CHAPTER 8: LIFE AT
THE TURN OF THE
20TH CENTURY
Answer the Objective Questions for each section
as you read – they will become your notes.
Chapter Objective – to analyze significant turn-ofthe 20th century trends in such areas as
technology, education, race relations, and mass
culture.
Section 1: Science and Urban Life
• Describe the impact of technological advances on turn-of-
the 20th century urban planning.
• How did engineering innovations help cities grow upward and
outward?
• What was urban planning and how did it improve city life?
• Summarize turn of the century communication
innovations.
• What effect did advances in paper, printing, and photography have
on publishing and journalism?
• How did airplanes revolutionize communications as well as
transportation?
Section 2: Expanding Public Education
• Analyze the expansion of public education at the turn-of-
the 20th century.
• What were the main reasons for the expansion and improvement of
public education?
• What factors contributed to the growth of high schools?
• How did educational experiences differ for African Americans and
immigrants?
• Describe the growth of higher education.
• What changes did many universities make in their curriculum and
why?
• How did African Americans work to gain a high educaiton?
Section 3: Segregation and Discrimination
• Trace the historical underpinnings of legalized segregation and the
African-American struggle against racism in the U.S.
• What post-Reconstruction voting restrictions were imposed on African
Americans in the South?
• What were Jim Crow laws?
• What was the significance of the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?
• Summarize turn-of-the-20th century race relations in the North and
South.
• How did African Americans differ in approach to combating racism?
• How were African Americans discriminated against in the North?
• Identify discrimination against minorities in the American West.
• What were the difficulties that Mexicans encountered in the United States?
• How were Chinese immigrants treated?
• Plessy v. Ferguson:
• What was the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?
• How did the Supreme Court’s ruling affect southern states?
• How and when was the Plessy decision overturned?
Section 4: The Dawn of Mass Culture
• Give examples of turn-of-the-20th century leisure activities and
popular sports.
• What leisure activities became popular with Americans at the turn of
the 20th century?
• What spectator sports did many Americans enjoy?
• Analyze the spread of mass culture in the United States at the
turn of the 20th century.
• How did the nation’s new newspapers attract readers?
• What were the new artistic movements in the nation?
• What types of literature gained notoriety at the turn of the 20th century?
• Describe turn-of-the-20th century innovations in marketing and
advertising.
• How did the growth of cities change the way in which goods were
sold?
• How did mail-order catalogs and advertising contribute to the growth of
mass culture?