URBANIZATION
AMERICA BECOMES A
MELTING POT IN THE LATE
19TH & EARLY 20TH CENTURY
THE CHALLENGES OF
URBANIZATION
 Rapid urbanization
occurred in the late 19th
century in the Northeast
& Midwest
 Most immigrants settled
in cities because of the
available jobs &
affordable housing
 By 1910, immigrants
made up more than half
the population of 18
major American cities
MIGRATION FROM
COUNTRY TO CITY
Discrimination and segregation were
often the reality for African
Americans who migrated North
 Rapid improvements in
farm technology (tractors,
reapers, steel plows) made
farming more efficient in
the late 19th century
 It also meant less labor
was needed to do the job
 Many rural people left for
cities to find workincluding almost ¼ million
African Americans
URBAN PROBLEMS
 Problems in American
cities in the late 19th
and early 20th century
included:
 Housing:
overcrowded
tenements were
unsanitary
 Sanitation: garbage
was often not
collected, polluted air
Famous photographer Jacob Riis
captured the struggle of living in
crowded tenements
URBAN PROBLEMS
CONTINUED
 Transportation: Cities struggled
to provide adequate transit
systems
 Water: Without safe drinking
water cholera and typhoid fever
was common
 Crime: As populations
increased thieves flourished
 Fire: Limited water supply and
wooden structures combined
with the use of candles led to
many major urban fires –
Chicago 1871 and San Francisco
1906 were two major fires
Harper’s Weekly image of Chicagoans
fleeing the fire over the Randolph
Street bridge in 1871
PHOTOGRAPHER JACOB RIIS
CAPTURED IMAGES OF THE CITY
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
REFORMERS MOBILIZE
 Jacob Riis was a reformer who
through his pictures hoped for
change– he influenced many
 The Social Gospel Movement
preached salvation through
service to the poor
 Some reformers established
Settlement Homes
 These homes provided a place
to stay, classes, health care and
other social services
 Jane Addams was the most
famous member of the
Settlement Movement (founded
Hull House in Chicago)
Jane
Addams
and Hull
House
 As cities grew in the
late 19th century, so did
political machines
 Political machines
controlled the
activities of a political
party in a city
 Ward bosses, precinct
captains, and the city
boss worked to ensure
their candidate was
elected
ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS
 The “Boss” (typically the
mayor) controlled jobs,
business licenses, and
influenced the court
system
 Precinct captains and
ward bosses were often
1st or 2nd generation
immigrants so they
helped immigrants with
naturalization, jobs, and
housing in exchange for
votes
Boss Tweed ran NYC
MUNICIPAL GRAFT AND SCANDAL
 Some political bosses were
corrupt
 Some political machines
used fake names and voted
multiple times to ensure
victory (“Vote early and
often”) – called Election
fraud
 Graft (bribes) was common
among political bosses
 Construction contracts
often resulted in “kickbacks”
 The fact that police forces
were hired by the boss
prevented close scrutiny
LIFE AT THE TURN
OF THE 20TH
CENTURY
THE EMERGENCE OF
MODERN AMERICA
SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE
• By the turn of the 20th
century, four out of ten
Americans lived in cities
• In response to
urbanization,
technological advances
began to meet
communication,
transportation, and
space demands
Artist Annie Bandez
SKYSCRAPERS
• Skyscrapers emerged after two
critical inventions: elevators &
steel skeletons that bear weight
• Famous examples include; Daniel
Burnham’s Flatiron Building in
NYC, Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright
Building in St. Louis
• The skyscraper was America’s
greatest contribution to
architecture and solved the issue
of how to best use limited and
expensive space
Flatiron Building - 1902
Another view of Burnham’s Flatiron Building
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
• New developments in
communication brought
the nation closer
• Advances in printing,
aviation, and
photography helped
speed the transfer of
information
AMUSEMENT PARKS
Coney Island was America’s most famous
amusement park in the late 19th century
• To meet the recreational
needs of city dwellers,
Chicago, NYC and other
cities began setting aside
land for parks
• Amusement parks were
constructed on the
outskirts of cities
• These parks had picnic
grounds and a variety of
rides
SPECTATOR SPORTS
1897 Baseball team picture
Kansas State University
• Americans not only
participated in new
sports, but became avid
fans of spectator sports
• Baseball and boxing
became profitable
businesses
• Mark Twain called
baseball, “the very
symbol of the booming
19th century”
NEWSPAPERS
• Mass-production printing
techniques led to the
publication of millions of
books, magazines, and
newspapers
• Joseph Pulitzer and
William Randolph Hearst
were two leading
publishers whose
competition led to more
and more sensational
newspaper reporting
Hearst (above) and
Pulitzer initiated
what was known as
“Yellow
Journalism”
Characteristics
of Yellow
Journalism
included huge,
sensational,
exaggerated
headlines
GROWING CONSUMERISM
• The turn of the
century witnessed
the beginnings of
the shopping
center, department
and chain stores,
and the birth of
modern advertising
THE DEPARTMENT STORE
• Marshall Field of
Chicago brought the
first department store to
America
• Field’s motto was “Give
the lady what she
wants”
• Field also pioneered the
“bargain basement”
concept
Marshall Fields has been around for
almost 150 years
CHAIN STORES
• In the 1870s, F.W.
Woolworth found that if he
offered an item at a low
price, “the consumer
would purchase it on the
spur of the moment”
• By 1911, the Woolworth
chain had 596 stores and
sold $1,000,000 per week
ADVERTISING
• Expenditures for
advertising was under
$10 million a year in
1865, but increased to
$95 million by 1900
• Ads appeared in
newspapers, magazines
and on billboards
CATALOGS AND RFD
• Montgomery Ward and
Sears were two pioneers
in catalog sales
• By 1910, 10 million
Americans shopped by
mail
• In 1896 the Post Office
introduced a rural free
delivery (RFD) system
that brought packages
directly to every home
The Changing American
Labor Force
Child Labor
WORKERS HAD POOR
CONDITIONS
Workers routinely
worked 6 or 7 days a
week, had no
vacations, no sick
leave, and no
compensation for
injuries
 Injuries were common
– In 1882, an average of
675 workers were killed
PER WEEK on the job

LABOR UNIONS EMERGE
As conditions for
laborers worsened,
workers realized they
needed to organize
 The first large-scale
national organization of
workers was the National
Labor Union in 1866
 The Colored National
Labor Union followed

Management vs. Labor
“Tools” of
Management
 “scabs”
 P. R. campaign
 Pinkertons
“Tools” of
Labor
 boycotts
 sympathy
demonstrations
 lockout
 informational
picketing
 blacklisting
 closed shops
 yellow-dog contracts
 organized
strikes
 court injunctions
 open shop
 “wildcat” strikes
National Labor Union
1866
• 1st attempt to unite all workers in
all states
• Goals—8 hour work day / higher
wages / social programs
• Chief Victory—8 hour workday for
federal government workers
• Lost support in the late 1870s
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
Leader of the Knights of Labor
An injury to one is the concern of all!
Knights of Labor
Membership
• Unite all workers in one big
union
• Skilled / non-skilled
• Men/ women / Blacks
• farmers
Goals of the Knights of Labor
•
Eight-hour workday.
•
Workers’ cooperatives.
•
Worker-owned factories.
•
Abolition of child and prison labor.
•
Increased circulation of greenbacks.
•
Equal pay for men and women.
•
Safety codes in the workplace.
•
Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
•
Abolition of the National Bank.
•
Favored arbitration over strikes
THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR
• Labor leaders continued
to push for change – and
on May 4, 1886 3,000
people gathered at
Chicago’s Haymarket
Square to protest police
treatment of striking
workers
• A bomb exploded near
the police line – killing 7
cops and several
workers
• Radicals were rounded
up and executed for the
crime
• Blamed the Knights of
• Due to the Haymarket Riot and
unsuccessful strikes the
Knights of Labor lost support
and declined in strength
CRAFT UNIONS




Craft Unions were unions of
workers in a skilled trade
Samuel Gompers led the Cigar
Makers’ International Union to
join with other craft unions in
1886
Gompers became president of
the American Federation of
Labor (AFL)
He focused on collective
bargaining to improve
conditions, wages and hours
How the AF of L
Would Help the Workers
ù
ù
skilled worker only (white men)
ù
Association of 25 craft unions
Goals—higher wages and improved
working conditions.
Mediated disputes between management
and labor (collective bargaining)
ù
ù
Favored Strikes to accomplish goals
SOCIALISM AND THE IWW
Some unionists (including
Debs) turned to a socialism
– an economic and political
system based on
government control of
business and property and
an equal distribution of
wealth among all citizens
 The International Workers of
the World (IWW) or
Wobblies, was one such
socialist union

PROMOTIONAL
POSTER FOR THE IWW
WOMEN ORGANIZE




Although women were barred
from most unions, they did
organize behind powerful
leaders such as Mary Harris
Jones
She organized the United
Mine Workers of America
Mine workers gave her the
nickname, “Mother Jones”
Pauline Newman organized
the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union at
the age of 16
STRIKES TURN VIOLENT
Several strikes turned
deadly in the late 19th
century as workers and
owners clashed
 The Great Strike of 1877:
Workers for the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad struck to
protest wage cuts
 Other rail workers across
the country struck in
sympathy
 Federal troops were called
in to end the strike

THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE





Even Andrew Carnegie could
not escape a workers strike
Conditions and wages were
not satisfactory in his Steel
plant in Pennsylvania and
workers struck in 1892
Carnegie hired Pinkerton
Detectives to guard the plant
and allow scabs to work
Detectives and strikers
clashed – 3 detectives and 9
strikers died
The National guard restored
order – workers returned to
work
PULLMAN: A FACTORY & TOWN


THE TOWN


GEORGE
PULLMAN
In 1880, George Pullman built
a factory for manufacturing
sleepers and other railroad
cars in Illinois
The nearby town Pullman
built for his employees was
modeled after early industrial
European towns
Pullman workers felt his
puritanical town was too
strict
When he lowered wages but
not rent – it led to a violent
strike in 1894
THE PULLMAN STRIKE
After the Pullman Company
laid off thousands of
workers and cut wages, the
workers went on strike in
the spring of 1894
 Eugene Debs (American
Railroad Union) tried to
settle dispute which turned
violent
 Pullman hired scabs and
fired the strikers – Federal
troops were brought in
 Debs was jailed

The “Bread & Roses” Strike\1912
DEMANDS:
ù 15¢/hr. wage increase.
ù Double pay for overtime.
ù No discrimination against strikers.
ù An end to “speed-up” on the
assembly line.
ù An end to discrimination against
foreign immigrant workers.