Negative Positive  Still face widespread racism and discrimination  White townspeople drove some black migrants away  Can find opportunities in mining, ranching, and working as soldiers, cooks, teachers, and nurses  Can own land and farm  In some cases, “Exodusters” formed new all-black communities  Despite the challenges of farming, could succeed or fail on our own terms

African Americans Miners

Negative Positive  Work was difficult and dangerous  Sometimes work in dismal conditions › Used hand tools and weak explosives  Few miners struck it rich  Hydraulic machines and large mining companies drove away individuals  Wasn’t hard to learn to mine  Plenty of opportunity for work › Mines, shops, restaurants, banks, saloons  The Comstock Lode brought more than $300 million in gold and silver to the people who mined it

Negative Positive  Had many challenges building the first transcontinental railroad › financial shortages, conflicts with Indian tribes, and rough terrain  Dangerous work conditions sometimes slowed workers down  Pacific Railway Act gave land and loans to small companies › Then sell this land to settlers at a profit  Farmers paid very high rates to ship their crops to market

Negative Positive  Working conditions were often dangerous and harsh › Endured attacks by Indians › During the winter, faced the threat of frostbite and avalanches  Some were still targets of racism › Both African Americans and immigrants  Some escaped discrimination and poverty by moving west to work on the railroads › There were plenty of jobs available for those willing to work hard  Workers who survived the dangerous conditions had money in their pockets

Negative Positive  Technology allowed too many farmers to create a surplus of crops › caused crop prices to fall and farmer debt to increase  With railroads charging high rates to ship goods, farmers could not pay debts  Was able to organize for the first time and to find a political voice  Also helped make sure the Interstate Commerce Act passed › Forced railroads to set reasonable rates for farmers  Many of the organizations formed brought attention to farmers’ plight

Negative Positive  Settlers pushed them off their land › Buffalo killed by settlers  Sometimes U.S. soldiers, as in the Sand Creek Massacre and the Battle of Little Bighorn, attacked Indians  Forced onto reservations, sometimes invaded by prospectors or settlers  Died from disease and poverty  Assimilation and the Dawes Act prevented Indians from retaining their way of life and keeping their land  Some learned to survive in American society › Succeeded as miners and farmers

Negative Positive  Difficult and hazardous work › Had to watch out for stampedes and attacks by Indians  Slept outside, even in bad weather, and endure hard living conditions  Some of the cattle, and even entire herds, died from disease  Were plenty of cattle for cowboys to herd, and plenty of grass for the cattle to eat  Growing populations of cities in the East increased the demand for beef and led to more jobs  Railroads made shipping beef easier › Cowboys could drive cattle up trails to towns that shipped the animals east

Cowboys Settlers

Negative Positive  Building shelter without trees was hard work  Droughts and dry soil made farming difficult for some who lived in drier regions  Grasshoppers destroyed some of the crops.  Homestead and Morrill Land-Grant Acts gave many people land to farm  Technology modernized production and made work easier  In the plains, had the opportunity to live out their dreams