The Gilded Age 2

Daily LifeHUSH Unit 7

The Expansion of Education More people in

public schools and literate 1870- 2% in HS 1900-32 states

required school to age 14

1910- 60% of all children attended school

The poor, immigrants, and minorities still lagged behind

Higher Education for Women

As with other reforms, there was a struggle to gain advances in women's educational opportunities.

The first colleges to accept women were Tulane Sophie Newcomb Radcliffe (Harvard’s all-

woman counterpart)

Higher Education for African Americans Historically all-black colleges

Howard Fisk Atlanta University Center

Booker T. Washington Former slave and founder of Tuskegee

Institute School for blacks that taught farming, carpentry,

brick making, shoemaking, printing and cabinetmaking

Believed that blacks should first build economic power and then political power would follow

September, 1895, Washington became a national figure when one of his speeches was widely reported by the country's newspapers.

Washington's conservative views made him popular with white politicians

Other African-American leaders did not agree with his ideas and the movement split

Counter Movement to Tuskegee WEB Du Bois

Led the Niagara Movement Called for the end of racism

NOW! Did not agree with B.

Washington and charged that the best and the brightest must lead the others towards equality now through politics and a quest for justice. The Souls of Black Folks- most

famous publication

Excerpt from “The Souls of Black Folks” Herein lie buried many things which if read

with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. W.E.B.Du Bois

New Forms of Entertainment in the Gilded Age Vaudeville shows- generally

white singers and musicians who traveled throughout the country

Minstrel shows- white singers who dressed in black face paint and perpetuated racial inequalities; sometimes black singers put on blackface as well

Music in the Gilded Age Jazz and Ragtime music

most popular Started within the African-

American community in and around New Orleans and other southern cities Scott Joplin most famous

composer and musician

Popular Publications in the Gilded Age Newspapers

In order to increase circulation, newspapers often exploited their position by sponsoring a flamboyant and irresponsible approach to news

The term “yellow journalism” was born “If it bleeds it leads”

Joseph Pulitzer- sensational NY journalism

Wm. Randolph Hearst- sensational West coast journalism

Pulitzer v Hearst

East Coast v West Coast

Popular Publications in the Gilded Age Magazines

Weekly, monthly stories

Most popular Horatio Alger stories Fiction/myths of rags

to riches Fed into social

Darwinism beliefs Books-

Mark Twain Bret Harte and other

adventure stories

Sports in the Gilded Age Sports became popular

spectator activity Beginning of team and

pro sports Baseball led the way

The “national pastime" 1869: The Cincinnati Red

Stockings became the first openly-salaried team and are thus considered the first professional team.

Boxing, basketball, bicycling, football also became popular

The World of Jim Crow Character in minstrel shows

(traveling musical review) called Jim Crow

This name was attached to the laws and regulations passed after Reconstruction that attempted to keep African Americans from achieving equality

Jim Crow laws- voting, jobs, accommodations, and education Included Poll taxes, Grandfather

clauses, white primaries…

Plessey v Ferguson 1896 Supreme Court case

concerning the legality of having separate railroad cars for white

Did this violate the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment??

The Supreme Court said, “NO”, citing the idea of “separate but equal” Set back equality for blacks

almost 70 years

The Rise of Hate Groups Violence and lynching

in many areas Often due to lack of jobs

and the economic instability of era

KKK and other hate groups became popular in South AND North Race riots in Atlanta

Northern violence was also on the rise Race riots in NY and

Springfield, IL

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People- NAACP The NAACP was organized in 1909 Concern over race riots and Jim Crow Many Niagara Movement leaders joined and

combined forces with whites to overcome inequalities and violence

WEB Du Bois charged that Booker T. Washington was not helping the cause by remaining quiet

The NAACP grew rapidly into a national group Is still important today in civil rights causes

Women’s Rights in the Gilded Age Important Issues

Should women have equality?? Should they work outside the home?

Should they get the right to vote? Helped with women’s independence

Department stores Mail order catalogs Rural Free Delivery-RFD

More outside-the-home jobs available But mostly domestic work, industry,

and service industry not professional jobs

The “New Woman” era Wealthy women also

participated Volunteered for

protests Women’s clubs

boomed By turn of the

century- things began to change-

Fashion, books, and music

Margaret Sanger- Margaret Sanger was educated as

and worked as a nurse. In her work with poor women on the

Lower East Side of New York, she was aware of the effects of unplanned and unwelcome pregnancies.

She came to believe in the importance to women's lives and women's health of the availability of birth control, a term which she's credited with inventing.

In 1912, Sanger gave up nursing work to gave advice about birth control This was against the law The Comstock Act

The End…for Fall Semester

Notes!Be ready for the Unit 7 Test!

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