2 600 Words Essays About U.S History
| 2 600 Words Essays About U.S History History – American history kindly follow the requirements. Chapter 19 The Vitality and Turmoil of Urban Life, 1877–1920 * Ch.19: Urban Life, 1877–1920 New environment create many changes Cities = hope, conflict, adjustment Esp. for “New Immigrants†51% of Americans urban (1920) City central to US life Source of diversity and pluralism: class, race, ethnicity New sources of entertainment (vaudeville) * Fig. 19-CO, p. 514 “Houdini’s Escape Act.†High above Broadway and 46th Street in New York City, Harry Houdini, the world-famous immigrant-American escape artist, hangs upside down while bound in a straitjacket. Crowds watch breathlessly, wondering whether or how he will free himself. New people, bustling cities, mass entertainment, and the quest for freedom symbolized by Houdini’s act characterized American society at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. p. 516 I. Industrial Development Cities = centers of industrial growth capital workers consumers Most have variety of factories Often specialize in one product: clothing, NYC Shape of cities change: earlier cities compact sprawl start late 1800s * II. Mechanization of Mass Transportation & Suburbanization Allow middle-class and rich to: escape congested urban core commute for work, shopping, etc. Fares too expensive for workers Cable cars, 1880s; then electric streetcars Some build elevated trains and/or subways Electric interurban rails link nearby cities: accelerate suburb grow Some businesses move to suburbs * p. 518 Electric trolley cars and other forms of mass transit enabled middle-class people such as these women and men to reside on the urban outskirts and ride into the city center for work, shopping, and entertainment. III. Beginnings of Urban Sprawl Urban growth centrifugal and centripetal Growth unplanned; guided by profit: little attention to parks, traffic, etc. Urban core = work zone with sprawl, cities separate: home and work rich and poor * IV. Urban Population Growth 1870: 10 million 1920: 54 million (540% increase) Some growth = annexing nearby areas Biggest factor: migration from countryside immigration from abroad Rural populace decline: hurt by low crop prices and high debts move for jobs and escape isolation * p. 520 Along with mass-produced consumer goods, such as clothing and household items, Sears, Roebuck and Company marketed architectural plans for middle-class housing. The “tiny house design,†published in one of the company’s catalogs, illustrates the layout and finished look of the kind of housing built on urban outskirts in the early twentieth century. IV. Urban Population Growth (cont.) 1,000s of rural African Americans migrate seeking opportunities: discrimination limit them to service jobs more openings for black women than men Many Hispanics in West migrate: take over unskilled jobs (construction) Most newcomers = immigrants: 26 million (1870–1920) most go to cities * V. Foreign Immigration: Immigrants the Children of Capitalism Some from Canada, Asia, Latin America Most immigrants from Europe Part of worldwide movement Causes: The Growth of world capitalism resulted in the emergence of a worldwide market for labor Lower entrance requirements in terms of capital ad skills Population pressure Land redistribution/Concentration Industrialization Religious persecution Communications and transportation revolution * * David Montgomery on Global Integration in the Late 19th Century “By the 1870s industrial society had generated distinct but interlocking geographic regions that were to remain essentially fixed until World War I. An industrial core, throbbing with manufacturing activity at continually rising levels, was roughly bounded by Chicago and St. Louis in the West; by Toronto, Glasgow, and Berlin in the North; by Warsaw, Lodz, and later Budapest (as rather isolated outposts) in the East, and by Milan, Barcelona, Richmond, and Louisville in the South. Surrounding that core, and indeed enveloping its urban outposts, lay the vast agricultural domain in which capitalist development shattered long established patterns of economic activity, without cultivating more than scattered pockets of extractive and processing industry. “ * p. 521 Fresh off the boat and wearing homeland clothing, immigrants pose for a photograph outside the federal immigration station at Ellis Island, offshore from New York City. Situated in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island immigration officials processed millions of newcomers such as these, asking them questions about their background and examining them for health problems. VI. The New Immigration Earlier, most European immigrants from northern and western Europe (Map 19.2) By 1900, shift to south and east Europe Greater diversity in language, religion, ethnicity, and customs to USA Foreign-born and native-born (foreign parents) = majority in many cities (Figure 19.1) Many native-born whites (old immigrant heritage) resent “new†immigrants * Encountering the Color Line in the Everyday: Italians in Interwar Chicago, Thomas A. Guglielmo “How exactly did these Italians come to believe so deeply in ‘their’ whiteness and their fundamental difference from blackness and, at other times, brownness and yellowness-especially given that these identities and categories held limited meaning (if any) prior to migration in Italy or during their early years of settlement in the United States? How did Italians come to believe that “their” whiteness gave them special access to neighborhoods, public housing projects, and even cooking classes? Since all social identities and boundaries must be learned, how exactly did this color learning take place? P. 46 Map 19-2, p. 523 Map 19.2: Sources of European-Born Population, 1900 and 1920. In just a few decades, the proportion of European immigrants to the United States who came from northern and western Europe decreased (Ireland and Germany) or remained relatively stable (England and Scandinavia), while the proportion from eastern and southern Europe increased dramatically. Rise of Manufacturing in Early 20th Century migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe: Establishment of Occupational beachheads: Garment, meatpacking, construction & transportation Group rather than individual movement Factories (sweatshops) in ethnic neighborhoods: Little Italy, Lower East Side etc. Worker solidarity –partly based on ethnic solidarity * Early 21st century: new economy New migrations from Caribbean, Asia and Africa (often irregular) Production jobs outsourced: Mexico, China, Brazil, Bangladesh, India, etc. New jobs in retailing, personal services, etc. Sub-contracting, casual work Fragmentation of ethnic solidarity Map 19-1, p. 519 Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. Map 19-1a, p. 519 Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. Map 19-1b, p. 519 Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. VII. Geographic and Social Mobility Newcomers cope by relying on family: pool resources, help with jobs Constant movement: within city or to another city Some find success; others keep moving White male occupational mobility exist: white-collar jobs small businesses Few rag-to-riches successes Most rich start with affluence * p. 522 The Caribbean as well as Europe sent immigrants to the United States. Hopeful that they were leaving their homeland of Guadeloupe for a better life, these women were perhaps unprepared for the disadvantages they faced as blacks, foreigners, and women. VII. Geographic and Social Mobility (cont.) Moderate advance for some white men, esp. native-born 20% of manual workers rise to non-manual work within 10 years Some downward mobility also occur Esp. owners of small businesses Little mobility: women Minorities * VII. Geographic and Social Mobility (cont.) Acquiring property difficult: loans = high interest with short repayment 36% of urban Americans own home (1900) Higher than most Western nations Gap between rich and poor widen Possibility of mobility = safety valve Relieve some tensions/frustrations * p. 525 Those who wished to Americanize immigrants believed that public schools could provide the best setting for assimilation. This 1917 poster from the Cleveland Board of Education and the Cleveland Americanization Committee used the languages most common to the new immigrants—Slovene, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, and Yiddish—as well as English, to invite newcomers to free classes where they could learn “the language of America†and “citizenship.†VIII. Cultural Retention and Change Peopling of cities = dynamic process Immigrants initially live in ethnic enclaves Try to preserve traditions Crowding/ movement force interaction In large cities, neighborhoods = multiethnic “urban borderlands†White New Immigrants suffer prejudice Less than blacks, Asians, Hispanics * IX. Racial Segregation and Violence White immigrants leave enclaves over time Not so for Afro-Americans because of racism Segregated black ghettos develop: churches central tension with surrounding whites race riots (Wilmington, Atlanta, East St. Louis) Asians suffer segregation, violence, and discrimination (e.g., Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882) Mexicans lose land: whites isolate them into barrios * THE GREAT BLACK MIGRATION FIRST (1815-1890)- NORTWESTERN EUROPE English, Irish, Germans, Scandinavian 15 million SECOND (1890-1914) SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE Russian, Jewish, Italian, Poles, Lithuanian, Turkish, Romanian 15 million THIRD (1914-Present) DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA, ASIA, AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST THREE GREAT MIGRATORY WAVES (1815-2010) * X. Cultural Adaptation Diverse resources and orientations led to various rates of attainment and participation Immigrants try to keep native language: but learn English at school, at work Kinship the core component of immigrant groups Music reflect cultural interaction Religiously, USA increase diversity More Catholics, Jews, etc. Some Catholics and Jews accommodate Others resist: Conservative vs. Reform Judaism * XI. Living Conditions in Inner City Massive influx = immense problems: Overcrowding, disease, poverty Some improvement overtime Many problems remain Biggest problem = lack of housing High rents force 2–3 families to share 1-family tenement apartments (esp. NYC) Tiny rooms lack windows, water, safe heat Result = disease, vermin, filth * p. 529 Inner-city dwellers used not only indoor space as efficiently as possible, but also what little outdoor space was available to them. Scores of families living in this cramped block of six-story tenements in New York strung clotheslines behind the buildings. Notice that there is virtually no space between buildings—only rooms at the front and back received daylight and fresh air. XII. Housing Reform; New Home Technology NY regulate new buildings; not existing structures Jacob (Walter) Riis and Veiller advocate model tenements Even reformers reject public housing New systems of heat, light, and plumbing benefit upper and middle classes first Slowly others gain access to gas, electricity, water Rich create new private spaces in home * Jacob (Walter) Riis, 1849-1914 A ‘muckraking journalist’ – serve the public interest by exposing issues of corruption and unsanitary conditions Identified that the printed word alone was not sufficient to provoke a reaction Photography that has the direct motive to bring about positive social change Raising awareness Awaking consciousness of society Photographs are direct and penetrating, will impact the viewer and their lives Photographs employed as evidence ‘It was a loosing fight until conscious joined forces with fear and self-interest against it.’ Works by Riis, 1849-1914 1890- ‘How The Other Half Lives’ 1892- ‘The Children of the Poor’ Sequel to ‘How the Other Half Lives’ 1902- ‘Battle With The Slum’ Greater focus on the tenements ‘Either we wipe out the slum, or it wipes out us.’ 1919 – ‘Neighbors: Life Stories of the Other Half’ Published After Riis died XIII. Sanitation, Construction; Urban Poverty because of germ theory, cities improve water and sewer systems Street paving, steel-frame construction, elevators, and steam-heat improve cities Still, many working families poor: seasonal nature of work boom/bust cycles Americans debate whether to help poor * p. 531 This scene, captured by a Philadelphia photographer sent to record the extent of trash that was littering city streets and sidewalks, illustrates the problems of disposal confronting inner-city, immigrant neighborhoods and the necessity for some form of public service to remove the refuse. Seemingly oblivious to the debris, the residents pose for the photographer. p. 532 (top) As the human and horse populations of cities grew, garbage, litter, and manure became nagging inconveniences and health hazards. In 1868, street sweepers, hired to clean the streets, often consisted of crews hired by political bosses and were required to report to a supervisor for morning roll call. (bottom) By the early 1900s, the profession of sanitary engineer became an important one to the urban environment. XIV. Poverty Relief Traditional belief: poor = lazy and immoral aid create dependence Some reformers argue urban environment contribute: advocate government action (safety and health laws) origins of later Progressive movement In late 1800s, most wealthy reject reform * XV. Crime and Violence Homicides and other crimes (theft) increase More reporting may explain growth Nativists blame immigrants But native-born also participate * XVI. Managing the City Governments slowly address problems Many city governments lack organization Clean water/ waste disposal = urgent: lack causes disease (yellow fever, typhoid) Engineers: purify water with filters and chlorine improve: waste disposal street cleaning and lighting construction and fire protection * XVII. Law Enforcement Professional police develop, post-1850 Police often exhibit: poor training corruption ethnic/racial prejudice Different groups want different kinds of law enforcement Esp. customer-oriented crimes * XVIII. Political Machines Arise from confusion of politics Seek office for rewards (bribery, graft) Also help urban newcomers Machines: organizations with popular base Boss = professional politician: often an immigrant broker diverse interest groups for votes, help with jobs, food, law, etc. * XVIII. Political Machines (cont.) NYC’s Tammany Hall mix personal gain with public accomplishments: profit from control of contracts and jobs construct vital public works Bribes and kickbacks inflate costs Also profit from illegal actions (gambling) Like business leaders, bosses: use politics for self-interest reflect racial/ethnic bias * Tammany Hall, 1786-1932 ? Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary public welfare system. The patronage Tammany Hall provided to immigrants, many of whom lived in extreme poverty and received little government assistance: food, coal, rent money or a job. Served as a social integrator for immigrants by familiarizing them with American society and its political institutions and by helping them become naturalized citizens. XIX. Civic Reform Middle/upper class oppose bosses: upset by corruption and taxes Claim experts (city managers and city commissions) = efficient government Little success against bosses Not realize urbanities loyal to boss because boss help with problems A few reform mayors address poverty: Detroit’s Pingree * XX. Social Reform Young, middle class, often female Try to help newcomers: with problems (housing) and Americanize them (ed) Settlement houses: Jane Addams and Hull House Advocate government action Vanguard of later Progressive reform * Hull House, 1885 First Social Settlement in Chicago Classes in literature, history, art, domestic activities (such as sewing), and many other subjects. Volunteers acted as midwives, saved babies from neglect, prepared the dead for burial, nursed the sick, and sheltered domestic violence victims. First Social Settlement with men and women “residents†First public baths in Chicago First public playground in Chicago Hull House, 1885 First gymnasium for the public in Chicago First little theater in the United States First citizenship preparation classes First public kitchen in Chicago First college extension courses in Chicago First free art exhibits in Chicago At the state level Hull House influenced legislation on child labor laws, occupational safety and health provisions, compulsory education, immigrant rights, and pension laws XXI. The City Beautiful Movement Architects try to make cities attractive and efficient Parks, wider streets Displace poor in process Reformers seek to improve cities, but Display naiveté and insensitivity * p. 536 As cities grew and became increasingly congested, children in immigrant and working-class neighborhoods used streets and sidewalks as play sites. Activities of youngsters such as these, playing unsupervised in front of a Polish saloon, prompted adults to create playgrounds, clubs, and other places where they could protect children’s safety and innocence and where they could ensure that play would be orderly and obedient. XXII. Family Life Family remain primary social unit Help members with urban-industrial problems Most households = nuclear family Family size shrink with declining birth rate Stages of life (youth, parenthood, old age) become more distinct Number of unmarried people increase Boarding = common practice Holidays stress family (Mother’s Day, 1914) * p. 537 Amusement centers, such as Luna Park at Coney Island in New York City, became common and appealing features of the new leisure culture. One of the most popular Coney Island attractions was a ride called Shooting the Chutes, which resembled modern-day giant water slides. In 1904, Luna Park staged an outrageous stunt of an elephant sliding down the chute. The creature survived, apparently unfazed. XXIII. The New Leisure and Mass Culture Leisure time expand; become big business Sports: baseball and football for men; women’s basketball; croquet and cycling for both Popular drama, musical comedy, vaudeville: provide escape reinforce bias Movies, newspapers, magazines = profitable Comstock try to stamp out “indecency†Mass culture, but USA still pluralistic * p. 540 Eva Tanguay was one of the most popular vaudeville performers of her era. A buxom singer who billed herself as “the girl who made vaudeville famous,†Tanguay dressed in elaborate costumes and sang suggestive songs, many of which were written just for her and epitomized her carefree style. p. 541 Dick Merriwell and his brother, Frank, were fictional heroes of hundreds of stories written in the early 1900s by Burt Standish (the pen name used by Gilbert Patten). In a series of adventures, mostly involving sports, these popular character models used their physical skills, valor, and moral virtue to lead by example, accomplish the impossible, and influence others to behave in an upstanding way. Summary: Discuss Links to the World and Legacy Link of USA and Japan via sports? Baseball differences between Japan and USA? As with urban USA, new links, yet diversity Children and mass-produced toys as legacy? Changing concepts of childhood? Gender roles? Links between toys and advertising/ mass media? * p. 538 Replete with bats, gloves, and uniforms, this Japanese baseball team of 1890 very much resembles its American counterpart of that era. The Japanese adopted baseball soon after Americans became involved in their country but also added their cultural qualities to the game. * * “Houdini’s Escape Act.†High above Broadway and 46th Street in New York City, Harry Houdini, the world-famous immigrant-American escape artist, hangs upside down while bound in a straitjacket. Crowds watch breathlessly, wondering whether or how he will free himself. New people, bustling cities, mass entertainment, and the quest for freedom symbolized by Houdini’s act characterized American society at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. * * Electric trolley cars and other forms of mass transit enabled middle-class people such as these women and men to reside on the urban outskirts and ride into the city center for work, shopping, and entertainment. * * Along with mass-produced consumer goods, such as clothing and household items, Sears, Roebuck and Company marketed architectural plans for middle-class housing. The “tiny house design,†published in one of the company’s catalogs, illustrates the layout and finished look of the kind of housing built on urban outskirts in the early twentieth century. * * * * Fresh off the boat and wearing homeland clothing, immigrants pose for a photograph outside the federal immigration station at Ellis Island, offshore from New York City. Situated in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island immigration officials processed millions of newcomers such as these, asking them questions about their background and examining them for health problems. * Map 19.2: Sources of European-Born Population, 1900 and 1920. In just a few decades, the proportion of European immigrants to the United States who came from northern and western Europe decreased (Ireland and Germany) or remained relatively stable (England and Scandinavia), while the proportion from eastern and southern Europe increased dramatically. * Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. Map 19.1: Urbanization, 1880 and 1920. In 1880, the vast majority of states were still heavily rural. By 1920, only a few had less than 20 percent of their population living in cities. * The Caribbean as well as Europe sent immigrants to the United States. Hopeful that they were leaving their homeland of Guadeloupe for a better life, these women were perhaps unprepared for the disadvantages they faced as blacks, foreigners, and women. * * Those who wished to Americanize immigrants believed that public schools could provide the best setting for assimilation. This 1917 poster from the Cleveland Board of Education and the Cleveland Americanization Committee used the languages most common to the new immigrants—Slovene, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, and Yiddish—as well as English, to invite newcomers to free classes where they could learn “the language of America†and “citizenship.†* * * * * Inner-city dwellers used not only indoor space as efficiently as possible, but also what little outdoor space was available to them. Scores of families living in this cramped block of six-story tenements in New York strung clotheslines behind the buildings. Notice that there is virtually no space between buildings—only rooms at the front and back received daylight and fresh air. * * This scene, captured by a Philadelphia photographer sent to record the extent of trash that was littering city streets and sidewalks, illustrates the problems of disposal confronting inner-city, immigrant neighborhoods and the necessity for some form of public service to remove the refuse. Seemingly oblivious to the debris, the residents pose for the photographer. (top) As the human and horse populations of cities grew, garbage, litter, and manure became nagging inconveniences and health hazards. In 1868, street sweepers, hired to clean the streets, often consisted of crews hired by political bosses and were required to report to a supervisor for morning roll call. (bottom) By the early 1900s, the profession of sanitary engineer became an important one to the urban environment. * * * * * * * * * As cities grew and became increasingly congested, children in immigrant and working-class neighborhoods used streets and sidewalks as play sites. Activities of youngsters such as these, playing unsupervised in front of a Polish saloon, prompted adults to create playgrounds, clubs, and other places where they could protect children’s safety and innocence and where they could ensure that play would be orderly and obedient. * Amusement centers, such as Luna Park at Coney Island in New York City, became common and appealing features of the new leisure culture. One of the most popular Coney Island attractions was a ride called Shooting the Chutes, which resembled modern-day giant water slides. In 1904, Luna Park staged an outrageous stunt of an elephant sliding down the chute. The creature survived, apparently unfazed. * Eva Tanguay was one of the most popular vaudeville performers of her era. A buxom singer who billed herself as “the girl who made vaudeville famous,†Tanguay dressed in elaborate costumes and sang suggestive songs, many of which were written just for her and epitomized her carefree style. Dick Merriwell and his brother, Frank, were fictional heroes of hundreds of stories written in the early 1900s by Burt Standish (the pen name used by Gilbert Patten). In a series of adventures, mostly involving sports, these popular character models used their physical skills, valor, and moral virtue to lead by example, accomplish the impossible, and influence others to behave in an upstanding way. * Replete with bats, gloves, and uniforms, this Japanese baseball team of 1890 very much resembles its American counterpart of that era. The Japanese adopted baseball soon after Americans became involved in their country but also added their cultural qualities to the game. |