Pop Culture, Immigration, Urbanization, Political Machines

Immigration

Movement of individuals into a population. Caused by push and pull factors.

Popular Culture

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits (music/ entertainment/ clothing) despite differences in other personal characteristics (race/ethnicity/language of origin/ religion).

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Political Machines

Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party. In return, machines frequently helped bring order and necessities to large cities, but frequently took bribes, excessive government contracts, etc.

Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants

Old: Northern European (English, Germans, Irish Catholics), assimilated easier, high skill level, often spoke English

New: South/Eastern, wouldn't assimilate, close- knit community, uneducated, poor, unskilled laborers

ethnic enclave

cluster of a particular ethnic population within a broader society, usually recent immigrants who came of age in their country of origin.

Steerage

A large open area beneath a ship's deck, often used to house traveling immigrants

Ellis Island and Angel Island

the two immigration points into the US from overseas

Chinese Exclusion Act

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones. The US has had various instances of nativism throughout its history.

Workingman's Party of California

worked to stop Chinese immigration

American Protective Association

Nativist organization that attacked "New Immigrants" and Roman Catholicism in the 1880s and 1890s.

skyscraper

a very tall building with many stories. Made possible by steel construction and elevators.

Elevators

proved valuable as cities came to depend on the construction of taller buildings to accommodate growth in business and populations

socioeconomic status

SES; status in society based on level of education, income, and occupational prestige

tenements

Poorly built, overcrowded housing where many immigrants lived

Urban issues during Gilded Age

-Increased Crime/ Violence

-Terrible housing conditions (tenements)

-Unclean water and poor sanitation

-Little protection from fire hazards (think about the Triangle Shirtwaist tragedy).

party boss

a leader in a political party who controls votes and dictates appointments

graft, fraud

Bribes and corruption paid to and stolen by party bosses and political machines in the inner cities.

Tammany Hall

a political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800's and early 1900's) seeking political control by corruption and bossism

Boss Tweed

William Tweed, head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868. Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost $3million. Project cost tax payers $13million.

Social Darwinism

The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for imperialist expansion or social policies aimed at "undesirable" groups.

Horatio Alger

Popular novelist during the Industrial Revolution who wrote "rags to riches" books praising the values of hard work

saloon

a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter

Coney Island

New York Island, contained amusement parks and served as center of entertainment

Vaudeville

A type of inexpensive variety show that first appeared in the 1870s, often consisting of comic sketches, song-and-dance routines, and magic acts

Minstrelsy

Popular theatrical entertainment begun around 1830, in which white actors in blackface presented comic routines that combined racist caricature and social criticism.

Jim Crow

Popular blackface minstrel character of the mid to late 1800s.

Ragtime

type of music that blended African-American songs and European musical forms

Stephen Foster

Composer of popular minstrel show tunes such as Oh, Susanna, and My Old Kentucky Home.

Scott Joplin

United States composer who was the first creator of ragtime to write down his compositions (1868-1917)

liesure time

urban: movies, radio, phonograph, sports game

rural: games, read, sing, picnics

Jacob Riis

A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.