The Jazz Age (Weekly Blog #13)

The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s from which jazz music and dance emerged with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has lived on in American pop culture for decades. With the introduction of jazz came a new cultural movement in places like the United States, France and England. The birth of jazz music is usually credited to African Americans but expanded and modified to become socially acceptable to middle-class white Americans. White performers were used to popularize jazz in America. Cities like New York and Chicago were cultural centers for jazz, and especially for African American artists. In urban areas, African American jazz was played on the radio more often than in the suburbs. In the 1920s youth used the influence of jazz to rebel against the traditional culture of previous generations. This youth rebellion of the 1920s went hand-in-hand with fads like bold fashion statements (flappers) and new radio concerts. As jazz flourished, American elites who preferred classical music tried to expand the audience of their favored genre, hoping that jazz wouldn't become mainstream.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_Age