DAILY LIFE IN THE CITIES America’s Birth as an Urban Society

Goals for this presentation…  Understand the growing role of urban areas in shaping American culture in the late 19 th Century  Describe the causes and effects of growing literacy in urban areas.  Explain the role of newspapers and other forms of mass literature in shaping the opinions and attitudes of Americans  Discuss how sports and entertainment were transformed in urban areas supporting the birth of a mass culture

The Hook and Key Questions  Hook: “ Growing cities developed many of the habits and institutions that we take for granted today in modern America.”  Key Questions:  What factors would support the growing influence of books and newspapers in the late 19 th century?  How did the growing wealth and influence of cities support changes in American culture? How did the institutions of sports and entertainment create the beginning of opportunities that many of us hope to enjoy today in the 21 st century?

Cities and the Rise of Mass Society: 1880 to 1910  In 1880, America was still a primarily a rural nation  Percentage of population living in urban areas  %  %  %  %  Urban- Incorporated areas (such as cities and townships) with over 2500 people  Since 1900, most of America’s population growth has been urban  Cities grow in power and influence relative to rural areas

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company The Emergence of Cities, 1880

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company The Emergence of Cities, 1920

America’s Move to Town  We have noted the some of the challenges faced by the rapid growth of urban areas driven by the demands of the industrial revolution and fueled by a wave of immigration.  It is in these cities we see some very important changes in American society that would eventually spread across the nation  Mass education and literacy  Mass leisure and spectator sports  Mass entertainment

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Urbanization and the environment

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Urban mass transit

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Mulberry Street, Little Italy, New York City, ca. 1900

Mass Education in the late 19 th Century  Social reformers saw education as a way to improve the lives of urban poor  Teach immigrants patriotism and the American way of life Civil loyalty and democratic values American history to unite people- fear of foreign ideas and revolutionary ideas  Compulsory Education Laws spread  % of school age children were attending school  %

What does this table tell us about the growing role of education in America?  Table 1: Average Years of Schooling in the Labor Force   United States  New England  Middle Atlantic  South Atlantic  E. South Central  W. South Central  Mountain  Pacific From: Income and Education of the States of the United States: Scott Baier, Sean E. Mulholland, Robert Tamura and Chad Turner ∗ October, 2005

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Italian Immigrants and Social Education

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Vocational education

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Women as students

Mass Literacy, Popular Journalism and Literature  Growing literacy rates increasing leisure time and improved printing technology supported the first mass media and popular literature  Number of newspapers in circulation multiplied 5X between 1865 and 1910  Cites and most towns had many newspapers competing with each other Attracted readers though features, comics, advice columns, serial stories Inflammatory reporting called yellow journalism lured readers with sensational stories (Like the Weekly World News today)  This marks the beginning of a truly mass media where millions of people experience the same thoughts and ideas at roughly the same time- Begins the process of homogenizing American experiences

Leisure and the Cities  The concentration of population with a diverse background and talent helped support Vaudeville  Included comedians, singers, musicians and dancers- a live variety show  Would gradually be replaced by the movies in the 1920’s  Nickelodeons- Father of movie theatres- short “films” viewed through a hand cranked machine  Wild West shows presented a romanticized view of the disappearing frontier  Rag time music became the rebellions rock music of the “Gay Nineties” (The traditional meaning of gay is happy)  Dance music with heavy rhythms  Scot Joplin's Maple Leave Rag recored on a piano roll Scot Joplin's Maple Leave Rag recored on a piano roll

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Vaudeville

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company The Kenetoscope: The Featured Technology at a Nickelodeon

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company The King of Rag Time

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company A workingman’s social center

Parks and Leisure Time  As cities grew, a movement to manage growth and reserve public spaces grew  The Cities Beautiful Movement Create wide open streets and public parks for people to gather New York Central park- an attempt to maintain a rural landscape in a growing city  Amusement Parks cater to Middle Class and increasing number of middle class Apply new electrical technology to provide an enchanted experience Coney Island- The Grandfather of Disney Land

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

Participatory Sports: The Bicycle  Bicycling began in the late 19 th Century  Recreation and later a form of transportation  Introduced in 1870  Became widely popular by 1880

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Tandem tricycle

America’s Three major spectator sports took shape in the late 19 th Century  Baseball- America’s Past Time  Football- Too Violent to be Legal?  Basketball- America’s gift to the world

Baseball: America’s Past Time  Based on British game rounders  Grew widely popular during the Civil War- rules regularized  First Professional team: Cincinnati Redstockings  The National League formed Reflected the trend of professionalization and regimentation Drew crowds in the thousands Grew segregated due to “The gentlemen's agreement” First World Series in 1901 between National and the new American League (Sometimes called the junior circuit)

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Baseball card, 1887

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company America’s Past Time

Football  Based on the British game of rugby  Grew in popularity in the “Ivy League” colleges of the Northeastern United States  Walter Camp- player at Yale attempted to fix rules for a unique game  Line of scrimmage, snap, center and quarterback added  Emerges distinct from rugby and soccer  Professional teams by the late 19 th century- in the shadows of baseball  Incredibly violent- talk of outlawing it (18 college and 46 high school players killed in games in 1905)

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company America’s Past Time

Basketball: The Most American of Sports  Baseball is the most international of the three sports that rose in the late 19 th Century- Wholly developed in America  Dr. James Naismith- Physical Education instructor in Springfield MA invents a sport that could be played indoors  Placed peach baskets on two ends of a gymnasium  First rule change- cut out the bottom of the baskets!  Game grew international as Dr. Naismith had students from around the world  Grew more slowly as a spectator sport than football and baseball

America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Basketball