Pages 576-80/589-98 By the late 1800s, businesses looked for ways to attract middle-class women and families into their stores or to visit their attractions P.T. Barnum’s Circus - appealed to families – taught children courage and the benefits of exercise. Also emphasized female performers. Department stores added tea-rooms, children’s playrooms and offered to wrap every purchase. The addition of credit allowed women to make purchases without having to handle their money in public. These stores were called “Adamless Edens” Electricity paved the way for new appliances such as: Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc. which created another gap between the middle class and the poor. Pullman Cars were also outfitted with luxurious amenities to attract middle class women to travel with their children

Commerce and Culture Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld segregation in accommodations – ruling that such segregation did NOT violate the 14th Amendment, as long as the segregated facilities were “equal”. The ruling by the Supreme Court ultimately upheld the constitutionality of Jim Crow Laws “Separate but equal” facilities appeared all over the South not just railroad cars – but also things like water fountains, bathrooms, schools, restaurants etc

Women, Men, and the Solitude Self Changes in Family Life Childbearing in the late 1800s decreased drastically: People married later in life, contraceptives became more widespread Comstock Act (1873) - prohibited distribution of information about sex and birth control Education: By 1900, over 70% of Americans between 5 and 18 attended school Tuskegee Institute: Founded by Booker T. Washington, a former slave Advocated that blacks learn industrial education, or vocational training Atlanta Compromise: Washington argued for equal economic opportunities for blacks “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”

From Domesticity to Women’s Rights Maternalism - helped justify women’s involvement in reform movements The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) 1874, Frances Willard- Sought to challenge alcohol and tied its consumption to domestic violence Not only was the group one of the frontrunners in the Prohibition movement, but they also pushed for eight hour workdays, abolishing child labor and ultimately wanted women to have the right to vote. Women, Race, and Patriotism United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) Created monuments, gave out Confederate flags, and helped reshape the image of the Civil War National Association of Colored Women: Reform organization that focused on orphans, elderly in need of homes, and advocated temperance Ida B. Wells - journalist that wrote about the horrors of lynching She demonstrated that lynchings were often the result of economic disputes or relationships between black men and white women

From Domesticity to Women’s Rights National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) (1890): became the first group since the Civil War to push for voting for women. Many western states allowed women to vote (WY, CO, ID, UT) By 1913 women west of MS River were granted suffrage National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (1911) Argued that: It was expensive to add women to the voting rolls Wives could be able to “cancel out” their husbands vote Women would now be slung into the cesspool of politics Feminism: Advocated political, economic, and social equality for women

Science and Faith Darwinism Charles Darwin’s book Origin of Species (1859) argued that natural selection existed in nature. Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner used Darwin’s theory and applied it to humans and their societies. “Social Darwinism” - “survival of the fittest” Wealthy Americans used Social Darwinism to justify their wealth Success and wealth showed that the wealthy were “naturally selected” Eugenics: Practice of preventing certain individuals - those who were deemed as mentally deficient – were sterilized. This practice especially targeted those of non-white decent

Realism in the Arts Realism: Representing life in realistic terms – stories don’t always have fairytale happy endings. Realist writers attempted to write about the entire human experience, not just the happy occassions. Naturalism: Humans are not necessarily rational shapers of their own destinies, but are more victims of forces beyond their control. Modernism: Modernists focused on the subconscious and sought to overturn convention and tradition.

Realist artists Edward Hopper George Wesley Bellows

Modernist artists Georgia O’ Keefe

The 1913 Armory Show in New York changed everything for American artists as they were exposed to the works of Pablo Picasso for the first time. The Americans now had a new definition of modernism to emulate.