The economic prosperity of the 1920s brought many positive social and cultural changes to U. Many things, such as the widespread use of the automobile, transformed family social life, while the new, wide following of Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance created revolutionary cultural changes.
As the automobile industry prospered due to new production techniques the automobile gained widespread use. Automobiles enabled rural residents to have greater contact with their neighbors. Also, this form of transportation linked rural and urban areas allowing rural residents to move, or shop in the big cities, and allowing city dwellers to go to the country. Family life transformed as well, as teenagers were given new social opportunities.
During the 1920s, musical culture changed when jazz won a wide following. Jazz music was a blend of West African and Latin rhythms, African American spirituals and blues, and European harmonies. Joseph "King" Oliver helped to spread jazz northward with his creation of the Creole Jazz Band. As this happened, white musicians began incorporating jazz into their music, while big bands, both black and white popularized it for dancing. .
Quite possibly the greatest cultural changes came about with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in Harlem, New York, of African American actors, artists, writers, and musicians. During this time blues and religious songs became popular for many audiences with songs such as Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" in 1920. Many enormously successful Broadway musicals came about as well, such as Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. The Harlem Renaissance was above all a literary movement, when famous novelists such as Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes produced work describing the bitterness and defiance, but also joy and hope of African American life.
Through the widespread popularity of the automobile, the popularization of jazz, and the cultural movement of the Harlem renaissance, U.