American YAWP Chapter 18 Reading Check

Thomas Edison

An American inventor who developed important technologies such as the phonograph, motion pictures, and a practical electric light bulb, helping drive industrial innovation.

Menlo Park

Edison's research laboratory in New Jersey, often called the first industrial research lab, where teams of scientists worked on new inventions.

Second Industrial Revolution

The period from roughly 1870-1900 marked by rapid industrial growth, mass production, new technologies (electricity, steel), and the rise of large corporations.

Chain migration

A process in which immigrants followed family or community members to the United States, creating ethnic neighborhoods and support networks.

Machine politics

A political system where party organizations (machines) controlled votes and government through patronage, favors, and sometimes corruption.

Tammany Hall

A powerful Democratic political machine in New York City that controlled local politics by trading jobs and services for votes, especially from immigrants.

William "Boss" Tweed

The corrupt leader of Tammany Hall in the 1860s-70s who embezzled millions of dollars from New York City.

"New South"

A post-Civil War vision promoted by southern leaders calling for industrialization, modernization, and economic growth while often maintaining white supremacy.

Jim Crow

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the South after Reconstruction.

Lynching

The extrajudicial killing of individuals, most often African American men, used as a tool of racial terror and white supremacy.

Rebecca Latimer Felton

A southern reformer and writer who supported women's rights but also promoted white supremacy and defended lynching.

Ida B. Wells

An African American journalist and activist who led a national anti-lynching campaign and exposed the false justifications for racial violence.

Dyer Bill

A proposed federal anti-lynching law in the 1920s that passed the House but was blocked by southern senators.

Red Shirts

White supremacist paramilitary groups in the South that used violence and intimidation to suppress Black voters during Reconstruction.

Poll taxes

Fees required to vote, used to disenfranchise African Americans and poor whites.

Literacy tests

Tests required to vote that were designed and administered to prevent African Americans from voting.

"The Lost Cause"

A Southern ideology that romanticized the Confederacy, portrayed slavery as benign, and justified segregation and white supremacy.

Birth of a Nation

A 1915 silent film that glorified the Ku Klux Klan and promoted racist stereotypes, reinforcing Lost Cause ideology.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie's belief that wealthy individuals had a moral responsibility to use their riches to benefit society through philanthropy.

Jane Addams

A social reformer and founder of Hull House, a settlement house that provided services to immigrants and the urban poor.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A feminist writer and social critic who argued that women's economic independence was essential to equality.

Muscular Christianity

A movement that promoted physical fitness, sports, and masculinity as part of Christian moral development.

Vaudeville

A popular form of entertainment featuring comedy, music, dance, and variety acts, enjoyed by diverse urban audiences.