Gilded Age Immigration, Urbanization, and Cultural Movements

Push Factors

Negative conditions in a person's home country that force them to leave.

Pull Factors

Opportunities and advantages that attract immigrants to a new country.

Old Immigrants

People who came to the United States mainly before 1880, primarily from Northern and Western Europe.

New Immigrants

Those who arrived after 1880, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

A federal law that prohibited Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States.

Streetcar Suburbs

Residential neighborhoods that developed on the outskirts of cities due to the expansion of electric streetcar lines.

Tenement Apartments

Poorly built, overcrowded housing structures in urban areas where many immigrant and working-class families lived.

Dumbbell Tenements

A specific type of tenement design with a shape resembling a dumbbell, intended for better ventilation.

Ethnic Neighborhoods

Urban areas where immigrants from the same country or cultural background settled together.

Statue of Liberty

A powerful symbol of freedom and opportunity for immigrants arriving in the United States.

Poverty

A push factor that many immigrants faced in their home countries during the late 1800s.

Unemployment

A push factor that contributed to immigrants leaving their home countries.

Land Shortages

A push factor that forced many immigrants to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Crop Failures

A push factor that led to many immigrants leaving their home countries.

Religious Persecution

A push factor that caused individuals to flee their home countries, particularly affecting Jews in Eastern Europe.

Political Instability

A push factor that drove many immigrants to seek a more stable life in other countries.

Overcrowding

A push factor in certain European regions that contributed to immigration.

Industrialization

A factor that disrupted traditional farming and artisan jobs, pushing people to emigrate.

Military Conscription

A push factor that led some individuals to flee their home countries.

Nativism

A sentiment that contributed to discrimination against new immigrants.

Urban Areas

Locations where many new immigrants settled, often in crowded conditions.

Cultural Differences

A challenge faced by new immigrants, often leading to discrimination.

Labor Unrest

A social issue that new immigrants were frequently blamed for.

Naturalization

The process that Chinese immigrants were prevented from achieving due to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Suburbanization

The early stages of city expansion marked by the development of streetcar suburbs.

Health Hazards

Conditions prevalent in tenement apartments due to overcrowding and poor sanitation.

Assimilation

The process that ethnic neighborhoods sometimes slowed down for immigrants.

American Protective Association (APA)

A nativist organization founded in the 1890s that strongly opposed immigration, especially from Catholic countries.

Contract Labor Law of 1885 (Foran Act)

Made it illegal for companies or individuals to pay for immigrants to come to the United States under prearranged work contracts.

Ellis Island

The main immigration processing center in New York Harbor from 1892 to 1954 where millions of immigrants underwent medical inspections and legal questioning.

Political Machines

Organized groups that controlled local politics in many cities during the Gilded Age by offering services in exchange for votes.

Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall

Boss William 'Boss' Tweed was the leader of Tammany Hall, a powerful Democratic political machine in New York City known for corruption.

Jane Addams

A social reformer who worked to improve conditions for the urban poor and immigrants, helping to start the settlement house movement.

Settlement Houses

Community centers established in poor urban neighborhoods to help immigrants and the working class adjust to American life.

Melting Pot

A metaphor describing the idea that people from different cultures blend together to form a single American identity.

Popular Culture in the Gilded Age

Expanded due to industrial workers having higher wages and more leisure time, leading to commercial entertainment aimed at mass audiences.

Growth of the Middle Class

Created by the growth of industry, consisting of white-collar workers who valued education, respectability, and home life.

Expansion of Education

Significantly increased during the Gilded Age with compulsory attendance laws and the growth of public schools.

Vaudeville Shows

Entertainment that offered comedy, music, and skits, becoming popular during the Gilded Age.

Spectator Sports

Activities like baseball and boxing that became national pastimes during the Gilded Age.

Amusement Parks

Places like Coney Island that drew huge crowds during the Gilded Age.

Dime Novels

Cheap adventure stories that became popular during the Gilded Age.

Mass-Circulation Newspapers

Grew under publishers like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst during the Gilded Age.

P.T. Barnum

A figure who helped turn entertainment into big business during the Gilded Age.

Vocational Education

Education promoted by Washington at the Tuskegee Institute to provide job skills for African Americans.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Argued that higher education was necessary to develop leaders who could fight for civil rights.

Scientific Thinking

Scientific discoveries and new philosophies shaped how Americans understood society.

Social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer's idea that competition and 'survival of the fittest' explained social and economic inequality.

Pragmatism

Philosophy promoted by William James, suggesting that ideas should be judged by their practical results.

Realism in Literature

Writers and artists focused on realistic portrayals of everyday life, moving away from romantic styles.

Mark Twain

Realist author who used humor and regional settings to criticize society, as seen in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Naturalism in Literature

Emphasized how environment, poverty, and social conditions shaped people's lives.

Stephen Crane

Naturalist writer who portrayed harsh urban realities and how they affected individuals.

Overall Cultural Changes of the Gilded Age

Industrialization transformed American culture by increasing leisure time, expanding education, and growing the middle class.

Reform Movements in the Late 1800s

Focused on solving problems caused by industrialization, urban poverty, and political corruption.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious-based reform movement encouraging Christians to address social problems like poverty and inequality.

Hull House

Famous settlement house founded by Jane Addams in Chicago, providing education and social services.

Labor Reform Efforts

Focused on improving working conditions, shortening hours, and ending child labor.

Labor Unions

Organized strikes and protests to demand higher wages and better treatment for workers.

Realism in Art

Cultural movement where artists focused on accurately portraying everyday life.

Naturalism

A more intense form of realism emphasizing how environment and social conditions shape lives.

Louis Sullivan

Architect known as the 'father of the skyscraper' who promoted functional building design.

Architecture of the Gilded Age

Reflected wealth and new technology, allowing for the construction of skyscrapers.

Key Writers and Cultural Figures

Writers like Mark Twain and Stephen Crane shaped cultural life, promoting realism and modern thinking.

William James

Promoted pragmatism, arguing that ideas should be judged by their practical effects.