Chapter 18—The Age of the City
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION I: At the turn of the 20 th century, who came to American cities, where did they
come from, and why did they come? How did some parts of society react to the new arrivals?
I. The Urbanization of America
A. The Lure of the City
1. Rapid Urban Growth—What were the features of cities that drew people there?
B. Migrations
1. Geographic Mobility—Where were Americans moving away from? Who were some of the groups that came to cities?
2. African American Communities—Why did blacks come to cities? What opportunities did they find? What was the most
important source of immigration to cities? Where did they come from (particularly after 1880)? How did this new wave of
immigrants differ from those who had come before?
C. The Ethnic City—How many people in major cities were from a foreign country?
1. The Diverse American City—From what countries did these immigrants arrive? How did they try to maintain connections to
their cultures? Where did they live?
2. Benefits of Ethnic Communities—What comforts of home could immigrants find within their ethnic communities?
D. Assimilation
1. Americanization—What was “Americanization”?
2. Changing Gender Roles—How did gender roles change? How did society itself encourage assimilation?
E. Exclusion
1. Nativism—What is “nativism”?
2. Immigration Restriction League—What were the American Protective Association and the Immigration Restriction League?
How did the government assist in keeping some foreigners out?
3. Advantages of Cheap Labor—What did immigrants provide to society?
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION II: What was city life like for the different portions of urban society?
II.
The Urban Landscape
A. The Creation of Public Space
B. Housing the Well-To-Do—Where did the “very” well-to-do live?
1. Growth of Suburbs—Who lived in the suburbs?
C. Housing Workers and the Poor—Where did most urban residents live?
1. Tenements—What were tenements and what were conditions like in tenements?
2. Jacob Riis—What was Jacob Riis’ message in How the Other Half Lives?
D. Urban Transportation
1. Transportation Problems—What were some of the transportation problems faced by cities?
2. Mass Transit—What forms of mass transit developed?
E. The “Skyscraper”—What innovations made skyscrapers practical?
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION III: What were some negative aspects of living in the city?
III.
Strains of Urban Life
A. Fire and Disease
1. Development of Professional Fire Departments—What changes in cities did fires sometimes cause?
B. Environmental Degradation—How did human and animal waste affect cities?
1. Air Pollution—What types of air pollution occurred in cities?
2. Public Health Service
C. Urban Poverty—Why was there poverty in cities?
1. Salvation Army—What was the goal of the Salvation Army?
D. Crime and Violence
1. High Crime Rates—What did rising crime rates lead to in cities?
E. The Machine and the Boss
1. Boss Rule—What was a “political machine” and who were the “bosses”? What was the function of the boss, and how would
he achieve that function?
2. Graft and Corruption—What was “honest graft”? How else would bosses enrich themselves? Who was William Tweed?
Besides corruption, what else did political machines accomplish?
3. Reasons for Boss Rule—What made boss rule possible?
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION IV: How did Americans change where they spent their income?
IV.
The Rise of Mass Consumption
A. Patterns of Income and Consumption
1. Rising Income—Whose incomes were rising at this time?
2. New Merchandising Techniques—How did patterns of buying clothes and food change during this time?
B. Chain Stores and Mail-Order Houses
1. Chain Stores—What were the names of some of the first chain stores? How did they affect local businesses?
C. Department Stores
1. Impact of the Department Store—In what ways did the department store change the concept of shopping?
D. Women as Consumers
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION V: What would you do for fun in the city at the turn of the century?
V.
Leisure in the Consumer Society—How was leisure time changing for many people?
A. Redefining Leisure
1. New Conceptions of Leisure—How did popular conceptions of leisure change?
2. Simon Patten
3. Public Leisure—What leisure activities would people conduct in public?
B. Spectator Sports
1. Major League Baseball—How did baseball develop?
2. Growth of College Football—How did football develop? Where, when, and by whom was basketball created?
3. Gambling and Sports—On what sports would people gamble?
C. Music and Theater
1. Ethnic Theater
2. Vaudeville—What was in a vaudeville act, and why were they so popular?
D. The Movies—Who invented the motion picture technology?
1. The Birth of a Nation—What was the topic of this early film?
E. Working-Class Leisure
1. Importance of the Saloon—Why was the neighborhood saloon so important?
F. The Fourth of July
G. Mass Communications
1. Emergence of Newspaper Chains—Who were two main names in the newspaper business? What was “yellow journalism”?
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION VI: How did literature, art, science, and education develop in American at the
turn of the 20th century?
VI.
High Culture in the Age of the City
A. The Literature of Urban America
1. Social Realism—Who were some authors who depicted the reality of America?
B. Art in the Age of the City—Why were Winslow Homer and James McNeil Whistler unique?
1. Ashcan School—What did the followers of the Ashcan School paint?
C. The Impact of Darwinism
1. “Natural Selection”—What was the differences developing between the cities and the rual areas over Darwin’s theories?
2. “Pragmatism”
3. Growth of Anthropology
D. Toward Universal Schooling
1. Spread of Public Education—How widespread had education become by 1900? What it equally distributed to all? What
sorts of institutions were established for Indian education?
2. “Land-Grant” Institutions—What was the purpose of the Morrill Land Grant Act? What was the effect?
E. Education for Women
1. Women’s Colleges—What was the importance of the establishment of female colleges?