1. Immigration and Urbanization during the Gilded Age

2. Compare the “new immigration” of the late 1800s to earlier immigration. Explain the push and pull factors leading immigrants to America. Describe the challenges that immigrants faced in traveling to America. Analyze how immigrants adapted to American life while trying to maintain familiar cultural practices. Objectives

3. Immigration Factors Push Factors Events, circumstances, and changes that entice someone to emigrate (leave) their homeland –Poverty –Warfare –Politics –Religious persecution –Persecution Pull Factors Events, circumstances, and changes that entice people to a immigrate (move to) a new place –Cheap land –Religious freedom –Economic benefits –Political freedom –Family in U.S.

4. The Voyage Immigrants often came to the U.S. on Steerage in large ships –Steerage is the worst accommodations on a ship Often dirty and cramped Sometimes outdoors

5. Arrival Upon arrival immigrants were inspected at Ellis Island (immigrant inspection station) –Checked for health and skill, money, or sponsor Asian immigrants crossing the Pacific were processed at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Many Chinese were turned away.

6. Large cities such as New York and Chicago had huge immigrant populations by 1890. Once in America, immigrants had to find a home and work. They also had to learn English and new customs. Many stayed in cities and took jobs in factories. They lived in ethnic neighborhoods called ghettoes. Arrival

8. Foreign-born population in U.S. nearly doubled 1870 - 1900. In the 1840s and 1850s, German and Irish Catholics had immigrated to the United States. Despite differences, their children were often able to blend into American society. But starting in 1870, some people feared ”new” immigrants would destroy American culture. Population

9. Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made up 70 percent of all immigrants after 1900, up from 1 percent at midcentury.

10. Challenges New Immigrants (Post-1870s) –from Southern and Eastern Europe –Unskilled, poor, Catholic or Jewish –Faced religious, racial, and other persecution –After 1900 made up 70% of all immigrants Old immigrants (Pre-1870s) –from Ireland and Western Europe –Came as families settled on farms –Had money, a skill or trade, or education

11. Challenges Assimilation –Were expected to become American rapidly Adopt anguage, style of dress, and eating habits Hostility –Nativism a belief that native-born whites were superior to new immigrants –Religious Discrimination Catholic and Jews were believed to be harming society –Competition for Jobs. Immigrants considered cheap labor that took jobs

12. Help Settlement Houses –Provided educational, recreational, and other services to immigrants –Americanization programs help immigrants learn English and adopt American customs Fraternal Associations –based on ethnic or religious identity – which provided social services and financial assistance

13. Urbanization Growth of cities

14. Objectives Analyze the causes of urban growth in the late 1800s. Explain how technology improved city life. Evaluate how city dwellers solved the problems caused by rapid urban growth.

15. The New American City “In 1880 their were 286 [cities]…. The city has become a serious menace to our civilization…. Our ten larger cities contain only 9 percent of our population, but 23 percent of the foreign…. The rich are richer, and the poor poorer, in the city than elsewhere; and, as a rule, the greater the city, the greater the riches of the rich and the poverty of the poor.” Josiah Strong, Our Country: Its possible Future and Its Present Crisis

16. New Architectural Style New Use of Space New Class Diversity New Energy New Culture ( “ Melting Pot ” ) New Form of Classic “ Rugged Individualism ” New Levels of Crime, Violence, & Corruption Make a New Start New Symbols of Change & Progress The City as a New “Frontier?”

17. Characteristics of Urbanization During the Gilded Age 1.Megalopolis. 2.Mass Transit. 3.Magnet for economic and social opportunities. 4.Pronounced class distinctions. - Inner & outer core 5.New frontier of opportunity for women. 6.Squalid living conditions for many. 7.Political machines. 8.Ethnic neighborhoods.

18. Urbanization 1860 – 1900 population in cities doubled to 32% Advantages of City –Work –Transportation –Ethnic Neighborhoods –Variety –Women’s Opportunities Factory work Boarders Domestic work Disadvantages –Dirty Sanitation and water Trash –Crowded –Lack of Housing –Fire –Crime –Conflict

19. Life was hard in the cities, but most people preferred them to the country. Workers’ children could attend city schools. Churches, theaters, social clubs, and museums offered companionship and entertainment. Most city workers were able to enjoy a higher standard of living, and some moved into the growing middle class.

20. This period was the beginning of an upsurge in American urbanization that brought changes to the country. By 1900, 32 percent – or 15 million Americans – lived in cities with populations of more than 50,000. In 1860, most Americans lived in rural areas, with only 16 percent living in towns or cities with a population of at least 8,000.

21. America’s major cities were manufacturing and transportation centers connected by railway lines. The cities were clustered in the Northeast, on the Pacific Coast, and along the waterways of the Midwest.

22. Many rural-to-urban migrants moved to cities in the 1890s. Immigrants, Farmers, and Migrants from the Rural West They were attracted by land and economic opportunities. It was hard for farmers to work on rigid schedules in crowded factories, but factories paid wages in cash. African Americans The majority of African Americans stayed in southern cities. But African American migrants to northern and western cities paved the way for a much larger migration after World War I.

23. As cities swelled in size, American innovators developed new technologies to improve living conditions. TechnologyDescription skyscrapersThey were steel-frame buildings 10 stories or taller, built because there was no room left on the ground to expand. safety elevators Invented by Elisha Otis, they made taller buildings practical. central heating systems Made to carry heat to all parts of a building.

24. Mass transit reshaped the nation’s cities. In 1888, Richmond, Virginia started using streetcars powered by overhead electric cables. Within a decade, every major city followed. Electric streetcars were quieter, cleaner, and more efficient than coal-driven commuter trains or horse-drawn trolleys.

25. Traffic congestion often kept streetcars from running on schedule. In 1897, Boston solved this problem by building the nation’s first subway system, and New York City followed suit in 1904. Mass transit made it possible for middle- and upper-class people to move to the suburbs.

26. Some poor workers lived in tenements, which usually were unhealthy and dangerous because they had few windows and little sanitation. Neighborhoods became overcrowded. Problems Develop

27. At this time, cities had filthy, unpaved streets and sanitation problems, conditions perfect for breeding epidemics. To solve problems, government planners regulated housing, sanitation, sewers, and public health. They began to take water from clean reservoirs and to use water filtration systems.

28. As cities grew, planners began to use zoning to designate certain parts of the city for certain functions. Cities set aside space for heavy industry, financial institutions, homes, and public spaces such as libraries and government buildings. But parks were also important in cities, and Frederick Law Olmsted designed many well-known ones, such as New York City’s Central Park.

29. Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lived (1890)

30. How the Other Half Lives “…A brick building four to six stories high on the street, frequently with a store on the first floor... Four families occupy each floor, and a set of rooms consists of one or two dark closets, used as bedrooms, with a living room twelve feet by ten. The staircase is too often a dark well in the center of the house, and no direct ventilation is possible, each family being separated from the others by partitions.”

31. Lodgers Huddled Together

32. Tenements Low-cost multi-family housing –Designed to squeeze in as many families as possible –Dumbbell tenement designed by James E. Ware

34. “Dumbbell Tenement “ Tenement

35. “Dumbell “ Tenement, NYC

36. Tenement Slum Living

38. Struggling Immigrant Families

39. Mulberry Street – “Little Italy”

40. Hester Street – Jewish Section

41. Pell St. - Chinatown, NYC

42. Urban Growth: 1870 - 1900

43. Society and Culture Consumerism –The trend toward the purchasing goods as a status symbol –Advertising attracts new consumers Mass Culture –Effect of consumerism that made people trend toward similar patterns of consumption

44. Entertainment Sports –Baseball becomes America’s pass time –Horse racing, boxing and other sports also become popular Film –Technology allows for new form of entertainment Amusement parks –Roller coasters and other rides and games attract all levels of society

45. In his 1873 novel, The Gilded Age, novelist Mark Twain satirically depicted American society as gilded, or having a rotten core covered with gold paint. Most Americans were not as cynical, but Twain’s label stuck, and historians call the late 19 th century the Gilded Age. Naming the Gilded Age

46. Change in the Gilded Age Changes for WomenChanges for Men Store bought clothing, prepackaged foods, and indoor plumbing made some tasks easier. Public transportation allowed families to live farther from the cities. Rising expectations of cleanliness and more complicated meals made some tasks harder. Men often had to commute long distances to work. Many women had to work outside the home to achieve a middle-class lifestyle. Men worked hard, but the American culture taught that hard work would pay off.