Toward An Urban Society, 1877–1900

1. 19 Toward An Urban Society, 1877–1900

2. The Lure of the City • City becomes a symbol of the new America between 1870–1900 – causes big changes along with industrialization • Explosive urban growth • Sources included immigration, movement from countryside • Six cities over 500,000 by 1900

3. Skyscrapers and Suburbs • Steel and glass permit construction of skyscrapers • Streetcars allow growth of suburbs • Streetcar cities allow more fragmented and stratified city • Middle-class residential rings surrounding business and working-class core

4. Tenements and theProblems of Overcrowding • Tenements house working class and are overcrowded • How the Other Way Lives – Jacob Riis • Tenement problems: • Overcrowding • Inadequate sanitation • Poor ventilation • Polluted water

5. Tenements and theProblems of Overcrowding • Urban problems: • Poor public health – home care was common treatment for illness • Juvenile crime

6. Strangers in a New Land • Most immigrants young unskilled males and settled along Eastern coast • Most immigrants moved for economic reasons and often knew someone in the United States • By 1900, most urban dwellers foreign-born or children of immigrants – e.g., by 1890, 80% of New York residents were foreign-born

7. Strangers in a New Land • 1880s: Eastern, southern Europeans called “new immigrants”prompt resurgent nativism (Italy, Greece, Austria-Hungary,Poland, Turkey, Russia) • Nativist organizations try to limit immigration e.g., demand literacy test for “new immigrants” • Society worried that new immigrants could not assimilate

8. Immigration to the United States, 1870–1900

9. Immigrants and the City:Families and Ethnic Identity • Immigrants marry within own ethnic groups • More children born to immigrants than to native-born Americans • Immigrant associations: • Preserve old country language and customs • Aid the process of adjustment

10. Immigrants and the City:Families and Ethnic Identity • Immigrants establish religious, educational institutions, media which preserve cultural traditions • Immigrants cling to customs of native countries

11. The House That Tweed Built • Cities have urban party machines headed by “bosses” • Some bosses notoriously corrupt, most famous political machine was Tammany Hall headed up by William Tweed (Boss Tweed) of New York City • Most trade services for votes • Little regard for political rules • Urban “bosses” – consequence of urban growth

12. The House That Tweed Built • Why bosses stayed in power: • Good organizational skill • Helped immigrants • Most bosses improve conditions in cities while helping themselves

13. Social and Cultural Change 1877–1900 • End of Reconstruction marks shift of attention to new concerns • Population growth • 1877: 47 million • 1900: 76 million • 1900: population more diverse • Urbanization, industrialization changing all aspects of American life

14. Urban and Rural Population, 1870–1900 (in millions)

15. Changes in Family Life • Urbanization, industrialization alter family • Poor medical care, usually home care – many medical developments but not in area of tuberculosis, typhoid and diphtheria • Suburban commute takes fathers from middle-class homes • Domesticity encouraged, women house-bound • White middle-class birth rates decline

16. Educating the Masses • Trend is toward universal education: By 1900, 31 states and territories had compulsory education laws • Purpose of public education was to train people for life and work in industrial society • Education stressed discipline and routine

17. Educating the Masses • Teaching unimaginative, learning passive, Webster’s Spellers and McGuffey’s Readers – stress discipline and routine • Segregation, poverty compound problems of Southern education • 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson allows “separate but equal” schools (dual schools in south) • Few southern states had compulsory school attendance laws – north did

18. Higher Education • Colleges and universities flourish • Colleges stress the practical application of education • Greater emphasis on professions, research • More women achieve college education

19. Higher Education:African Americans • African Americans face different views toward progress • Booker T. Washington believed that self-help was best plan for African Americans • Concentrate on practical education – he started Tuskegee Institute in Alabama • W.E.B. DuBois: Demanded equality and believed education was the key to success

20. The Stirrings of Reform • Reformers begin to seek changes in U.S. living, working conditions • Social Darwinists see attempts at social reform as useless and harmful • Apply laws of nature to society • Some see as way to keep government from interfering with industry

21. Progress and Poverty • Henry George: The rich getting richer, the poor get poorer • Wide gulf between rich and poor • George’s solution: Tax unearned income on land, source of most wealth • Single tax clubs sprang up

22. New Currents in Social Thought • Liberal Protestants preach “Social Gospel” • Purpose: Reform industrial society • Means: Introduce Christian standards into economic sphere • Church must participate in society • Religion must address both spiritual and social concerns

23. The Settlement Houses • Famous Settlement House • 1889: Jane Addams’ Hull House, Chicago • Establish programs to help immigrants • Practical education and medical help for poor • Main problem, too many immigrants and could not meet needs

24. A Crisis in Social Welfare • Depression of 1893 reveals insufficiency of private charity • New professionalism in social work • New efforts to understand poverty’s sources • Increasing calls for government intervention • Social tensions engender sense of crisis

25. The Pluralistic Society • Immigration and urban growth reshaped American politics and culture • By 1920, most Americans lived in cities • Most reformers turned to state and federal government to help social ills

26. The Pluralistic Society • Society experienced a crisis between 1870 and 1900 • Reformers turned to state and federal government for remedies to social ills