Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 Analyse the role of Urbanisation and Industrialisation in shaping American society in this period (1919-1941) Urbanisation and industrialisation between 1919-1941 moulded American society’s every facet, politically, socially and economically. The industralisation and mechanisation of the agrarian sector of American society prompted the mass internal migration from southern to northern states, thus leading to the mass urbanisation of cities. Additionally, this urbanisation attracted international immigrants, as well as a litany of other significant social impacts such as the Harlem Renaissance, the rise of the KKK and an incredibly notable shift in racial ideological alignment. Thus, it is without question that urbanisation and industrialisation of the United States of America played an integral role in shaping a significant portion, if not the entirety of American society. As a direct result of the industralisation and mechanisation of both the agricultural sectors of American society and American cities, internal migration increased exponentially, leading to the rapid urbanisation of cities. As seen in source A, a photograph of an early 1920’s American steam tractor and source B, a graph from the Economic History Association graphing the production of tractors from 1909-1970, the mechanisation of farms, particularly in the central and southern states of America was evident and ever increasing. Within source B, one can note the that the production of tractors increased 2.5x from the late 1910s to the 1930s, only falling during the mid-1930s as a result of the WW2’s demand for steel, iron, copper, and rubber1. As a result, many workers lost their jobs due to the innate efficiency and effectiveness of farm machinery, and in an attempt to gain employment, migrated to northern cities. This significant migration and thus massive urbanisation of cities can be noted within the following quotation from J. Rees (2016) based on governmental statistics, ‘Overall, 15.3% of Americans lived in cities in 1850. By 1900, that percentage had increased to 39.7%...The 1920 Census revealed that more Americans lived in cities than the countryside for the first time’2. Therefore, the industralisation of the American agricultural sectors post WW1 and subsequent urbanisation of cities due to migrating workers had a significant impact on shaping American society as the majority of Americans now dwelled in urbanised cities, altering the way society functioned nationally. Whilst southern to northern internal migration was rampant, it should also be understood that international immigration to the United States of America during this time increased exponentially contributing to the urbanisation of cities due to the fact that America was now widely industrialised and harboured many employment opportunities. The 1920s American economy was thriving, with ‘The GDP during that time had risen by 30 percent and unemployment was as at an all-time low of 3 percent’3, which attracted many, namely European immigrants from war-torn countries to immigrate to America. This notion is illustrated by source F, a graphing from the Migration Policy Institute of America displays an increase from 13 million to almost 15 million immigrants to America between 1919 and 1930. Sullivan (2014) explains why this influx occurred and links it directly to the ‘American Dream’ post WW1, stating ‘Waves of immigrants had been arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe seeking work, increasing the population of working poor. The notion of the American Dream at this time existed to immigrants and meant merely to survive and be able J. White, W. (2018). Economic History of Tractors in the United States. [online] Eh.net. Available at: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/economic-history-of-tractors-in-the-united-states/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 2 Rees, J. (2016). Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929. 3 Bartleby writers (2018). The Economy and Life During the 1920s - 635 Words | Bartleby. [online] Bartleby.com. Available at: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Economy-and-Life-During-the-1920s-FK89JJDEJ8M6A [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. 1 Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 to exist in a country that was free.’ 4. This quote allows one to understand that America offered a ‘dream’ to European immigrants who had just faced conflict first hand and were now experiencing its repercussions in the 1920s. This ‘dream’ consisted of not only a country that was ‘free’ but harboured a litany of economic opportunities. However, in response to this increase of international immigrants, there was a significant backlash, resulting in multiple legislations such as Immigration Act of 1924, which limited the total number of immigrants allowed to relocate to the United States to just 2% of the total population per nationality. Therefore, due to the mass industralisation of American society and economy post WW1 and into the 1920s, there was an evident increase in immigrants relocating to the United States, as well as a significant shift in American policy on foreigners and immigration. It should be noted that a large portion of the migrants from southern farms to northern cities were of African descent, in what became to be known as the Great Migration (1916-70). This rapid influx of ‘black Americans’ helped urbanise the population of Anglo-Saxon dominated communities and cities, causing powerful movements of cultural expression, whilst simultaneously causing great racial tensions. Cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and New York not only had their total populations grow by 35% between 1910-1920, with major Northern cities having their African American population grow greatly, including New York (66%), Chicago (148%), Philadelphia (500%) and Detroit (611%)5. As a result of this mass urbanisation, stemming from both the industralisation of the agrarian south and the Jim Crow laws that governed the southern states during this time, came the cultural movement of the Harlem Renaissance’s peak during the 1920s and 1930s6. As seen in source C (1929), a photograph of swing dancers from Harlem’s Cotton Club and source D, a photograph of Louis Armstrong performing live (1930). Through these two sources, it is evident that the culture, music, and art of African Americans was thriving and not only appealed to both sexes, but to both black and white individuals. Therefore, the gross increase of African Americans helping to urbanise White American cities as a direct result of the industralisation of America’s agrarian sectors had an evident impact on the lives and culture of the Black American population, particularly in northern cities. Accompanying this expression of African American culture, as a result of the industralisation of America’s agricultural sectors, leading to the mass migration of Black Americans to the north, was a significant, derogatory and often violent backlash from a gross portion of white city dwellers. An event that highlights this sense of rage, anxiety and racism within white American society is the July 27th, 1919 stoning and subsequent death of a black teenager by a group of white youths that acted as a catalyst for the Chicago riots of 19197. This, in turn, confirmed the anxieties of white Americans and in response, turned to extreme hate groups such as the white supremacist group, the Klu Klux Klan. This is proven by the Klan’s ‘peak in the 1920s, when its membership exceeded 4,000,000 nationally.’8. Evidence of the Klu Klux Klan’s explicit hatred of black Americans can be seen within The North Review magazine where the ‘Imperial Wizard’ Grantham, S. (2014). The "American Dream". [online] Cultural History of the United States. Available at: https://culturalhistoryus.weebly.com/the-american-dream#_ftn1 [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. 5 History.com Editors (2010). Great Migration. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 6 Wall, C. (2016). A History of the Harlem Renaissance | History Today. [online] Historytoday.com. Available at: https://www.historytoday.com/cheryl-wall/history-harlem-renaissance-history [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 7 History.com Editors (2009). The Chicago Race Riot of 1919. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/chicago-race-riot-of-1919 [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 8 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018). Ku Klux Klan | Definition & History. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ku-Klux-Klan [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 4 Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 (head) of the KKK H.W Evans (1926) stated, ‘We will not permit him (the Negro)...with social equality.’9 .Thus, it is evident that as a result of this mass increase of black Americans in northern cities as a result of the industralisation of the south caused racial tensions and conflict between white and black Americans to heighten significantly. Therefore, the industralisation of American agrarian society, triggering the mass urbanisation of northern cities by African Americans triggered significant racial tensions, conflicts, and violence to arise within American society. Due to the increased African American population in northern states, thus contributing to the urbanisation of many northern cities, many black Americans realised the issues within the republican government they had supported for decades. Under Republican rule, explicitly racist laws that encouraged segregation10, as highlighted by the Plessy vs Ferguson decision in 1896, were rampant. Upon being exposed to how segregation still impacted the black population in urbanised cities, as seen evident by the stoning of a young black teenager in 1919 and the writing of D. Douglas’ (2005) Jim Crow Moves North which, ‘Captured various forms of Northern segregation’. In response to this, a large portion of African Americans abandoned their loyalty to the Republican political party and instead voted for the Democratic party’s Roosevelt in 1932, but particularly the 1936 election. Evidence of this can be seen by the statistics within Harvard’s A New Deal for Blacks: the Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue, claiming ‘73% of northern black voted for Roosevelt in 1936’ as well as source E, an electoral map of the 1936 vote. Source E illustrates how significant this switch in ideological alignment was, with only 2 states voting Republican, and almost all states who received an influx of African Americans to have voted Democrat. Roosevelt's ‘New Deal’ and by extension the Democratic party, was seen by a gross majority of the African American population as, ‘the first time in their history’ that they were free to critique or convey their grievances towards the American government with the ‘expectancy of sympathetic understanding and interpretation’11. Therefore, industrialisation and urbanisation had a significant impact on American society and politics due to the mass industralisation of the south, forcing the black population to urbanise northern cities, a mass ideological and political shift occurred amongst African Americans who historically voted for the Republican party. In conclusion, the impact of industralisation and urbanisation on American society between the years of 1919-1941 was gross and varied. From alterations in the population of southern and northern cities, an increase in international immigration, the birth of a new culture, to the increase in racial hate groups and shifts in racial ideological alignments, industralisation and urbanisation affected, to varying extents, every persons and stratum of American society. The North American Review writers (1926). The Klan's Fight for Americanism. The North American Review, [online] (830), p.33. Available at: http://history.msu.edu/hst203/files/2011/02/Evans-Klans-Fight-For-Americanism.pdf [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 10 Urofsky, M. (2018). Jim Crow law | History & Facts. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 11 Blow, C. (2018). Opinion | Race, to the Finish. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/opinion/charles-blow-race-to-the-finish.html [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. 9 Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 Bibliography: ● Bartleby writers (2018). The Economy and Life During the 1920s - 635 Words | Bartleby. [online] Bartleby.com. Available at: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Economy-and-Life-During-the-1920s-FK89JJDEJ8M6A [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. ● Blow, C. (2018). Opinion | Race, to the Finish. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/opinion/charles-blow-race-to-the-finish.html [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. ● Grantham, S. (2014). The "American Dream". [online] Cultural History of the United States. Available at: https://culturalhistoryus.weebly.com/the-american-dream#_ftn1 [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018]. ● History.com Editors (2010). Great Migration. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● History.com Editors (2009). The Chicago Race Riot of 1919. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/chicago-race-riot-of-1919 [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● J. White, W. (2018). Economic History of Tractors in the United States. [online] Eh.net. Available at: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/economic-history-of-tractors-in-the-united-states/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● Rees, J. (2016). Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929. ● The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018). Ku Klux Klan | Definition & History. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ku-Klux-Klan [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● The North American Review writers (1926). The Klan's Fight for Americanism. The North American Review, [online] (830), p.33. Available at: http://history.msu.edu/hst203/files/2011/02/Evans-Klans-Fight-For-Americanism.pdf [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● Urofsky, M. (2018). Jim Crow law | History & Facts. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. ● Wall, C. (2016). A History of the Harlem Renaissance | History Today. [online] Historytoday.com. Available at: https://www.historytoday.com/cheryl-wall/history-harlem-renaissance-history [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. Source Index: Source A: 1920s American steam-powered tractor. Available at: https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe20s/machines_01.htm [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018]. Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 Source B: 1909-1970 graph of tractor production in the United States of America. Available at: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/economic-history-of-tractors-in-the-united-states/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2018]. Source C: photograph of swing dancers from Harlem’s Cotton Club (1929). Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. Source D: photograph of Louis Armstrong performing to a crowd (1930). Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. Brianna Johnson, Year 12, 2019 Source E: US election outcome map of the 1936 election. Available at: https://www.270towin.com/1936_Election/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018]. Source F: Graph from the Migration Policy Institute of America displaying both the number of immigrants residing in the United States and their share of the total U.S. population from 1850-2016. Available at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-population-over-time [Accessed 28 Nov. 2018].
