1. Life at the Turn of the 20th Century

2. The Expansion of education

3. The Growth of Public Schools
Few opportunities for minorities; few students graduated
Learned basics; belief that democracy performs best when citizens are literate (can read and write)
Most rural students only went to school Nov-Apr, had to help with crops

5. The Growth of Public Schools, cont’d
Public schools helped assimilate immigrants into the American way of life
Black, Hispanic, and Asian students often went to segregated, inferior schools from white students

6. Higher Education Expands
—150 new colleges, enrollment doubles
African Americans
Accepted into few “white” colleges 1890; ,000 graduates from 34 black colleges
Few opportunities for black women
Women’s colleges
Public colleges established women’s branches, some co-ed universities
Few scholarships, faced discrimination in classes

7. Two Perspectives on African American Education
Booker T. Washington
Founded Tuskegee Institute in Atlanta
Encouraged students to put aside desire for social equality and focus on economic security with vocational skills
View reassured white people worried that educated black people would seek equality within society

9. Two Perspectives on African American Education, cont’d
W. E. B. DuBois
1st African American Ph.D. from Harvard
Believed brightest African Americans had to lead the quest for political and social equality and civil rights
Encouraged liberal arts education rather than vocational training
1905 helped found the Niagara Movement for full civil liberties; he later worked with the NAACP

11. New forms of entertainment

12. Performance and Recreation
Vaudeville—inexpensive variety shows
Movies—1903 The Great Train Robbery; 1908, 8,000 nickleodeons; better technology led to bigger theaters, longer films, movie stars
Circus—1872 circus train brought it all across the US; advance advertisement, parade

14. Performance and Recreation, cont’d
Amusement parks/trolley parks—rides, beaches, music, games, vaudeville; Coney Island
Sports
Baseball most popular
Football, basketball (only completely American sport)
Women participated , required new clothing styles

16. Reading
Newspapers—information and entertainment; yellow journalism (sensational news coverage of murder, vice, scandal)
Magazines—rags to riches (Horatio Alger), helpful articles, advertising
Popular fiction—”dime novels” of rags to riches or adventure stories; serious novels, social protest novels; many novels included “local color” to provide information about distant parts of the country

18. Music
Jazz—diverse musical influences in New Orleans; jazz and jazz dancing became a national passion
At home—player piano; phonograph

19. The World Of Jim Crow

20. Post-Reconstruction Discrimination
Voting Restrictions
Fear that blacks would gain too much power
Poll tax—fee that had to be paid before voting
Property requirement—had to own land/house to vote
Literacy test—had to prove ability to read/write
Grandfather clause—exemption for white people from the voting restrictions if they had voted before or if their grandfather had been able to vote

21. Segregation—separation of people by race
Jim Crow laws in the South required segregation
Applied to parks, schools, transportation, hotels, hospitals, restrooms, water fountains, theaters

22. Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was allowable

23. Violence or threats were a way to keep African Americans “in their place”
Black Americans were required to show deference to white Americans
Lynching—murder of an accused person by a mob without a trial
De facto (happens in fact but not required by law) segregation in North

24. Resisting Discrimination
Niagara Movement—black organization that insisted on equality and vowed never to accept inferiority or bow to oppression
Ida B. Wells—began an editorial and speaking campaign against lynching

25. NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) formed in 1909
Worked through court system to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans

26. Overcoming obstacles
More aid societies formed in African American community
African American intellectuals published literature, history, sociological studies
Black businesses expanded
Madame C J Walker—1st African American millionaire, born to sharecroppers, developed hair care products, sold through mail order, began beauty school chain then salons, spoke out on segregation, discrimination

27. The Changing Roles of Women

28. “The Woman Question” Should they be able to Vote
Control their income and property
Have access to higher education and professional jobs

29. Women’s Reality Worked at home and on farms
Many migrating/immigrating to cities for factory jobs
Small number entering professions
Volunteering for reform movements
Moving from producer to consumer

30. Working outside the home
Women were expected to quit working if they married, but increasingly large numbers of married women were working
Jobs available: domestic servants, nurses, teachers, typists, operators
Never moved into supervisory roles
Women were not considered capable of professional training; some found opportunity in women’s colleges and in hospitals

31. New Women, New Ideas
Question of how should women dress and behave added to “woman question”
Active lifestyle led to adoption of shorter hair, shorter skirts
Courting changed to dating without supervision
divorce rate began to rise for women who weren’t fulfilled in role
Margaret Sanger pushed for legal information on birth control
Most women wanted traditional role
Suffrage would be the goal most would unite behind