1920s: A Decade in Review by Brianna Williams

LIFE MAGAZINE

Talkies! Feature Story By: Katherine Humphreyson

I N S I D E TH I S I S S U E :

Feature : Talkies!

Letters to the Editor

Political Cartoons

Feature: Harlem Renaissance

News Stories

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Crossword

Editorial: Scopes Trial

You walk through the glass double doors, and head to the counter on the side. You buy a box of popcorn and head into the theater. You sit down and wait till the lights slowly dim and the clicking of the film can be heard. You wait in anticipation as the movie The Jazz Singer starts to play on the screen. This is the first “talkie” and it’s your first time to see it. The excitement nearly overtakes you as you hear the first sounds of a song playing all around you. Next thing you know the actors lips are moving and the sound is perfectly synchronized to the song pouring out of the speakers. You smile as you watch actors dance and sing just like a play on a stage. And The Jazz Singer was only the beginning. Movies took on a whole new role in our lives when they began to talk. Before, the acting was simple enough, a lot of show with words to follow, to keep the story line moving. But once talking was introduced, it changed everything. As the picture to the left depicts, talkies were a big deal. Never before had we been able to have both talking and seeing in the same production other than on stage. The talkies brought a new excitement to our lives. With the new movies came the new stars of our decade. We

began to watch them like hawks, reading about their relationships with other stars in magazines and what their next movies were going to be. We followed the stars like, Marion Davies, and Vilma Banky, Charlie Chap-

lin, or Buster Keaton. These stars let us long for their lives, and yearn to watch them on screen, just to escape our lives for a bit. Radio brought just as much excitement into our lives. With many broadcasts to listen to, we tuned in with our ears close to the radio, waiting to hear what new world would be brought to our living rooms through that one speaker. Shows like The Shadow and big bands playing over the radio stations we were able to listen to entertainment at all kinds of times. News, weather forecasts, and farm reports helped us stay in touch with our fellow neighbors and

countrymen. We were able to listen to the same radio program and the same bands playing, enjoying every moment of sound that was brought straight into our living rooms. The radio helped us stay in touch with our world and know what was going on with the fellow American; the radio brought us closer together. Radios and moves excited our minds and allowed us to escape reality if only for an hour or two. They brought us peace, joy, and information when necessary. These inventions allowed for American’s to enjoy ourselves and develop our culture further than ever before. Talking movies let us record history and save it for all time on film. The stars we follow and the radio programs we listen to are all a part of our lives and will forever remain that way.

Advertisement By: Linsey Houston

L I F E

M AG A Z I N E

Letters To the Editor Dear Editor, The link in you're letter between the unions and the Sacco-Venzetti case is very loose, at beast not to mention unfair. Not only have labor unions gotten millions smaller over the years as both the demand for them has declined, and it has become increasingly clear they are inefficient in serving their purpose, but the railway labor act (RLA) was passed for a reason. Union's are a national threat, as are anarchists. They disrupt the United States economy, its government, and its ability to function stably on a day to day basis. The RLA ensures that unionized workers are no longer able to jeopardize the economy's ability to function by striking. Instead, they had to negotiate calmly and in an orderly fashion over the amending of non-expiring labor agreements in a civilized manner. However, union workers still complained bitterly about this, and many railway unionized workers still demand the right to strike, knowing full well they can take advantage of their strategic role in the economy to get more then their fair share of the American pie. Justin Wallace, NYT Boston office economics editor

By: Chase Gibson Dear Editor, It’s been a little over a week since they passed the 19th Amendment. Since the ratification, women have had an even newer motivation to get out there and make a difference. A huge culture change has happened among the women community. Many women found new freedom and independence thanks to money and automobiles. From all the changes that have been going on has pulled women away from their newfound voice in politics and more towards social life. Along with the right to vote, women have recently also become more concerned with fashion. The fashion world has become less modest, exposing more of the body. Flappers has became the new term for women meaning; rebellious young women who wore short skirts, smoked, danced wildly in new dances like the Charleston, joined the Communist Party, and used cosmetics and birth control. Having the Right to Vote has changed the face of women in more than one positive way. Macbeth Charles/Women’s Activist

By: Linsey Houston Dear Editor, I’d like to start out saying that I believe that Prohibition is great. Outlawing the consumption and sales of alcohol has its roots in the temperance movement that arose in the mid 1800s. In 1919, Congress passed the 18th amendment which outlawed the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors”, it did not make it illegal to buy, posses or consume. All the social reform groups that were all made up of white women believed that alcohol was tearing families apart, said that it caused men to be violent, unemployed, and economically and morally bankrupt. Having said that by 1916, over 21 states had banned saloons and many supported prohibition. I don’t believe that anyone should have a backdoor to this Devil Drink. Father Murray,Catholic Priest

By: Linsey Houston

Political Cartoon By: Brianna Williams

LIFE MAGAZINE

Art, Music, Poetry, Its Gotta be Renaissance Feature Story By: Katherine Humphreyson Walking down the street you see theaters and clubs everywhere around you. People are hastily walking down the streets to get into at least one of these places. Music is blaring from all these buildings and the street is lit up with colorful and bright signs stating the names of the different venues. You try to decide which of these enticing businesses you want to go in, but the decision is horribly difficult. It’s Harlem in 1926, and the arts are booming. Poetry, music, and art all flourishing as this community grows and extends beyond the boundary of their city limits. The Harlem Renaissance and the 1920’s saw an exponential growth in the artistic styles. Poets like Langston Hughes and Jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong represent only a tiny bit of the tremendous explosion of art throughout Harlem and the black community. Spoken word poetry began extremely popular and spoke to truth

of the history of black America. Poetry included stories of lynching’s and riots, speaking to the true testament of blacks. Seeing a man speak with pain and anguish over a lynching in his community is a sight to

see! However the Harlem Renaissance did not just give way to poetry, it also created wonderful music. The Picture above and to the right is a rendition of a jazz club during the 1920’s in Harlem.

Jazz was a music style started in New Orleans and was brought to Harlem during the Great Migration. It took hold in the city, bringing it to life with the African style beats and the Gospel music from slavery. Because of the renaissance jazz music took off across the country. Young crowds rushed to see the music preformed all over the country. A few greats stood out among the rest, Louis Armstrong (pictured to the left) was an incredible trumpet player and had a distinct voice that stood out above others. Jelly Roll Morton was a fantastic piano player and composer. Duke Ellington was a big time band leader, piano player, and composer as well. These greats in the jazz world only increased it popularity and helped the genre grow to become an American favorite. Art also took on a new life form for blacks during the Harlem Renaissance. Art grew to become bright colors

with odd shapes depicting life for blacks. Many of the art pieces showed pictures of the clubs that were now popping up all over Harlem or of the hard times blacks had during slavery and after. Below is a picture from Harlem. It shows a couple dancing to the jazz music being played at the club they are spending their night. Harlem has grown to become a thriving metropolis of cultural activity. With the art and music blacks have become free to express themselves just like a white person would. Their work rivals that of any white person and has a depth to it of a cultural understanding of their history that most other countries and cultures lack in their work. Blacks in this country have had a tough decade. They have been persecuted against and hated, and they have had unlawful killings and abuse showered upon them. However they have found growth through the Harlem Renaissance, and a way to express, and enjoy themselves.

Advertisment By: Katherine Humphreyson

LIFE MAGAZINE

Communist Calls for a Central Government and End of Capitalism News Story By: Chase Gibson Edwin McMillan has done it again. An author known for controversial and provocative works, McMillan's habit of creating and inflaming controversies has not slowed down despite the recent tensions and even bloodshed that has engulfed the country in recent years over alcohol, unions, communism, race relations, and unemployment. In fact, he seems to have seized upon these controversies and worked to exploit them in order to sell books. McMillan first made a name for himself amongst western thinkers criticizing the Treaty of Versailles and making harrowing forecasts about the future of Europe as "guaranteed" by the treaty's conditions, causing quite a bit of political squirming as doubts festered over whether the treaty was wise or not. Then he gained notoriety amongst whites when he published a disconcerting book about the need for America to improve interracial relations, or else risk the red summer of 1919 and Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 becoming the norm for the American domestic situation. Recently though McMillan's scholarly and black readers have started to take a step back from McMillan's work and reassess their opinion of him. McMillan's work has always inadvertently lambasted one group of people or another while he made his points. Now, his latest spate of books have all centered around government, tariffs, regulations, wealth inequality and the rights of the wealthy. Poor, rich, black and white alike have all started to question McMillan, and many have even gone so far as accuse him of being a closet communist. It's sad to say but that accusation doesn't seem so far fetched when you consider his recent writings in their entirety as one collective work, and so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the upper-class citizens and politicians of America are in quite the uproar over his scandalous libel (regarding corporations and the rich) and theorizing (regarding the ideal government).

Some of McMillan's quotes seem to be ripped straight from a communist manifesto. "Unbridled capitalism is like an unbridled horse. Wild, unpredictable and self-important. While that is certainly a romantic image it is not a pragmatic one. How are we supposed to ride the free markets to prosperity without a saddle? Without a saddle the markets will just get uppity and eventually unseat us." He wrote, in response to the lack of regulations and government domestic activity in the markets. McMillan was not advocating tariffs, either. Protectionism isn't a new government activity. He was advocating even more regulations regarding banks, trusts, corporations, workplace safety, and product quality, and he was advocating a more active, more centralized ederal government that enforces a national minimum wage, spends even more money (particularly on infrastructure), and has even higher taxes (particularly on the rich), just to name a few. As if reading straight from a communist manifesto wasn't enough, McMillan in his latest books doesn't seem to even be able to make up his mind about whether he wants a more active government or not. In the very same book he argues for more taxes and regulations he lambasts tariffs as somehow hurtful economically. This despite the fact tariffs have been around for centuries, are commonly accepted as an efficient and mainstream sovereign power of all governments, and are critical when it comes to protecting American business interests from foreign rivals. It doesn't end there, either. McMillan, apparently not satisfied with decrying accepted and typical government behavior, dug his hole even deeper by referencing darwinism and evolution to justify why tariffs are economically destructive. "The decrepit, oversized, inefficient dinosaurs of yesterday were in no way fit for our era, and so they lost out to the competition and died out (went bankrupt). Could you imagine if we'd kept the dinosaurs of yesterday alive like we're keeping the corporate dinosaurs of today alive through tariffs?

They'd be stampeding through the streets destroying the progress of civilization, and disrupting the equalibrium of our economies by destroying banks, warehouses, factories, and markets. Which, sadly, is almost exactly what many obselete and outdated corporations are doing to America today." In short, McMillan has attacked the rich and advocated the creation of a more communal society where we are all more equal in terms of wealth. He has attacked the government by decrying the treaty of versailles, by demanding we change the constitution and add more responsibilities to the role of the federal government, demanded we raise more taxes, and demanded the government take a more active role in the economy through regulations, laws, and spending. He has advocated making the lives of the lower classes even harder by way of taking their meal money away through taxes, and by costing them their job because their employer has been driven out of town by a foreign business or because they can't afford to hire as many empoyees anymore. He has offended responsible, god-fearing, patriotic citizens everywhere by not only extoling communistic virtues but darwinistic ones. For sure, the question is whether McMillan is an atheistic, inflammatory communist because it's clear he is. The question isn't even whether this means we have to reevaluate his prior work and invalidate some of it, because we already have begun to do this. The question is what is McMillan's next move and is this the symptom of a bigger issue amongst progressives and liberals in American society?

Advertisment By: Katherine Humphreyson

Sacco-Vanzetti Wrongly Convicted News Story By: Chase Gibson The assault on labor unions by the government and the media continued recently on July 14, 1921. 10 days after the nation celebrated the revolution that threw off the shackles of tyranny, inequality, and exploitation, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were found guilty of murder and for armed robbery despite an overwhelming amount of evidence to contrary. The two men had been taken in as suspects for the crime nearly a year ago, despite the dozens of witnesses who spelled out how it wasn't possible for them to do it. Although when we all expect justice when we walk into a court room, this court case has proven it's a vain hope. The judge who oversaw the case is heavily engrossed in controversy himself due to comments he made during the proceeding and sentencing of the case, and the abnormally severe sentencing the two immigrants were given, unquestionably due to not only their immigrant status, but their radical personal lives as anarchist supporters. Even after the two defendants changed their lawyer to Fred H. Moore and publicized their case to the point it was under international scrutiny (particularly by the Italian government), discrimination continued. Not only did the defendants have strong, solid alibi, but there was evidence of perjury by prosecution witnesses, of illegal activities by the government in the prosecution and investigation of the defendants, a confession to the Braintree robbery had been made by convicted bank robber Celestino Madeiros, and strong evidence pointed towards the notorious Morelli Gang as responsible fro the robbery. Ever since Moore stepped in, this court case has made it clear that this isn't merely about anarchists. Moore is a respected western lawyer who before this case had already taken part in many IWW and other labor union trials, particularly the Ettor-Giovannitti case, which came around after a 1912 Massachussets textile strike. Every day it becomes apparent that the government's discrimination isn't solely against anarchists, or communists, or socialists. Time and time again we have seen strikes taken place in America, which are then busted up by hired thugs who apparently are immune to the law as they harass, rough up, and even physically harm striking workers. The only time we have ever seen the federal or state governments intervene during a strike was to strikebust with federal or state troops. This court case is a stark reminder that we must all remember we are all in this boat together, and even though we may feel that the constitution will protect us from discrimination, it is very clear we are in a legal "gray area", as far as the government is concerned, and no matter what our papers say we are neither citizens nor do we have the right to a fair trial.

Political Cartoon By: Brianna Williams

Crossword By: Katherine Humphreyson

LIFE MAGAZINE

Scopes Trial: Verdict In, Debate Continues Editorial By: Brianna Williams of science that bases its knowledge off of

beliefs are, everyone wants the best for

Tennessee court declared John Scope

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species which

their children. Darwin’s ideas aren’t in

guilty of teaching evolution to his stu-

brings up evidence about the evolutionary

direct conflict with religious beliefs, so

dents, but that wasn’t the end of this

beginnings of species. William Jennings

students should be exposed to several

ongoing debate between fundamentalists

Bryan aired on the side of religion because he

possible explanations for their big ques-

and evolutionists. The fact that this sub-

believed in Christian Fundamentalism and

tions. Having many options will encour-

ject is even argued over is ridiculous, if

that the Bible should be interpreted literally;

age America’s youth to think independ-

evolution isn’t taught in science than

that God created the world in six days. Cla-

ently and creatively. If church and state

addition shouldn’t be taught in mathe-

rence Darrow is the voice of reason in this

are truly separate than why are schools

matics. Bryan ironically fires at Darrow

otherwise chaotic and superficial case.