Industry Comes of Age

lroad:

Millionaires look for areas to invest their capital + patents were issued at high rates = Key inventions: - Phone (Alexander Bell); leads to women working the switchboard ; Electric light, phonograph (Edison); mimeograph, Dictaphone, moving pictures.

Typewriters & Secretaries

The Telephone Alexander Graham Bell or Antonio Meucci?

Thomas Edison Light Bulb Phonograph

Eastman Kodak

(oil); illegal

1. 2. 3. 4.

Labor v Big Business Massive immigration creates favorable labor market for owners Major court case, Commonwealth v Hunt (1842), gives way for unions to take action - Massachusetts SC: labor unions are legal organizations, have the right to strike Tactics: - Labor Unions: Collective bargaining, pickets, strikes, boycotts, slowdowns - Owners/Managers: Lockouts, blacklists, scabs, yellow-dog contracts, government intervention (court injunction, police)

Unionization In response to cheap wages, poor working conditions, and unfair business practices, labor unions began to organize on a national level National Labor Union ( 66): one of the first + major national - Secured 8hr workday for federal employees; membership open to all Knights of Labor ( 69): found early success through strikes - Membership open to all - except Chinese laborers (endorsed Chinese Exclusion Act) American Federation of Labor ( 86): formed in wake of AFL / Haymarket - Autonomy to crafts; exclusive membership

Laborers: Strikes & Riots Haymarket Riot (1886) - Bomb kills 4 people on May Day - Knights of Labor (worked in tandem) and anarchists are blamed for the excessive violence, giving the union a negative public perception again Great Railroad Strike of 1887 - Panic of 1973 leads to laborers wages cut - Strikes occur across the NE (Baltimore & Ohio RR) - Federal troops are used, giving labor unions a negative public perception

Laborers: Strikes & Riots (continued) Homestead Strike (1892) - Carnegie (via Frick) locks out steel mill workers, uses Pinkertons to enforce lockout court injunctions and criminal prosecutions bring strike to an end Pullman Strike (1894) Why? Wages cut while rents in Pullman community remained the same What? Non-union workers strike as Eugene V Debs leads boycott, resulting in massive slowdown ***Owners use Sherman Antitrust Act to file federal injunction (US mail used these RRs) Pres. Cleveland calls in federal troops (30 people die, $80m in damages)***

America Moves to the City

Immigration & Urbanization Evidence 1900, New York had 3.5 million people; second largest in the world (London was first) - Chicago and Philadelphia had over 1 million people. - No American city had 1 million people in 1860. The U.S. population in 1900 doubled to about 80 million since 1870 (105 million by 1920) - City population had tripled; 40% in 1900

Immigration & Urbanization

Old Immigration

New Immigration

Ellis Island, NY

Medical Exams & Quarantine

Ellis Island, NY

Statue of Liberty, 1886

Statue of Liberty Torch Light & hope Seven Spires Seven Seas Stone Tablet July IV MDCCLXXVI

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus, 1883

Angel Island, San Francisco

Japanese Picture Brides

A New Immigration New Immigration from S & E Europe 1880-1920 - Poland, Italy, Greece, Hungary Push/Pull factors: - Jobs, birds of passage, lack of military conscription, and to avoid religious persecution (Jews) Urbanization... - NYC and Chicago dumbbell tenements - Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives

Challenges Faced Assimilation Proves Difficult (w/out native resistance!) - Many were unskilled and so received lower wages; language barriers made it hard to unionize - Highly illiterate (schools were English-only) and lived in ghettos Politics & Patronage - Political bosses (re: Tammany Hall) gave immigrants jobs and resources in exchange for votes became a strong voting presence

Theories of Culture Melting Pot Assimilation Salad Bowl Pluralism

Chinatown San Francisco Los Angeles New York City

Little Italy

The Lives of Immigrants "Dumbbell" tenements developed in 1879; 7 or 8 stories high with little ventilation while families were crammed into each floor - Comprised 50% of New York City housing - Despite later criticism, these dwellings actually were an improvement Cities had deplorable conditions. - Rampant crime: prostitution, cocaine, gambling, violent crime - Unsanitary conditions persisted as cities could not keep up with growth

Tenements One or more families living in a small apartment Poor sanitation & ventilation

Tenements

Dumbbell Tenement

Immigrant Families

Sweatshops Urban factories with poor wages & working conditions

Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives (1890) Described the working and living conditions of immigrants First muckraker

Assimilate or Accommodate? Social Gospel: Crusaders attempted to improve the horrible conditions in cities Motivation: fear of violent revolution among the working class; Christians should work to improve life on earth rather than waiting for the afterlife Jane Addams - Chicago: Founded the Hull House (1889) a model for urban development (Settlement House Movement): provided housing, food, and education for poor women and immigrants - Primarily a women s movement: northern, white, middle-class, college-educated and prosperous Teaching or volunteerism were almost the only permissible occupations for a young woman of the middle class Women were prohibited in politics due to Victorian ideals and the cult of domesticity.

Assimilate or Accommodate? Re: Nativism Fear/distrust/hatred of foreigners - They re taking our jobs - They are minions of the Pope - They re anarchists/socialists - American Protective Association (1887) - Urged voting against Catholics to keep them out of office; favored tougher immigration laws

Hull House

The Pope s Dream: This cartoon references anti-catholic attitudes common in the 19th century that Catholics were anti-democratic and loyal primarily to the Pope.

Thomas Nast: Catholic Invasion

Immigration Laws Emergency Quota Act (1921) - < 3% (based on pop. from home country) allowed (based on 1910 census) - This favored S / E European immigrants National Origins Act (1924) - < 3% < 2% (based on 1890 census) - This hurt S / E European immigrants These two acts signified an end to previously unrestricted immigration

Immigration Laws Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) - Unlawful for Chinese laborers to enter the country - Chinese already living in the US are ineligible for citizenship (for the next 10yrs) - Context: The Burlingame Treaty in 1868 between the U.S. and China allowed unrestricted immigration to work on the transcontinental railroad - 1870: Chinese = 75k or 9% of California population - Renewed in 1892; made permanent in 1902 (until 1943)

Immigration Laws Gentlemen s Agreement (1907) - Japanese immigration restricted; kids in school Webb Alien Land Act (1913) - Aliens (i.e., Asians) in California couldn t own agriculture land

Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882

Irish workers made up a large percentage of laborers on the eastern section Chinese workers made up a large percentage of laborers on the western leg 1st transcontinental railroad connected the west coast to eastern cities in 1869