The Twentieth Century witnessed one of the largest booms in popular culture in American history. Prior to World War I the American people were very reserved and lived in small communities. Traditional morality, as defined by religion, was the defining factor in how people lived their lives from day to day. People rarely travelled and didn’t have many forms of entertainment, but in the Twenties all of this began to change.
It all started with the end of World War One. Soldiers were returning from the war with cash in their pockets and a vast array of new products to spend it on. The concept of mass production also became a reality with the return of America’s soldiers fueling the labor force. People began to develop a faith in technology that became more and more fueled with each new innovation. Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic is a key example of such. Mass production made items that were previously considered luxuries available to the middle class. Radio’s and even more importantly, automobiles became available to the middle class. The introduction of the Ford Model T, the world’s first mass produced car, meant that all people could travel farther distances and changed life completely.
The radio became the first form of mass communication and marketing. The American people became obsessed with radio programming and the vast variety of programs there were to listen to. Movies, or moving pictures, also provided cheap entertainment and a way for people to escape reality. Short advertisement reels played before movie clips also helped marketing. In the early 1920’s black culture in Harlem began to change as well. There were all black plays, music style was starting to change, and the Harlem Renaissance Basketball Club, later to be known as the Harlem Globetrotters, came into existence. The Harlem Renaissance is almost completely responsible for jazz music. In 1922 the first Jazz music was broadcasted on national radio. Jazz was listened mostly...