Regionalism 1870-1910

Society and History Post Civil War Civil War left the South in ruins Farms, factories, and plantations destroyed Rail lines were unusable Freed African Americans lacked money, property, education, and opportunity to excel.

A NATIONAL REFORMATION African Americans gained citizenship, equal protection under law, the right to vote, and education. Confederate states rejoined the Union Transcontinental railroad completed Westward expansion prospered Industry and business expanded Population grew as immigrants came for work—20,000 to 2 million in 50 yrs in Chicago alone.

Success of Industrialization Southerners recognized the need to present a new image of themselves to stimulate economic development. The Southern economy had changed -- industrialization had replaced plantation agriculture. The Guilded Age—time of glitter, gold, luxury, excess steel, railroad, oil and meatpacking tycoons controlled the industry—they lived extravagantly. ordinary people also were able to spend money on entertainment, shop in department stores, catalogs, and splurge on new inventions like phones, cars, lights.

The Not So Successful Western settlers forced Native Americans off land into reservations. African Americans in South were poor and powerless, held down by segregation laws (Jim Crow laws). Immigrants searching for freedom worked 16 hour days and lived in crowded tenement housing. City dwelling American factory workers suffered in sweatshops with inferior wages. Independent farmers borrowed money for new machinery, couldn’t pay back loans and lost farms. As rich grew richer, poor grew poorer and there was a huge struggle between classes in society.

Inventions 4 transcontinental railroad lines 1876: telephone 1883: 1st metal-framed skyscraper, 16 stories high in Chicago 1892: Ellis Island entry point for immigrants from Europe 1903: Wright bros fly first airplane 1908: Ford Model T

REGIONALIST WRITING A New Kind of Realism Social Issues Regionalists felt the need to capture the nation’s distinct regions. Like realists, regionalists also focused on real people and used gritty detail and authentic dialogue in their writing. This technique is referred to as local color writing. Social Issues Many regionalists focused on the social issues faced by the people of a region. For example, some focused on the urban woman and her changing status, while others focused on the issues of racism and social class in the South. Cultural Tourism Regionalist writing appealed to the public because it gave them glimpses of different parts of America. Many Americans couldn’t afford to travel, so these books acted as mini tours of the West, Midwest, South, and East. Frontier Tales Americans viewed the West as a region of unlimited possibilities. Those who could not venture there in person enjoyed reading about the West in colorful tales. Western Literature Since much of the West was dominated by the Spanish for centuries, Western literature includes legends of Hispanic heroes and villains. It also includes Native American folklore whose lands were taken and cultures threatened as white settlers moved west.

REGIONALISM DEFINED WRITING THAT CAPTURES THE CUSTOMS, CHARACTERS, DIALECTS, AND LANDSCAPES OF THE NATION’S DISTINCT REGIONS. WRITERS RECORDED HOW PEOPLE SPOKE, DRESSED, ACTED, THOUGHT, AND LOOKED.

JACK LONDON AUTHORS KATE CHOPIN BRET HARTE MARK TWAIN

Mark Twain is notorious for local color writing, and using comic exaggeration to add more life to his stories. His most famous novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, uses both techniques along with satire to tackle the issue of racism in America.

Jack London saw human beings as helpless creatures moved by forces beyond their control. He took readers to exotic settings like the arctic and they were willing to accept less than happy endings with novels like White Fang and Call of the Wild. This is the view of Naturalistic writers.

Bret Harte captured the imagination of the frontier life and the southwest. Readers were fascinated by mining camps, cattle ranches, and frontier towns, gamblers, and the Gold Rush.

Kate Chopin, (SHOW-pan) was breaking barriers as a woman writer Kate Chopin, (SHOW-pan) was breaking barriers as a woman writer. Women struggled to reemerged after the Civil War to have a larger voice in every aspect of public life from politics to literature. Women’s writing reflected society’s limitations placed upon them. Writing by women of this period often ends tragically; madness, scandal and death. Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women.