Curated OER
Great Gatsby's Jazz
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...
Curated OER
The Roaring 20s
America during the 1920s was quite an interesting place! Bring the jazz, poverty, consumer excess, culture, and politics to life with this presentation. Primary source images, excellent descriptive text, and a wide span of topics are...
Curated OER
Black American Musicans: Precursors of Jazz
Students trace the course of Black music from the 1900's to the beginning of the jazz age. They realize that when education is defined as enlightened training for a place in society and for individual personal development, it was highly...
Curated OER
The Other Side of Paradise
Eleventh graders explore the life and writing of F. Scott Fitzgerald. They examine the youth culture of the 1920's and compare it to their own. They practice using some of the biographer's or archivist's tools for studying a person.
Library of Congress
Loc: Jazz Singers: Online Exhibition
Library of Congress online exhibition of Jazz singers provides a short bio and photos of each of these influential artists offering perspectives of the art of vocal jazz from the 1920s to present.
![Pbs: History Detectives: Investigations: Black Star Line [Pdf] Activity](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/35500-5ce0e7c72f9615a7b74440d3571e2d59.jpg?1661252960 "Pbs: History Detectives: Investigations: Black Star Line [Pdf] Activity")
PBS
Pbs: History Detectives: Investigations: Black Star Line [Pdf]
PBS had a series called "History Detectives." The video is no longer available for this episode, but this transcript of the video is. Read about the Black Star Line, envisioned by Marcus Garvey as a shipping company in which African...
University of Sydney (Australia)
Ahas: Flappers: Overview
A lengthy discussion of the Flapper in 1920s America. Read about flapper fashion, how Clara Bow, the movie star, epitomized the flapper, and how the ideals of the flapper were reflected in changes in women in the work force.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: 1900 1940s: Popular Culture
Original photographs look at pop culture and entertainment in the early part of the 20th century.
Other
John Carrol University: Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Resource
This site about the Harlem Renaissance includes audio and video files. A great resource that discusses many aspects of the Harlem Renaissance including African American education, politics, literature, and philosophy.
University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide: The Beautiful and Damned (Etext)
Read Fitzgerald's whole novel at this site. The formatting is clean and easy to read, but there is no accompanying commentary or interpretation.
University of Missouri
Famous Trials: The Black Sox Trial
A very good site on the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal, which ended in the banishing of eight major league players for life from the game of baseball. Also includes great information on the ensuing trial and a link to the manuscript of...
Other
For Many, One: Passing From Light to Dark
This scholarly article looks into the treatment of race and ethnicity in the 1920s and how they were handled in popular culture. Read about stereotypes of African Americans and immigrants from Asia and southern Europe and find out how...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: The Promised Land?
A short story and a painting illustrating African American perceptions of Northern cities. Rudolph Fisher's short story "The City of Refuge" and William H. Johnson's painting Moon over Harlem offer insight into life within the black...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Gershwin Legacy: George and Ira Gershwin
With their famous music and lyrics, the Library of Congress presents an in depth exhibit of primary source materials from the Gershwin brothers.
Digital History
Digital History: Formation of Modern American Mass Culture
A mass culture developed in America in the 1920s due to several factors. Read about the influence of radio, movies, and spectator sports in the adoption of common speech. Find out about the creativity of the time in literature and music.
Digital History
Digital History: Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism
The late 19th century was a time of scientific theory, inquiry, and teaching. Read about the backlash to such modernism in the early 20th century with the ideas from Christian Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. Find the five fundamentals...
Digital History
Digital History: Avant Garde
Synopsis of the huge cultural shifts that occurred in America in the 1920s in art, music, literature, and among intelligentsia.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Great Gatsby: Primary Sources From the Roaring Twenties
In order to appreciate historical fiction, students need to understand the factual context and recognize how popular culture reflects the values, mores, and events of the time period. Since a newspaper records significant events and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: America in the 1920s: The Age
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
Digital History
Digital History: Overview of the 1920s
Original documents, a timeline, biographies, pictures, and videos cover historical and cultural events of the 1920s.
PBS
Pbs: Cole Porter: You're the Top
A high school lesson plan designed to delve deeper into the life of Cole Porter and the meaning in his music.
Other
Bob Stepno: The Evening Graphic's Tabloid Reality
During the 1920s, newspapers and tabloids began printing graphic stories about murders, true love and true detective cases. This article by journalism student, Bob Stepno, investigates the truth behind the stories found in the "Evening...
Authors Calendar
Author's Calendar: F. Scott Fitzgerald
This site offers a detailed biography of Fitzgerald, plus a synopsis of "The Great Gatsby" and a good bibliography.
Other
African American Registry: Rose Mc Clendon: A Builder of the Black Stage
A biography on the African American actress Rose McClendon (1884-1936 CE) who played a major role in the creation of a "Black Theater," in the United States.