Themes in American History

One of the major difference between NYC and the rest of the cities in America has always been the population, but this difference expanded in the 1900s. All throughout American History, NYC has been the land of opportunity for the “hard workers” as well as the “dreamers” – but none more so during the 1900s. In the 1920s, musicians and artists from all over the country came to NYC, to try and be successful. With the radio reaching into every American’s house, NYC was the right place to be. America was introduced to the jazz and the blues. NYC was already home to Broadway theater, but it was only in the early 1900s, that the rest of America started taking notice of it.

Music was only one reason a lot of people were driven to NYC.  Industrialization, the growth in Transportation, and the opportunities available due to the New York Stock Exchange are some of the other reasons, that a lot of people were attracted to NYC. According to the census, the population in NYC grew by more than 2 million from 1900 to 1920, and by almost 2 million from 1920 to 1940, while the second most populous city at that time – Chicago, grew by a little over 1 million from 1900 to 1920 and by merely 700,000 from 1920 to 1940. Immigration is another big reason why NYC has always had a higher population growth than the other countries. During this period, millions of immigrants entered the city from Ellis Islands, although most of them did not live in NYC.

P.S: This video was shot in July 1903 by Edison Studios

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The 1920s, also known as “The Roaring Twenties” was a great time period for the United States. New York City, especially, flourished with many inventions as well as political, cultural, and structural changes. New York was becoming more modern than ever, it was finally being known as the American New York. With all the other changes in the city, there was a big change occurring in Harlem, New York. Many African-Americans were migrating from the South and entering Harlem. New York was experiencing an explosion of culture. The African Americans brought a huge change culturally. The black population brought with them new ideas and had a great influence in poetry, literature, music, and photography to New York. Jazz, a style of music brought by the African American community, became the musical tradition in this time period. Also, with a great boom in the black population in New York, African American officials were now finally being elected.

Musical Influence

The Harlem Renaissance

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79i84xYelZI

The video above shows an example of the type of silent movies viewed during this time period.

The 1920s are greatly known for the entertainment developed during the time period. People had more free time and began spending this time several different types of leisure activities. People began watching sports especially baseball as well as boxing. Some even became involved in sports such as tennis baseball and golf (Chudacoff & Smith 217). The movie business continued to expand as more and more people began too visit theaters. For example about 110 million people visited the movies in a week when the population of the U.S. was only about 120 million (Chudacoff & Smith 217). Music advanced and flourished as Jazz became increasingly popular (Chudacoff & Smith 218). Radio allowed listeners to hear a wide variety of things from music to the news to advertisements about retail products that convinced them to go out and buy them (Chudacoff & Smith 218). This modernized the city by making it a thriving entertainment center with a wide variety of things to do during peoples free time. These developments brought forth the technologies of entertainment in the future that lead to inventions such as the television.

Picture of Babe Ruth who was an important figure in baseball during the 1920s

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