The Growth of Cities
and American Culture
In the last half of the nineteenth century, the
U.S. population increased more than
threefold, from 23.2 million in 1850 to 76.2
million in 1900.
Immigration
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Why?
1.) Poverty of displaced
farm workers in Europe
2.)Overcrowding and
joblessness in Europe
3.) Religious persecution in
Europe (Jews in Russia)
4.) U.S. reputation for
freedom/opportunity (land
out west and jobs in the
industrial cities)
5.) Inexpensive passage
“Old” Immigration
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Through the 1880s, the
majority of immigrants
came from northern and
western Europe
British Isles, Germany and
Scandinavia
Mostly Protestants and Irish
Catholics
High level of literacy and
occupational skills made it
easy for them to blend into
American society
“New” Immigration
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1890s-1914
Southern and eastern
Europe
Italians, Greeks, Croats,
Slovaks, Poles and Russians
Poor and mostly illiterate
Largely Roman Catholic,
Greek Orthodox, Russian
Orthodox and Jewish
NYC and Chicago
25% were young men
working unskilled jobs
Statue of Liberty
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Erected in 1886
French sculptor FredericAuguste Bartholdi
Ellis Island opens in 1892
New arrivals must pass
more rigorous medical and
document examinations and
pay an entry tax before
entering the United States
Ellis Island 1892-1954
Restricting Immigration
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Chinese Exclusion Act –
1882
Many American groups
supported restrictions: labor
unions, nativists, and social
Darwinists (who felt citizens
of English and German
stock were superior to
others)
By 1900, roughly 15% of
Americans were immigrants
Urbanization
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Cities provide a supply of
labor and a principal market
for factory made goods
By 1900, 40% of Americans
lived in towns or cities, by
1920, for the first time,
more Americans live in
urban than rural
communities
Between 1897 and 1930,
nearly 1 million southern
blacks settled in
northern/western cities
Urbanization
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Horse drawn streetcars for
commuting
Eventually cable cars,
electric trolleys, elevated
railroads and subways
provide transportation
Brooklyn Bridge – 1883
Neighborhoods became
segregated by income
Urbanization
Little Italy - NYC
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Skyscrapers
Distinct ethnic
neighborhoods – affluent
citizens move out of
business districts, poor
move in
Slums and tenements were
overcrowded
Sanitation problems –
disease (cholera and
tuberculosis)
“ghettos”
Tenements - NYC
Residential suburbs
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In Europe the wealthiest
people live in the business
districts
In America, we have tended
to move outward, away
from the business districts
WHY?
1,) Available land
2.) Transportation
3.) Ethnic and racial
prejudice
4.) Want of landscape, and
privacy
Awakening of Reform
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Middle class movement
inspired by poverty of
working class families
Settlement houses taught
English to immigrants,
pioneered early childhood
education, and established
neighborhood theatres and
music schools
Hull House in Chicago was
started by Jane Addams
Social Gospel
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In 1880s and 1890s,
Protestant clergymen
preached the Social Gospel
Or the importance of
applying Christian principles
to social problems
Organized religion should
take up the cause of social
justice
Middle class Protestants are
encouraged to attack urban
problems
Temperance Movement
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Urban reformers, especially
women advocated total
abstinence of alcohol
Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
forms in 1874
Antisaloon League forms in
1893
Carry A. Nation of Kansas
raided saloons and smashed
barrels of beer with a
hatchet
Temperance Movement
Families and Women
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Reduction in family size
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony created
the National American
Women’s Suffrage
Association ((NAWSA)
WY was first state to grant
full suffrage to women in
1869
By 1900, some states
allowed women to vote in
local elections and to own
property after marriage
Education
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3 R’s
McGuffey readers
Laws increased, that
required children in schools
Literacy rate rose
Number of colleges grew
Johns Hopkins, Smith,
Mount Holyoke, University
of Chicago
More admit women
Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc
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Jazz is introduced to the
American public
New Orleans – Jelly Roll
Morton and Buddy Bolden
African rhythms and
western-style instruments
Mixed improvisation
Scott Joplin sells 1 million
copies of “Maple Leaf Rag”
(1899)
Ragtime and blues
Memphis, St. Louis, KC, and
Chicago
Spectator Sports
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Basketball invented in 1891
(Springfield, MA)
Football – First
intercollegiate game was
Rutgers v. Princeton in 1869
Boxing
President Howard Taft
throws out first pitch in
1909
Mostly male spectators,
upper and lower classes
Severe discrimination
Amusements
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Growth of leisure activities
Saloons were most popular
form of recreation
Variety of acts (vaudeville)
Circus : “Greatest Show on
Earth” Barnum & Bailey
Wild West show of Buffalo
Bill
Architecture
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Frank Lloyd Wright – prairie
houses, in harmony with
nature
Frederick Law Olmstead –
Central Park, Highland Park
and Genesee Valley Park in
Rochester