Moving to the city Chapter 20 section 2 Cities in the U.S. expanded rapidly in the late 1800’s

Cities on the move

 After the Civil War cities grew really fast. By 1910 half of the American population lived in a city.  The Country was changing from a rural community to an urban nation.  Does everyone understand the difference of a city & a rural community?

Rural/ City

 Immigrants played an enormous role in city life. Why?

 Immigrants lived in cities because it was cheaper and they did not have to have transportation to get from here to there.  Immigrants made up 80% or more of the population in cities like New York, Detroit, and Chicago.

New York City Chicago Detroit

 Anyone ever seen this movie? What’s it about?

Very good!  It’s about how guys from the city- go out to the West and rough like cowboys…  Well… Immigrants, and American alike did just the opposite. They moved into the cities and became real City Slickers!!!

City Slickers  Industrial work became very popular. Many farmers left the field and brought their families to the city  Industrialization made machinery that could do the jobs of the farmers.

What about women?  Women in rural areas did not have to make clothes anymore- machine could do it faster.  Many women did not have farm chores anymore and ended up moving to the city to work in industrial jobs.

Transportation & Resources  Railroad  Seaports  Steel industry  Living conditions  People moved to the city faster than they could build housing.

 The city was overcrowded and people that were the poorest would live in areas called Tenements. These were building where many families rented rooms. Soon these buildings were called SLUMS. It was a poor run down neighborhood.

Pictures of Tenements

Slums

Let’s recap…  Cities grew really fast. Rural areas were abandon by farmers wanting to move into an “urban” area like New York City & Chicago  City life was cheap and easy to get from place to place.  Industrial work was very popular.  Women also got jobs in factories rather than working on the farm.

Still recapping…  Means of transportation was: –Railroads, and Sea ports. –The Steel Industry was on the rise. –Living conditions were not that good, –The poorest people lived in tenements & later called slums. –Any questions???

Today’s assignment  Write vocabulary words from Ch. 20 section 2, answer reading check questions also. As always, thank you for paying attention and participating in class discussion!!!