Chapter 8 Life at the Turn of the 20 th Century

Science and Urban Life

Technology and City Life SKYSCRAPERS Two factors that helped design taller buildings Invention of elevators Development of internal steel skeletons Skyscraper The Flatiron Building

ELECTRIC TRANSIT Changes in transportation Electric streetcars Elevated trains Subways

AIRPLANES Orville and Wilbur Wright design a biplane December 17, 1903 – the flight took place in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Covered 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds

Expanding Public Education

SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN – states require 12 to 16 weeks annually of school attendance by students between the ages of 8 and 14 Patterns in public education differed sharply for white and black students

THE GROWTH OF HIGH SCHOOLS Economy – demands advanced technical and managerial skills 1900 – half a million students attend high school Vocational courses prepare graduates for industrial and office jobs

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION African Americans – mostly excluded from public secondary education 1890 – less than 1 percent of black teenagers attended high school Two-thirds of the students went to private schools

EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS Immigrants are encouraged to go to school Free public schools “Americanize” immigrants Private Catholic schools Night school for adults Learn English Qualify for American citizenship

Segregation and Discrimination

African Americans Fight Legal Discrimination VOTING RESTRICTIONS Southern states impose voting restrictions and denied legal equality to African Americans Literacy test Poll tax The grandfather clause

JIM CROW LAWS 1870s and 1880s, Southern states passed racial segregation laws Separate white and black people in public and private facilities Racial segregation in schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation systems

PLESSY v. FERGUSON U.S. Supreme Court tests the constitutionality of segregation 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson Separation of races in public accommodations was legal and did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment “Separate but equal”

Turn-of-the-Century Race Relations VIOLENCE Lynching's – 1,400 African-American were shot, burned, or hanged without trial

DISCRIMINATION IN THE NORTH African Americans migrate to the North in search for a better life Segregated neighborhoods Discrimination in the workplace New York City race riot of 1900

Discrimination in the West MEXICAN WORKERS Mexicans construct rail lines in the Southwest Mexicans were vital to mining and agriculture in the Southwest Debt peonage

The Dawn of Mass Culture

American Leisure AMUSEMENT PARKS Large cities establish space for outdoor enjoyment The roller coaster and Coney Island The first Ferris wheel – at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893

BICYCLING AND TENNIS 1885 – first commercially successful “safety bicycle” Emancipated women across America Tennis Originated in North Wales in 1873 Became a popular middle class sport

BASEBALL 50 baseball clubs in the mid-1860s Formation of different leagues The National League in 1876 The American League in 1900 African-American Leagues

The Spread of Mass Culture MASS CIRCULATION NEWSPAPERS American newspapers use sensational headlines Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World William Randolph Hearst and the New York Morning Journal

New Ways to Sell Goods URBAN SHOPPING The nation’s first shopping center opened in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1890 Four levels of jewelry, leather goods, and stationery shops

THE DEPARTMENT STORE Marshall Field of Chicago brings the department store concept to America Field’s motto “Give the lady what she wants”

THE CHAIN STORE Retail stores offering the same merchandise under the same ownership 1870s – F. W. Woolworth sells for a very low price 1911 – 596 stores sell merchandise worse more than a million dollars

ADVERTISING Medicines accounts for the largest number of advertising lines Newspapers and magazines used to push products

CATALOGS AND RFD Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck Ward’s catalog Sears catalog 1910 – 10 million Americans shop by mail Rural free delivery