1. The Gilded Age

2. The Gilded Age
“Gilded” = something covered in gold, but not made of gold; looks nice, but really is not
Term coined by author Mark Twain in his 1873 book, The Gilded Age
Crooked Politicians
Greed, Poverty, & Racism, Industrial filth
Hidden by a new culture that stemmed from industrial growth

3. Immigration & Urbanization

4. Foreign-Born Population Change
1900s Immigrants: Who?
Immigration – the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country
East Coast (Ellis Island)
Old Europeans – Western Europe
New Europeans – South and Eastern Europe
West Coast (Angel Island and Hawaii)
Asians – Chinese and Japanese
Mexican, Cuban, Jamaican
“Birds of Passage” – make $ and then return home

5. 1900s Immigrants: Why? Religious persecution (Jews) Rising populations
Push Factors
Pull Factors
Religious persecution (Jews)
Rising populations
Job and food scarcity
High taxes
Job opportunities and higher wages
Sense of independence

6. The Journey By steamship, mostly in steerage (cargo)
1 week from Europe
3 weeks from Asia
Ellis Island, NY and Angel Island, CA
Immigration stations to receive immigrants for processing
5+ hours
Pass physical exam (diseases, serious health issues, etc)
Documents checked by gov’t inspector (no felonies, able to work, had at least $25)
Only 2% denied entrance, but many were detained in filthy facilities while being processed

8. Settling In America Immigrants faced many challenges.
English language
Place to live
Job
Cultural clashes
Many joined ethnic communities  lifelines for immigrants

10. Nativism Increases
Many immigrants formed hyphenated American identities and assimilated to an extent while keeping many cultural beliefs  increase in American nativism – favoring native-born citizens, anti-immigrant beliefs
Favored immigrants – Old Europeans, protestant, white
Disliked immigrants – New Europeans, Catholic or Jewish, Asian and Pacific

11. Anti-Immigrant Legislation
1896 –Congress passed a bill requiring literacy tests for immigrants BUT POTUS Cleveland vetoed the bill
>40 words in English and/or native language  denied entry
Similar bill passed in 1917
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – banned entry of Chinese immigrants EXCEPT educated and upper class professions
Not repealed until 1943
Gentlemen’s Agreement – , US wouldn’t impose official immigration restrictions on Japanese, in return for Japan limiting the emigration of Japanese
Did not include Japanese immigration to Hawaii

12. Challenges of Urbanization
Urbanization – growth of cities
Immigrants, southerners, westerners moved to cities  easier to find jobs
Growth of the Americanization movement – social movement to assimilate immigrants into American culture
Sponsored and funded by gov’t and citizen organizations
Teach skills needed for citizenship – English literacy, American history, government/politics
Teach cultural skills – cooking, etiquette
Met by mixed immigrant sentiments – didn’t want to leave behind many cultural practices and ethnic neighborhoods didn’t require knowledge of English language or US customs

13. Urban Problems Housing – lived in tenements (small apartments)
Often 1+ families, unsanitary, cramped, made into sweatshops
Transportation – mass transit  street cars could move many people along fixed routes, ill-kept
Water – usually no indoor plumbing, cholera and typhoid fever, early filtration and chlorination systems by 1910
Sanitation – no dependable trash collection, build up of trash, manure, and sewage in streets; increased air pollution

14. Urban Problems
Crime – increased pickpockets and theft; NYC organized 1st salaried police force but it was not very effective
Fire – candles and kerosene lamps + wooden dwellings + lack of water supply  large scale fires in almost every big city in the late 1800s
Great Chicago Fire,
1871, burned for 29 hours, destroyed 1/3 of Chicago
San Francisco Earthquake of 1906,
burned for 4 days

15. Reformers Mobilize
Social Gospel Movement – religious movement preaching salvation through helping the poor
Settlement houses – community centers that provided help to the local poor
Educational, social, cultural, and health services
Jane Addams – established Hull House settlement house in Chicago

16. Reformers Mobilize
Jacob Riis – wrote and photographed How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890)
Riis – Danish immigrant, couldn’t find work
Documented the living and working conditions of urban life to raise awareness and hopefully spur change
Blamed the apathy of the wealthy classes for NYC slums
Basis for muckraking journalism (Unit 2…)