462) Armstrong was the king of jazz trumpet players. The new style that he created gave a voice-like quality to his horn. (Hakim, 58) Although Jazz was very popular itself, a majority of the fans and listeners were younger people. Flappers were commonly known during this time. They danced to the jazz music with a whole new style. A flapper was a modern woman of the 1920’s with bobbed hair, short skirts, and dramatic make-up. (sparknotes.com) The flapper was also used to represent a new type of young woman. It represented a woman that was bold, rebellious, and energetic. Only a small percentage of American women were flappers. The image of the flapper had a huge impact on the rest of the nation’s fashion and behavior. Most women began to cut their hair short. It was called bobbing. Many parents wouldn’t allow it. To the older generation, it seemed taboo to have short hair. Some of the daughters of these people felt old-fashioned for not having their hair cut short. (Hakim, 42) Before the twenties, it was rare for a woman’s ankle to be glimpsed upon beneath long skirts. Yet, during the ’20’s, the ankles were highly visible as the hemlines for women’s skirts rapidly went up and up, asShow MoreRelatedThe Roaring Twenties By F. Scott Fitzgerald860 Words   |  4 Pageswas a celebration of youth and culture. All of America seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for entertainment and art. So life during the 1920’s brought new forms of entertainment, new movements in the arts, and new attitudes and fashion for women. Movies quickly became a national pastime, radios became a primary news source, painters started capturing the realities and dreams of America, and music composers created a distinct type of music called jazz. The 1920’s also brought forward insightfulRead MoreThe Fall Of Patriotic Ideals1535 Words   |  7 PagesAfter the 1940’s, tensions between America and the Soviet Union rose into a world conflict. Once more the American people were tasked with protecting the world from the evils of tyranny. Although the Cold War never did result in a direct conflict between the Soviet Union and America, the two nations battled through a series of proxy wars. In the 1950’s, American soldiers were deployed to South Korea to protect America’s ally from the threat of a North Korean invasion. In the 1960’s American soldiersRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1046 Words   |  5 PagesIn the 1920’s a plethora of things shaped the society. There were so many drastic changes and differences. occurring this time from people s, homes, cars, and money the 20’s encountered some complex times. As Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby he focused on different things like the stock market, homes, and cars. The 1920’s America was in a time of prosperity and economic growth. Fashion, innovation and business, architecture was thriving more than ever before. Citizens were giving a chance toRead MoreCinderella Man Analysis1474 Words   |  6 PagesUnited States began transitioning into an urbanized society and into the Gilded Age during the 1880’s through the 1920’s. The country seemed to be perfect beyond the surface, yet corruption struck the nation underneath. In response, the Progressive Era was introduced to the United States to eliminate the widespread issues in the country. The movie Cinderella Man accurately portrays the life in the 1920’s, Great Depression, and the New Deal through James Braddock’s life before and after his heroic recoveryRead MoreThe Impact Of Migration On African American History913 Words   |  4 PagesAfrican Americans participated in migration just as much as whites did and have been migrating all throughout the United Sta tes since the first African slave ship made its way to Jamestown in 1619. Florette Henri’s Black Migration: Movement North, 1900-1920 (1975) focuses on the beginning of the large-scale relocation of black people from the South to the North and West. The book’s overall theme is, as Henri states in the preface, that black Americans in the early decades of the century had far moreRead MoreEffects Of World War I Ended On The 1920s1567 Words   |  7 PagesHarding proposed â€Å"a return to normalcy†. This promised a return of the United States prewar mentality, without the thought of war contaminating the minds of the American people. With this in mind, the 1920s began- but Americans in the 1930s witnessed dramatic changes in their lives from the 1920s. The 1920s was a period of prosperity and economic success, while the 1930s was a time of economic downfall. The economy fluctuated between times of great prosperity and times of undoubtable depression. FollowingRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1599 Words   |  7 PagesFrancis Scott Fitzgerald was an author who wrote several books based around his time of life. Fitzgerald lived during the Roaring 20’s and recorded many important events and theme s that occurred around him. One of Fitzgerald’s most popular novels is named The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written to reproduce the environment that Fitzgerald was living in. This semiautobiographical work uses fictitious characters to portray how people around Fitzgerald acted and what the overall theme ofRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald818 Words   |  4 PagesThirteen â€Å"Dry† Years: The Amendment that Banned Alcohol for Thirteen Years On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment was enforced throughout the United States: Prohibition. The18th Amendment banned the selling, manufacturing, and production of alcohol. Just a short thirteen years later the 21st Amendment was passed, repealing the18th Amendment. Banning alcohol intended to lower crime rates and eliminate other social problems in the early 21st century. However, the banning of alcohol did not end socialRead More T.s. Eliot Essay1241 Words   |  5 Pages As one of Americas first modernist poets, T. S. Eliots unique style and subject matter would have a dramatic influence on writers for the century to come. Born in 1888 in St. Louis Mo. at the tail end of the quot;Cowboy eraquot; he grew up in the more civilized industrial era of the early 20th century, a time of the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford. The Eliot family was endowed with some of the best intellectual and political connections in America of that time, and as a result went to only theRead MoreThe Women s Suffrage Movement1443 Words   |  6 PagesThe woman suffrage movement, which succeeded in 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, coincided with major national reform movements seeking to improve public education, create public health programs, regulate business and industrial practices, and establish standards agencies to ensure pure food and public water supplies. In 1870, the first attempt that Virginia women, as a campaign, fought for the right to vote in Ne w Jersey when native Anna Whitehead Bodeker invited several men and