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Immigration, Urbanization, and Unionism 1876-1915. Part I: Urbanization. Overview: Urbanization Flowchart. Labor chart. Unsanitary Conditions. Poor Housing. Cultural Opportunities: Central Park, NYC. Technological Advancement. Flat Iron Building Overlooking Madison Square
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Technological Advancement • Flat Iron Building • Overlooking Madison Square • 21-story building • Steel Frames • Skyscrapers in 1902 • Louis Sullivan • Land is expensive, so build up
Subway Construction • 1904 – nearly 150,000 people rode the subway on its first day
Class System • High Society: every luxury, city, business men • Middle Class: suburbs, professionals • Working Class: majority, lived in tenements, children worked
Urban Problems • Crime • Fire • Pollution • Disease • Alcoholism • Overcrowding
Urban Politics • Political Machine: informal political group • In exchange for votes party bosses provided jobs, food, housing • Successful • See Boss Tweed Notes
Reasons for European Immigration • Pull Factors: reasons to come to America • Jobs • Few immigration restrictions • Democratic nation • Social mobility • Push Factors: reasons they left • Avoid forced military service • Religious persecution • Economic hardships • Poverty • Famine • Unemployment
European Immigration 1890-1914 • Arrived at Ellis Island • Medical Exam • Ethnic Cities Emerge • Southern & Eastern Europe: Russia, Poland, Greece, Austria-Hungary, Italy • Different languages • Different religions • Different Ways of Dress
Reception • Not welcome • Competed with and took jobs • Difficult to Americanize • Americans believed immigrants were inferior • Lived in ghettos • Disease • Crime • Know Nothing Party reinforces the notion of Nativisim • Birds of passage: immigrants not intending to stay in America, here to make money then go back home
Riis • From, “How the Other Half Lives,” by Jacob Riis
Chinese & Japanese • Arrived at Angel Island (CA) • Why: famines, land shortage, civil war • Occupations: railroad, construction, skilled labor, merchants, small business
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 • A dime novel from the period - The stereotypical Chinese villains in such stories run opium dens and take great delight in abducting white women who they attempt to hook on the drug.
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 • Stopped the immigration of Chinese laborers • Denied American citizenship to Chinese born in America • “Gentlemen’s Agreement”
Why did Unions form? • Industrial workers had complaints that were not being addressed by factory owners: • Loss of freedom • Loss of identity • Long hours, low wages • Dangerous working conditions • Child labor • The Sweatshop system
The Great Strike of 1877 • Railroads cut wages by 35%, increased workday to 18 hours, & doubled train size. • Railroad strikes broke out. • Federal troops were used to break up the strikes, people were killed (President Hayes) • Strikers were often replaced by “scabs” • After these strikes, “yellow-dog contracts” were used to prevent future strikes • Increased union membership
Knights of Labor: 1869 • Led by Terrance Powderly • Open to individuals of any race, gender, or degree of skill • The only occupations excluded were lawyers, bankers, gamblers, and liquor dealers • Favored an 8-hour day • Opposed child labor, strikes, and unequal pay • Demanded worker-owned factories • Wanted a gov. bureau of labor statistics • Supported arbitration
Terence V. Powderly • Mechanic from Pennsylvania • Under his leadership, the KOL grew from 28,000 members in 1880 to 700,000 in 1886 • Made the KOL public • Led successful strikes against the railroads
Haymarket Riot (Chicago, 1886) • 1,200 protesters gathered to protest the shooting of protesters by police at the McCormick Harvester plant • Police showed up to break up the protest, someone threw a dynamite bomb, killing 7 policemen • Police charged the crowd on horseback, killing 10 and wounding 50 • This resulted in public distaste for unions and the dissolution of the Knights of Labor
American Federation of Labor • Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1881 • National unions • Only skilled workers were members • 8 hr. workdays • Better pay • Collective bargaining • Closed Shops