Gilded Age Cities Chapter 25 Characteristics of Urbanization During the Gilded Age 1. Metropolises. 2. Mass Transit. 3. Magnet for economic and social opportunities. 4. Pronounced class distinctions. - Inner & outer core 5. New frontier of opportunity for women. 6. Squalid living conditions for many. 7. Political machines. 8. Ethnic neighborhoods. Urban Expansion Factories moving to cities which spurred industrial growth, innovations, etc. U.S. population in 1900 = 40 million Urban population tripled 1870-1900 Agricultural innovations forced thousands of farmers into the cities Glitter of cities attracted thousands 1
Urban Growth: 1870-1900 W. Le Baron Jenney: Central Y.M.C.A., Chicago, 1891 Louis Sullivan: Bayard Bldg., NYC, 1897 2
Woolworth Bldg. NYC - 1911 Grand Central Station, 1913 John A. Roebling: The Brooklyn Bridge, 1883 3
City Pattern Center: Poorest areas (ghetto, slums) Was previously middle class Usually near industry Unsanitary High crime rates Working class, middle class and rich made rings around center of cities Transportation innovations (streetcars, trolleys, subways) allowed wealthier to move out of city Neighborhoods usually segregated by race, ethnicity Dumbell Tenement New Immigration (1860-1900) 15 million immigrants came to U.S. 75% moved to Northeast Growing number from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Poland, Russia, Austria- Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Syria) etc. Made up 40% of immigrants during this era 60% were still Old Immigrants (Western European countries such as Britian, Germany, Ireland) 4
Asians and Latin Americans Many worked on railroads Performed hardest and dirtiest work By 1880, 15,000 Asian immigrants in U.S. 9% of California s population Asians: usually stayed West Latin Americans: moved to Southwest Nativism New Immigrant, Asian and Latin American immigrants faced nativism Job Competition Seen as more un-american Would work for lower wages Unions were usually anti-immigration Bosses preyed upon them 1880s: Fed govt began passing laws limiting immigration. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Gov t laws restricting immigration Forbade the immigration of Chinese for a number of years 1898: U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark: Supreme Court ruled 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all persons born in U.S. giving protection to Chinese Americans. 5
Impact on City Government Rapid urban growth taxed ability of local governments to provide services Bossism fueled Filled void left by fleeing native born groups Gave jobs, favors to poor and immigrants for votes Positive: Did help poor and cities Negative: corruption and offended middle class Inspired by: Poverty Immigration Urban Reform Corruption in Government (Party Bosses) Corruption in Big Business Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lived (1890) 6
Tenement Slum Living Lodgers Huddled Together Tenement Slum Living 7
Struggling Immigrant Families Mulberry Street Little Italy Social Gospel Movement Church membership increased dramatically Social betterment tied to salvation Charles Sheldon (1897)- What Would Jesus Do 8
Jane Addams Settlement house movement Hull House (1889) Use religious ideas to deal with poverty, social ills Primary focus: immigrant families and women Increased Stress on Education Tax-supported public schools gaining in popularity Compulsory grade-school education in most states Teach American values to immigrants Teach discipline to factory workers Illiteracy rate drops from 20% in 1870 to 10% in 1900 Increased number of colleges and universities Male (and Female) Mobility Improved industry meant new careers demanding education Increased need for lawyers, bankers, architects, insurance agents, managers Number of public high schools 160 in 1870 6000 in 1900 Graduation from college 53,000 in 1870 101,000 in 1900 9
Working Class Number of unskilled workers growing and threatening skilled workers Gap between rich and poor growing Top 10% had 73% of wealth in 1890 Skilled workers saw wages increase by 50% (1860-1900) but their numbers decline Unskilled saw wages increase 31% (1860-1900) Women and children in work force Working class children worked 50% of Philadelphia s children quit school by 14 in 1900 20% of women in work force Wages in 1900 for factory worker Skilled woman: $5 a week Unskilled male: $8 a week New Freedoms for Women Image of ideal woman: Gibson Girl Several states granted women property rights Increases in athletic activity Now organizations and charities 1900: 20% of college grads 10
Women Continued Job opportunities still usually limited to social services, nursing, teaching Comstock Law (1873): access to birth control information was illegal Some economic freedom allowed for new morality Increased resentment of being told what to do divorce revolution in cities More frank discussions of sexual topic Women s Suffrage Movement Supported by middle class so they could negate power of immigrant men Also take power from corrupt Party Bosses Movement picks up steam after Civil War Only Wyoming Territory granted full political equality to women by 1890 NAWSA Formation of National American Woman Suffrage Assoc. (NAWSA) by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1890 Need vote to protect women Rebirth of suffrage movement 11
South in Gilded Age Still behind the North in industry, education and other areas Sharecroppers and Tenant Farmers dominate the farms Most railroads in North which hindered industrialization African-Americans 1900: 44% of non-whites were illiterate Jim Crow: State segregation laws Plessy v. Ferguson: Separate But Equal Post-Reconstruction Redemption Booker T. Washington Founded Tuskegee Institute Taught black students trades to gain selfrespect and economic security Blacks should work within system and gain resources that would lead to Civil Rights Some criticized: Did not directly challenge white supremacy 12
W.E.B. DuBois Critic of Booker T. Washington Called him Uncle Tom Condemned race to manual labor and inferiortiy Helped found the NAACP Demanded complete equality for blacks Talented Tenth 13