Untitled Flashcard Set

American Dream — The belief that anyone can improve their life through hard work, opportunity, and economic success.

Minstrel Shows — 19th-century entertainment where mostly white performers portrayed Black people using racist stereotypes.

Penny Papers — Cheap newspapers that cost about one cent and made news available to working- and middle-class Americans.

P.T. Barnum — Famous showman and promoter known for spectacles, entertainment, and his circus.

Victorianism — Cultural values emphasizing morality, respectability, modesty, and proper social behavior.

Separate Spheres — The belief that men belonged in the public world of work and politics while women belonged in the private world of home and family.

Cult of True Womanhood — The belief that women should be religious, pure, submissive, and focused on the home and family.

Godey’s Lady’s Book — Popular 19th-century women's magazine that promoted fashion, domestic life, morality, and traditional women's roles.

Seneca Falls Convention — 1848 women's rights convention that produced the Declaration of Sentiments and called for greater rights for women.

New Woman — A woman who challenged traditional gender roles by pursuing education, careers, independence, sports, and political involvement.

Buffalo Bill Cody — Showman who created Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, which presented a popular version of the American West.

Teddy Roosevelt — Progressive Era president associated with the Square Deal, conservation, trust regulation, and the Strenuous Life.

Baseball — Sport that became increasingly popular, organized, and commercialized in the late 19th century.

Football — College sport that became popular in the late 19th century but was known for being rough and dangerous.

Careful Primitivism — The idea of using controlled physical activities and outdoor recreation to promote health and a return to a simpler, more natural lifestyle.

Strenuous Life — Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that Americans should live actively, work hard, show courage, and participate in physically demanding activities.

Coney Island — New York entertainment destination that developed through three phases: resort, amusement area, and major mass entertainment destination.

Progressives — Reformers who wanted to fix problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, political corruption, and inequality.

Muckrakers — Journalists who investigated and exposed corruption, poverty, unsafe conditions, and abuses by businesses and government.

Jacob Riis — Journalist and photographer who exposed poor living conditions in New York City tenements through How the Other Half Lives.

James Naismith — Physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891.

Phonograph — Early device used to record and play back sound; associated with Thomas Edison.

Jane Addams — Progressive reformer who helped immigrants and the urban poor and co-founded Hull House.

Hull House — Settlement house in Chicago founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr that provided education, social services, and assistance to immigrants and poor residents.

Nickelodeon — Early movie theater where admission usually cost five cents, making movies accessible to working-class audiences.

Blues — African American musical genre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in the American South.