America Moves to the City
Theme: In the late nineteenth century, American society was
increasingly dominated by large urban centers. Explosive
urban growth was accompanied by often disturbing changes,
including the New Immigration, crowded slums, new religious
outlooks, and conflicts over culture and values. While many
Americans were disturbed by the new urban problems, cities
also offered opportunities to women and expanded cultural
horizons.
Theme: African Americans suffered the most as the south
lagged behind other regions of the country with regard to
educational improvements and opportunities. Two schools of
thought emerged as to the best way to handle this problem.
Booker T. Washington advocated that blacks should gain
knowledge of useful trades. With this would come selfrespect and economic security – Washington avoided the
issue of social equality. W.E.B. Du Bois demanded complete
equality for blacks, both social as well as economic.
I. Rise of the City
A.
Emigration from farms
1.
New technologies
a.
2.
Appealing lifestyle for some
but not others
a.
b.
B.
J. Sullivan, electricity,
telephones, suburbs
Shopping and impact of
consumerism
Slums, dumbbell tenement,
flophouses
New Immigration, 1880s
1.
Characteristics
a.
b.
c.
Southern and Eastern
Europe
“American Fever” and
persecution
“birds of passage”
II. Reactions to Immigration
A.
B.
Bosses exploitation
Nativism
1.
2.
C.
APA and organized labor
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Social reformers
1.
2.
3.
D.
New York
Christian Socialists
Middle class targeted urban
poor
Female reformers pioneered
social work as well as other
urban employment
Religion adjusted to changes
1.
2.
3.
•W. Rauschenbusch
•Lillian Weld
•Florence Kelley
Moody, Cardinal Gibbons, Mary
Baker Eddy, YMCA
Roman Catholic and Judaism
gained strength
Conflict over evolution divided
Protestants
Chicago
•Jane Adams
•Florence
Kelley
Ohio
Washington Gladden’s
“social gospel”
III. Cultural Challenges
Timeline of American Sports
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A.
Pre-1850’s:
Cricket, Boxing,
Horseracing, and walking races
1850’s: America’s Cup, Harvard-Yale
Regatta (crew), Rugby in England, Montreal
lacrosse, Sheffield Soccer, Baseball in NYC,
Australian Rule Football in Melbourne,
Horse Racing
1860’s: Open Championship (golf), skijumping (Norway),
1870’s: Football in New Jersey,
Wimbledon
1880’s: 1st World Series (baseball)
1890’s:
French Open (tennis), Stanley
Cup (Hockey), Olympic Games,
1900: Rose Bowl (college football), Tour
de France, NCAA formed,
Compulsory, public-funded
Education
1.
Public education
a.
2.
University boom
a.
B.
Accessible libraries
Sensationalist newspapers
Reform-minded magazines
a.
b.
Edwin Godkin (Nation)
Henry George’s land tax!
Urbanization stresses families
1.
D.
Normal Schools and Morrill & Hatch Acts
Increased literacy
1.
2.
3.
C.
Booker T v. Dubois
Family statistics reverse
Battle for Social Progress
1.
Women’s suffrage and NAWSA
a.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E.C. Stanton, C.C.Catt, I.B. Wells
Middle class temperance fears
Clara Barton and Red Cross
The Realism of Art and Music
The rise of Big Business Entertainment
Putting Things in Order
(Put the following events in correct order by numbering them 1 to 5)
1. _____ Well-educated young midwesterner moves to Chicago slums and
creates a vital center of social reform and activism
2. _____ Introduction of a new form of high-rise slum housing drastically
increases the overcrowding of the urban poor
3. _____ Nativist organization is formed to limit the “New Immigration” and
attack Roman Catholicism
4. _____ The formation of a new national organization signals growing strength
for the women’s suffrage movement
5. _____ A western territory becomes the first U.S. government to grant full
voting rights to women
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
4
2
3
5
1