1. America Moves to the City
APUSH
Ms. Weston
1/20/10

2. Pop Quiz!
Give three advantages and three disadvantages to life in the city.

3. The Growth of the City
Between , population of US cities tripled
Many US cities now boasted over a million people
KEY FEATURES OF THE CITY
Skyscrapers—form follows function, ELEVATOR
Commuters—electric trolleys, cities radiated outward

4. The Lure of the City Industrial jobs Urban lifestyle Electricity
Indoor plumbing
Telephones
Skyscrapers and bridges
Department stores

5. Negatives of City Life Increased consumerism Everything is disposable
Leads to huge problems with waste
Crime
Lack of sanitation
Large gap between social classes
SLUMS
1879 “Dumbbell tenement”
Crowded, lack of ventilation, filth and disease
Largely populated by immigrants

6. Images from How the Other Half Lives

10. New Immigration
Immigrants coming in faster than ever before--in 1882: 2,100 came each day!
Old Immigrants (before 1880): From British isles and Western Europe, fair-skinned, usually Protestant, literate and used to representative government. Easily fit into American society.
New Immigrants (after 1880): From Southern and Eastern Europe, Jews and Catholics, not used to democracy, illiterate and impoverished.
Moved to cities, fears they couldn’t assimilate.

11. Why New Immigration?
Europe overcrowded, people moved to many different countries
Persecution of Jews in Russia led to settlement of urban Jews in America.
America seen as “land of opportunity”—in letters from friends, advertisements

12. Immigrants in America
Many returned home after making money (about 25%)
Most strove to preserve their traditional culture: established schools, newspapers, neighborhoods, social clubs.
Political machines helped immigrants assimilate (because governments failed to do this)
Traded jobs and services for votes

13. Assistance to Immigrants
Social Gospel Movement: Churches had to deal with problems of the day, especially conditions for immigrants
Jane Addams—middle class, college-educated, set up Hull House—settlement house for immigrants
Offered English classes, counseling, cultural activities
Center of women’s activism and reform
Led to establishment of more settlement houses, activism such as anti-sweatshop campaigns
Early form of social work

14. Chinese Immigration
PULL Flocked to frontier towns on Pacific Coast to help build railroad.
PUSH Tumult and suffering in China.
In America, very male society, settled mainly in Chinatowns.
Mounting anti-Chinese sentiment CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882)

15. Rising Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
Nativism on the rise in 1880s—saw new immigrants as culturally and religiously inferior
Feared high birthrate of immigrant communities
Believed immigrants responsible for corruption in urban government, for driving down wages
American Protective Association
Denis Kearny against Chinese immigrants
Organized labor joined fight against immigrants
RESULT NEW IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS

16. Changes to the Church in the City
Growth of cities posed challenges to traditional church
Church seemed too traditional, not responding enough to new challenges of city life
“Social Gospel” Movement: applying church principles to modern social problems
YMCA and YWCA
New denominations
Salvation Army
Christian Science—Mary Baker Eddy
Curing disease through prayer

17. Darwin Challenges the Church
Darwin’s On The Origin of Species (1859)
Evolution challenged traditional stories of creation
By 1875, split in the church
Conservative minority rejected Darwinians, asserted authority of bible (these would become FUNDAMENTALISTS)
Accomodationists—tried to reconcile Christianity with Darwinism.
Religious teachings were becoming more of a private matter

18. Growth of Public Education
Growing belief that society will only function if people somewhat educated
More compulsory education laws
Continued growth of schools, especially high schools
By 1900, large amount. Increasingly free textbooks
Better teacher training
Kindergartens
Adult education Chautauqua Movement
Decline in illiteracy

19. African-American Reformers
Booker T. Washington
Ex-slave, grew up in poverty
Began teaching at Tuskegee Institute in 1881, later became head of school
Focused on teaching blacks useful trades so they could get jobs, and therefore respect
Accepted segregation if blacks could get economic and educational resources
Accused of being an accomodationist—accepting white racism.

20. African American Reformers ctnd.
W.E.B. DuBois
Accused Washington of being an “Uncle Tom,” selling out the race
First African-American to get his PhD from Harvard
Demanded complete equality for blacks—economic and social
Founded NAACP in 1910 (National Association for Advancement of Colored People)
Wanted “talented tenth” of black population to lead the rest into full equality

21. Expansion of Higher Education
College increasingly seen as necessary to success
Growth in women’s colleges and co-ed colleges
Growth in black colleges
Morrill Act of 1862 and Hatch Act of 1887—responsible for this growth
Gave land grants to states to support public education (how the UC system began!)
Private philanthropy also funded college growth (Stanford, Rockefeller and University of Chicago)
Growth of professional schools (Graduate school)

22. Intellectual Achievements
College curriculum increasingly separating facts from morality
More choice in curriculum, more specialization (majors)
Medical schools and medical science prospered BETTER PUBLIC HEALTH
Pragmatism (distinctly American philosophy)
William James
Embraced uncertainty, pursuit of truth scientifically
Practical philosophy

23. Rise of the Press
Rising literacy—more people reading, more public libraries
More people reading newspapers
Cheap, mass-circulated publications
Sensationalistic reporting
Demand for simple, juicy reporting
Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst YELLOW JOURNALISM
Reported on scandals and sensational rumors

24. Writing Towards Reform
Magazine Nation—crusaded for civil service reform, honesty in government and moderate tariff
Henry George
Progress and Poverty asked why there is growing poverty with economic progress
Proposed “single tax” on property to equalize wealth
Edward Bellamy
Looking Backward –government nationalized big business
Utopian socialism

25. Popular Literature Dime novels—usually about wild west
First “paperbacks”
Ben-Hur by Wallace—popular novel to affirm bible
Horatio Alger
Juvenile fiction
Virtue, honesty and industry will be rewarded by success and honor
“Rags to riches” stories
Poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

26. Important Works of Literature
Turn to realism—portrayed how life really was
Kate Chopin—wrote about sexism, suicide, adultery in The Awakening
Mark Twain—revolted against formal, elegant literature using realism and humor with books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Stephen Crane—wrote about the rough life in slums with Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

27. The New Morality
Increasing battle over sexual attitudes and role of women
Victoria Woodhull preached free love
Women had new economic freedom in cities
Because of new job opportunities with switchboard and typewriters
With economic freedom came sexual freedom
Rising divorce rate
Birth control

28. Families and Women in the Cities
Challenges to the family in the city
Families isolated, increased pressure
Children more expensive in city
Decreased birthrate
Women becoming more independent
Charlotte Perkins Gilman—early feminist
Women and Economics argued that women should play a role in the economy through work

29. Continued Struggle for Suffrage
1890: National American Woman Suffrage Association
Founders Cady Stanton and Anthony
Increasingly militant
Carrie Chapman Catt—pragmatic suffragist
Instead of arguing equality, argued that women should have right to vote to be better wives and mothers in the cities
Needed to have a say in public health, education
Victories for women
Could vote in local elections
Wyoming gave women vote in 1869
Women could hold property even after marriage

30. The Plight of Black Women
Largely kept out of suffrage movement by white women
Ida B. Wells
Began anti-lynching crusade
Began black women’s club movement

31. Controversy Over Alcohol
Increased alcohol consumption during Civil War and with influx of immigrants
Middle class, pro-temperance activists believed alcohol to be at root of social ills
1869 National Prohibition Party
1874 Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Led by Frances E. Willard
Carrie A. Nation—smashed saloon bars with her hatchet
Some states pass temperance laws
18th Amendment in 1919 PROHIBITION

32. The State of the Arts In painting, portraits popular
James Whistler, John Singer Sergeant
Music gaining popularity
Homegrown American music from South—blues, ragtime and jazz
Phonograph allowed Americans to play recorded music in their homes

33. Amusement in the City
Americans eager for leisure time, play and pleasure
Vaudeville and minstrel shows
Circus—PT Barnum
“Wild West” shows
Baseball—becoming national pastime
Also basketball, football and boxing
Croquet and bicycles
Standardization of popular culture—all Americans doing the same things for fun