Immigration, migration, and
city life in the Gilded Age
(Gilded age: external glitter of wealth
conceals corrupt politics and the
growing gap between the few rich and
the many poor)
Class and Industry

The shift from an agrarian to an industrial
economy brought new patterns of production
and created a new class structure.
– Factory assembly lines replaced apprentice
workshops.
– Machines replaced skilled craftsmen.
– A new working class of semi-skilled wage laborers
operated the machinery.

By 1900, the industrial workforce comprised
one third of the population
Class and Industry

The upper-class entrepreneurs who controlled
American industries and the middle-class
managers who supported them formed "one
half" of Gilded Age society.
– These businessmen promoted the doctrine of free
labor as the symbol of American democracy.
– Using themselves as examples, they argued that
Americans could achieve success through hard work.
– They built mansions for their families and donated
funds for parks and public architecture to display their
newfound wealth and social power.
“The Other Half”

"The other half" of Gilded Age society
consisted of working-class families.
– One out of every three laborers was an
immigrant.
 Lured by the promises of freedom and opportunity
 motivated by the desire to escape oppressive
living and working conditions at home
 many immigrants sold their possessions and
moved to America.
 often, however, they found themselves in similar
situations in this country.
What is an American?
Melting Pot Versus Fruit Salad

“America Is the Great Melting Pot”
– What does this actually mean?

How about a theory using “Fruit Salad”
instead?
– Healthier?
– Socially correct?
Port of Entry

Ellis Island / Angel Island
– Europeans treated a little
better than Asians entering
in California
– From 1892 to 1954, over
twelve million immigrants
entered the U.S. at Ellis
Island
– Around 3% were sent back
to their countries of Origin
due to being found
“undesirable”
Main Sources of Immigration
1861-1890
From 1861 to
1890, the country
that had the most
immigrants come
to the United
States was….?
From 1861 to
1870, the country
that had the least
amount of
immigrants come
to the United
States was….?
Once in America they became “the
other half”
About 40 percent of working-class citizens lived
below the poverty line of $500 per year.
 They faced long hours,

–
–
–
–
–

low pay,
random wage cuts,
periods of high unemployment,
danger to life and limb on the job,
lack of insurance, and lack of worker's compensation.
The overcrowded tenements in which they lived
often had inadequate sewage, heat, water, and
electricity.
Horatio
Alger
writes over 100
Social
Darwinism
books
Based on Darwin’s
Theory
Evolution
about
theof“Self-Made
Man”
– “Natural Selection”
•If –men
like
Andrew
Survival
of the
fittest Carnegie can
 Government
so
can you!should not interfere with business
– God did not interfere with a dying species
Weakabusinesses
be allowed to die
•Is –this
myth orshould
a reality?
– Poor People deserve to be poor!
do
it
Social Darwinism at work
The native customs of working-class
immigrants seemed foreign to middleclass and upper-class citizens.
 Their neighborhoods seemed mysterious
and dangerous.
 The media reinforced the stereotype of
working-class citizens as "other,"
portraying them as immoral, ignorant, or
unable to help themselves.

Reform Efforts?

Gilded Age reformers appealed to the
consciences and fears of these citizens,
encouraging them to serve as guardians of
the poor and protect themselves against
crime.
Jacob Riis
 Lewis Hine

Jacob Riis— How the Other Half
Lives
documented the living and working conditions of the
poor
 Riis argued for better housing, adequate lighting and
sanitation
 construction of city parks and playgrounds.
 He portrayed middle-class and upper-class citizens as
benefactors and encouraged them to take an active role
in defining and shaping their communities.
 Riis believed that charitable citizens would help the poor
when they saw for themselves how "the other half" lived

Photography of Jacob
Riis
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/photography/slideshows/slideshows.html
According to historian Robert Bremner:

"The reformers' problem was to rouse the
public from its lethargy, make consciences
uneasy, and stir genial good will into
enthusiasm for social betterment. Their
first step was to lay bare the responsibility
of the community for needless suffering."
Nurture, Not Nature
Critics of charities argued that poverty was
the result of individual or moral weakness;
 poor could not be helped through
charitable donations.
 Gilded Age reformers like Riis believed
that poverty was the result of
environmental conditions; thus, reform
efforts could help the poor.

Riis’ ideas on Charity

"The reason charity has been discredited
is because it has worked with the broken
fragments, the drunken and the shiftless,
helping as it could, mourning that such
things must be, but never asking the
reason why or knowing anything of the
honest, thrifty poor who live lives of
heroism such as we cannot live."
Riis’ ideas on Charity

Riis believed that moral citizens,
regardless of their economic status,
should be given a chance to improve their
lives. Like Riis himself, given that chance,
many could rise out of poverty and into
the ranks of the middle class
Riis’ ideas on Charity
He believed that private wealth could help
transform the slums into better places to
live.
 "I am a believer in organized, systematic
charity upon the evidence of my senses,"

Neighborhoods

Riis's photographs had a certain shock
value. He looked for images that would
have a strong effect on his viewers—dirty
children on the streets, men living in
dumps and cellars.
Mothers and Children

Riis's photographs challenged Victorian
notions of mothers and children. One of
his photographs shows a mother with her
naked children standing on a rooftop. In
others, children play out on the streets
unattended. These photographs
contrasted sharply with images of children
in late-nineteenth-century America.
Dwellings

Riis's photographs also challenged
Victorian notions of the home. In one
photograph, a tenement family makes
cigars at the table. In another, a man sits
down to a solitary meal in a coal cellar.
De-Emphasizing the Individual

He often de-emphasized the individual in
favor of the total setting. Accordingly, he
photographed many of his subjects at a
distance to show them in their squalid
surroundings.
Bandit’s Roost
“Most
dangerous
alley in New
York City”