Chapter 21: A New Urban Culture, 1865–1914

A New Urban Culture, 1865–1914

4 Push Factors for Immigration

1. Scarce farmland: Farm families could barely support themselves. Loss of farm jobs due to machines.

2. Political or religious persecution: Pogroms, organized attacks on Jewish villages occurred in Russia and Armenian Christians were persecuted in the Ottoman Empire.

3. Political instability: A revolution in Mexico caused thousands of Mexicans to flee.

4. Poverty and hard lives

3 Pull Factors for Immigration

1. Industrial jobs(the strongest factor): Factories hired workers in Europe and Asia. Steamship companies offered special fares and railroads advertised cheap land.

2. Family or friends already settled in the United States

3. Promise of freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights—freedom from arrest without a cause and freedom of religion

Receiving Stations

Where immigrants arrived, often after enduring a hard trip across the ocean.

Immigrants undergo a medical inspection and those who appear unhealthy are sent back.

Many European immigrants arrived at Ellis Island in NY and many Asian immigrants arrived at Angel Island in CA.

Nativism

Even before the Civil War, nativists tried to limit immigration and preserve the country for native-born white Protestants, arguing that immigrants didn’t fit in American culture.

Immigrants were resented by workers for working for low pay and were feared because they were different.

They targeted Jews and Italians in the Northeast, Mexicans in the Southwest, and Asians on the Pacific Coast.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Barred Chinese laborers from entering the country

The first law to exclude a specific nationality from immigrating

The American Protective Association (1887)

Formed by the nativists aiming to restrict immigration.

As industry grew…

There were more jobs, in steel mills, garment factories as well as stores, restaurants, and banks.

Urbanization

The movement of populations from farms to cities, began in the early 1800s.

• In-migrants and immigrants increased city populations.

• Fewer people went west to homestead and instead moved to cities in hopes of finding a better life.

• Many Africans moved north, to cities, to escape prejudice and violence in the South.

Tenements

Tall buildings divided into small apartments that often didn’t have windows, heat, or bathrooms. Fire and diseases were also a problem.

The poor lived in these tenements while the rich lived in mansions on the outskirts of cities.

City Reform

By the late 1880s, reformers were pressing city governments for change.

• Building codes set standards for construction and safety such as fire escapes and decent plumbing.

• Cities hired workers to collect garbage and sweep streets

• Factories were prohibited in neighborhoods where people lived

• Fire companies and police forces were set up

• Engineers and architects were hired to design new water systems

  • Street lighting made streets less dangerous at night

Religious Organizations

The Catholic Church helped Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants. Mother Cabrini was a nun who helped found dozens of hospitals.

Protestant ministers began preaching a new Social Gospel that called on wealthy members to do their duty as Christians by helping the poor.

The Salvation Army spread Christian teachings and offered food and shelter to the poor.

The Young Men’s Hebrew Association provided social activities, encouraged citizenship and helped Jewish families preserve their culture.

Settlement Houses

Community centers that offered services to the poor, such as classes, daycare and recreational activities, and helped immigrants acculturate.

Jane Addams opened the first settlement house, the Hull House, in Chicago. By 1900, about 100 of these centers had opened in cities across the US.

Settlement house workers like Alice Hamilton, Florence Kelley, and Jane Addams, pressed for reforms—better health laws, a ban on child labor, and women’s suffrage.

Skyscrapers

Tall buildings with many floors supported by a lightweight steel frame.

The new electric elevators carried people to upper floors.

The building boom increased traffic.

Traffic and Transportation

As traffic in cities increased, streetcars, or trolleys, moved people around town quickly and cleanly.

Trolley lines carrying people to the outskirts of a city contributed to the creation of the suburbs, residential areas at the outskirts.

James B. Heads built the Brooklyn Bridge across the Mississippi River, connecting Manhattan Island and Brooklyn.

Parks and Shopping

Parks and zoos were built to help calm busy city dwellers.

Frederick Law Olmsted planned Central Park in NYC.

Shopping changed as the new department stores offered all kinds of goods in the same store.

Entertainment: Sports and Music

Provided an escape from the pressures of work.

Baseball was the most popular sport. Football grew out of European soccer. Basketball was invented as an indoor sport.

Thomas Edison’s phonograph sparked a new industry of popular music.

The vaudeville was a popular variety show that included comedians, songs, dance and acrobats.

Ragtime, a new kind of music with a lively, rhythmic sound, and marching bands became popular.

Public Education

With industry, the nation needed a more educated workforce.

States improved public schools, which taught English to young immigrants. Compulsory education laws required children to attend school.

New public high schools and private colleges for men and women opened.

Higher learning became more accessible and literacy increased.

Catholics opened their own church-sponsored parochial schools.

Newspapers and Magazines

Newspapers grew as literacy increased and people read more.

Many immigrants learned to read English by reading the newspaper.

Joseph Pulitzer created the first modern, mass-circulation newspaper: the New York World. William Randolph Hearst challenged Pulitzer with his paper, the New York Journal. The sensational reporting style of the World and the Journal were coined “yellow journalism”.

Few women worked as reporters. Nellie Bly wrote about cruelty in mental hospitals.

Dime novels were low-priced paperbacks that offered thrilling adventure stories.

Realists

Writers and artists who tried to show the harsh side of life realistically. They tried to spread awareness about the costs of urbanization and industrial growth.

Stephan Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Jack London, Kate Chopin, Paul Laurence Dunbar(the first African American to make a living as a writer), Mark Twain(the most famous and popular author of this period)’s Huckleberry Finn.

Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins’ anatomy drawings, Henry Tanner’s pictures of black sharecroppers, James Whistler, Mary Cassatt