Gilded Age Urbanization, Immigration, and Culture

Reference Ch18 AMSCO

Gilded Age Urbanization► Urbanization

Population increasingly moving to cities► Mechanization of agriculture► Economic opportunities with increased

industrialization Increased infrastructure

►Streetcars, bridges, subways►Skyscrapers, elevators, radiators

City Layouts► Business centers► Older sections

Immigration and minorities► Suburbs

Middle and upper class moved outside of cities to escape urbanization

Urban reform developments

Urban Problems

►Overcrowding Tenement Living

►Pollution►Crime►Sanitation/Water Treatment►Disease

Urban and Social Reforms► Municipal services► Social Gospel

Apply Christian values toward social problems and issues

Josiah Strong, Walter Rauschenbusch, Richard T. Ely

► Settlement Houses Jane Addams and Hull House YMCA Salvation Army

► Social Criticism Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives

(1889) Henry George - Progress and Poverty

(1879)

Working Conditions

► Typical 12 hour days, 6 days a week► Conditions

Poor ventilation and heavy equipment In 1882, average of 675 workers killed each week Injured = fired

► No benefits, such as vacation days, sick leave, health insurance, workers’ compensation, pensions

► Women Earned half of what men earned in comparable or

same jobs► Child Labor

As young as 5 years old 12-14 hours for $.27 ($6.65)

Immigration► Population

16.2 million immigrants between 1850-1900 8.8 million during 1901-1910

► Pushes Mechanization removing jobs, esp. in rural

areas Overpopulation Persecution

► Pulls Political and economic freedoms and

opportunities► Old Immigrants

Northern and Western Europe► New Immigrants

Southern and Eastern Europe; Asia Catholics, Jews

Immigrant Issues► Sociopolitical Enemies

Nativists Josiah Strong - Our Country

► Legislation Page Act of 1875

► Forbade forced labor Asians, prostitutes, convicts Immigration Acts of 1882, 1891

► $0.50 tax► Forbid convicts, lunatics, idiots, diseased, disabled

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)► Chinese immigration ban for 10 years► Chinese prevented from becoming citizens

United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)► All people born in U.S. are citizens

► Political Machines Employment, housing, social services for votes

► Ethnic Neighborhoods Little Italy Chinatown

Ellis Island

“…Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore…”

Emma Lazarus - The New Colossus, 1883

Consumerism►Wide variety of mass produced

goods led to new marketing and sales

►Brand names and logos►Department stores R.H. Macy’s

►Chain stores Woolworth’s

►Grocery stores►Mail order catalogs Montgomery Ward Sears, Roebuck, Co.

Henry Ford and Model T

►Assembly Line Mass production of products

through sequential assembly►Worker Treatment Paid decent wages Provided benefits

►Model T (1908) Low-cost product for affordable

price

Gilded Age Religion► American Christians focused values

toward consequences of industrialization and urbanization Social Gospel

► Increases Catholics, Jews

► New Christian Sects Christian Science

► Spiritual life over material Pentecostals

► Baptism in spirit; speaking in tongues Salvation Army Jehovah’s Witnesses

► Millenialist

Temperance and Reform► Alcohol and vices blamed for urban

problems► Regulating Morality

Comstock Law (1873)► Temperance Organizations

National Prohibition Party (1869) Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

(1874)► Frances E. Willard

Antisaloon League (1893) Carrie Nation

► “Hatchetations”

► Reform Groups Planned parenthood Humane societies Anti-prostitution

Gilded Age Academics► Educational Reforms

Compulsory Education► Most states required 8-14 year olds to attend schools

Kindergartens Public Education

► Dramatic increase in high schools and adult education► Comprehensive education► Led to 90% literacy rate

Colleges and Universities► Increased through federal legislation and philanthropy

► Science Darwin and Natural Selection (Evolution) Technological Innovation

► Social Sciences Scientific method applied to behavioral sciences Development of psychology, sociology, political science

► William James’s Principles of Psychology

Gilded Age Entertainment and Leisure

► Causes Urbanization, less working hours, advertisements

► Vaudevilles Popularized with family-friendly subjects and material

► Saloons► Amusement Parks

Coney Island► Circus

P.T. Barnum► Sports

Spectator► Baseball, boxing, football, basketball

Amateur► Golf, tennis

Realism and Naturalism► Realism

Objective reality Depict accurate and true

characters and settings Absent of emotional embellishment

► Naturalism Depiction of objects in natural

settings Time and place accuracy

Brooklyn Bridge at NightEdward Willis Redfield1909

Gilded Age Art►Ashcan School Depiction of New York City

urban life George Bellows

► James M. Whistler►Winslow Homer►Mary Cassatt

Both Members of This ClubGeorge Bellows1909

Winslow Homer’s Breezing Up

George Bellow’s New York

James Whistler’s Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Whistler’s Mother) (1871)

Mary Cassat’s The Child’s Bath (1893)

Gilded Age Architecture

►Victorian Influence Henry Hobson Richardson

► Louis Sullivan “Father of Skyscrapers” “form follows function”

►Frank Lloyd Wright “organic architecture”

►Foursquare Homes

Richardson’s Trinity Church

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Foursquare Home

Gilded Age Press and Literature► Press

Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World & William Randolph Hearst► Sensationalism and scandals

Magazines► Editorial style based on investigative journalism► Forum

► Non-Fiction Toward facts, investigations, American expansion Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor (1881) Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power on History (1890) Josiah Strong’s Our Country

► Literature Authors focused on character development and realism over plot Lewis Wallace

► Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ Mark Twain

► The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn► The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Stephen Crane► The Red Badge of Courage

Jack London► The Call of the Wild; White Fang

Gilded Age Music► Mainstream Music

John Philip Sousa – The March King► The Washington Post► Stars and Stripes Forever► Semper Fidelis

Screamers – Circus Marches► Entry of the Gladiators► Circus Bee

► Popular Music Ragtime

► Originated from black communities combining African syncopation and classical music

► Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag The Entertainer

The Blues► Originated c. 1890 from Deep South based on ballads among

slaves► Lyrics mostly soulful and melancholy