Chapter 19: Toward an Urban Society,

Transcription

1 Chapter 19: Toward an Urban Society, AP United States History Week of March 14, 2016

2 The Lure of the City The technical revolution of the late 1800s transformed the American city Pictured: Home Insurance Building, Chicago Inventions responsible: skyscraper for cities, streetcar for suburbs Also: electricity, elevators, and immigration Streetcar led to development of suburbs, and immigrants replaced wealthy city-dwellers City centre became a working-class slum Chicago was largely rebuilt after Great Fire of 1871

3 The Dumbbell Tenement Urban workers lived in tenements low-cost apartment buildings designed to house as many as possible Poverty, overcrowding, and neglect turned cities into slums Danger of fire in cities Contagious diseases: cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, diphtheria, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and high infant mortality rates Arrival of the dumbbell tenement in 1879 New York law required each tenement room to have an outside window City water companies introduced chlorination and filtration in an effort to stem the tide of diseases linked to contaminated water Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives shed light on poor living conditions

4 European Immigrants: Strangers in a New Land Why did Europeans leave for America from ? Answer: Unemployment, food shortages, war, illness, discrimination, land in the US (Homestead Act) 1892: government opened a reception center on Ellis Island, in New York harbor After processing, immigrants either headed off to find family members or set out on their own Mainly settled in communities established by previous settlers from their homeland: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, primarily (70%+) New York City Poles and Italians in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee Only 2% of immigrants settled in the South Ghettos and restrictive covenants shaped residence patterns for immigrants Ghetto: area dominated by one ethnic group Restrictive covenant: agreements among homeowners not to sell to certain groups Immigrants, often Catholic, unskilled, and speaking strange languages, were discriminated against

5 European Immigrants: Strangers in a New Land Why did Europeans leave for America from ? Answer: Unemployment, food shortages, war, illness, discrimination, land in the US (Homestead Act) 1892: government opened a reception center on Ellis Island, in New York harbor After processing, immigrants either headed off to find family members or set out on their own Mainly settled in communities established by previous settlers from their homeland: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, primarily (70%+) New York City Poles and Italians in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee Only 2% of immigrants settled in the South Ghettos and restrictive covenants shaped residence patterns for immigrants Ghetto: area dominated by one ethnic group Restrictive covenant: agreements among homeowners not to sell to certain groups Immigrants, often Catholic, unskilled, and speaking strange languages, were discriminated against

6 European Immigrants, Part II: Immigrants and the City The vast majority of immigrants settled in cities, where industrial capitalism presented a stark contrast from the age-old traditions of their peasant societies Most families were nuclear in structure Men were wage-earners, women were housekeepers and mothers Immigrants tended to marry within the group Most worked hard to retain traditional culture Immigrants relied on aid associations to provide fellowship and assistance The political machine accompanied urban growth Machine: party organization, led by boss and network of ward and precinct leaders, that traded jobs and services for support Graft: use of political authority for gain, such as trading city services for votes One of the most powerful was Boss Tweed of New York s Democratic Tammany Hall Why was the political machine such a fixture during the late 1800s and early 1900s? Why did voters keep bosses in power?

7 Social and Cultural Change, The rise of cities and industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s changed all aspects of American life, including gender roles, family structure, social interaction, education, and entertainment and leisure Around 1900, the population became more urban and life expectancy increased Advances in medicine also helped life expectancy Era of Victorian morals and ideals: clothing, strong religious and patriotic values New reforms: Mugwumps (corruption in politics), Women s Christian Temperance Union (alcohol) Entertainment: popular sports (football and baseball), croquet, circuses, fairs Also: thanks to technology, new music (Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag) Family: in factories and offices, family members rarely worked together Working-class families lived with extended family members or boarders Middle-class families began to move to suburbs; families became more about emotional and ideological connections, and social control Ladies Home Journal glorified motherhood; fertility declined, largely due to economic and social forces

8 Social and Cultural Change, , Part II: Women s Assertiveness The 1880s featured the emergence of a new woman: self-sufficient and now entering the workforce. However, she also represented a corruption of the old ideal By 1890s women had more control of earnings and property New divorce laws recognized women s rights to custody Divorce rates increased Also: women fought for suffrage, equal pay Susan B. Anthony founded National American woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) More discussion of menstruation, childbirth

9 Social and Cultural Change, , Part III: Education As childhood was increasingly recognised as a distinct period, education became more important in the United States By 1900, 31 states and territories had compulsory school attendance School trained people for life in an industrial society Rural South lagged behind in education Plessy v. Ferguson and Civil Rights Cases contributed to segregation in schools Education became a field of university study Morrill Land Grant Act gave land to states to establish colleges Private philanthropy, too: Leland Stanford, John D. Rockefeller Colleges now emphasized specialized research Women s colleges opened, too (Vassar, Wellesley, Smith), as few private colleges were open to women

10 Social and Cultural Change, , Part IV: Education for African Americans African Americans had few educational opportunities in the early 1900s. Two leaders, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois, advanced education for blacks, albeit along different, conflicting paths Most colleges did not accept blacks Blacks turned to black colleges: Hampton University (1868), Alcorn State (1871), Alabama A&M (1875) Washington stressed patience, manual training, hard work Did not want blacks to agitate race relations in society Atlanta Compromise speech accepted white superiority DuBois rejected Atlanta Compromise Urged blacks to fight civil rights, seek education, and push for professional careers

11 The Stirrings of Reform During the industrial era, the philosophy of Social Darwinism gradually gave way to the beginning of an era of reforms Social Darwinism applied natural selection to society Herbert Spencer combined biology and social selection to explain human progress Survival of the fittest preserved the strong Followers argued that government social action interfered with evolution Gradually, people raised questions about social reform This gave way to Progressive Era Henry George s Progress and Poverty (1879) advocated a single tax on land Edward Bellamy s Looking Backward, (1887) helped push for calls for nationalization of public utilities, equitable wealth distribution Emerging social gospel focused on improving conditions and saving souls

12 The Stirrings of Reform, Part II: Settlement Houses and Social Welfare In the late 1800s, reformers formed settlement houses in the slums and lived there in order to experience the problems thy were trying to solve Jane Addams settlement house (Hull House, 1889) in Chicago was the most well-known example Stressed education (taught ethics, cooking, English) and even included infant welfare clinic and showers Addams and colleagues studied immigrants in nearby tenements Florence Kelley pushed for mandatory eight-hour workday in Illinois Panic of 1893 jarred the nascent settlement house movement A new class of professional social workers rose in their wake Gradually, academics began to study the poor W.E. B. DuBois studied urban black in Philadelphia