2.1 Urban American and Popular Culture

Skyscraper

Skyscraper

Made possible by steel girders, it allowed buildings to exceed the previous height limit of 10 to 12 stories, revolutionizing urban architecture.

Urbanization

The process of population growth and migration from rural areas to cities, leading to the rapid expansion of urban centers like New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Mass Transit Systems

Elevated and subterranean railroads (the "el" and the "subway") that facilitated transportation between different urban districts and connected cities to suburbs.

Ethnic Neighborhoods

Communities within cities where people of similar ethnic backgrounds lived and worked together, fostering cultural preservation and mutual support.

Frontier Thesis

Proposed by Frederick Jackson Turner, it argued that the frontier shaped American character through Western expansion, influencing values of hard work and independence.

Vice Districts

Areas within cities where illicit activities like prostitution and gambling were concentrated, often tolerated by authorities in exchange for bribes.

Settlement Houses

Institutions like Hull House founded by Jane Addams, providing social services, education, and healthcare to urban poor and immigrants during the Progressive Era.

Locust Street Settlement House

Founded by Janie Porter Barrett in 1890, the first settlement house for African Americans, affiliated with historically black colleges like Hampton University.

National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC)

Formed in 1896, local chapters provided social services in the black community, including orphanages, health clinics, and schools, before the merger.

Mail-Order Houses

Companies like Sears marketed products through catalogs, expanding consumer options to isolated areas and shaping consumer expectations.

Marketing

By the turn of the century, marketing became a $100-million-per-year industry, creating desire for products through various advertising methods.

Rise of Professional Sports

Spectator sports evolved into big business, with boxing and baseball gaining popularity, while the color line in sports was challenged.

Jim Thorpe

A Native American athlete who excelled in baseball, football, and the decathlon, facing challenges due to the ban on professional athletes in the Olympics.

College Sports

College football grew in popularity, with the introduction of the forward pass reducing injuries, and the emergence of college basketball by James Naismith.

Tin Pan Alley

A neighborhood in New York City known for music composition, where ragtime, a blend of black spirituals and Euro-American folk music, originated.

Ragtime

A genre of music blending black spirituals and Euro-American folk music, popularized by Scott Joplin and contributing to the birth of jazz music.

Theater Troupes

Groups of actors who performed multiple shows per day in various towns, showcasing a range of performances from classical Shakespeare to vaudeville-type variety shows.

Vaudeville Show

A form of entertainment including songs, dance, slapstick comedy, and a chorus line of dancing women, becoming more risqué as the evening progressed to attract larger audiences.

Melodrama

An exaggerated style of morality play popular during this time, featuring dastardly villains, distressed damsels, and heroic men upholding Victorian standards of thought.

Traveling Circus

Larger-than-life live performances, such as P. T. Barnum's circus, known for delivering extravagant shows and entertainment.

Wild West Show

An exhibition by William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, showcasing horsemanship, sharpshooting, and rodeo skills, with a main attraction being the dramatized "Indian attacks" on settlers, offering a simplified version of Western history.