Towards an Urban America

1
Towards an Urban America
2
Immigration

• Immigrants came to the U.S. for various reasons.
  They include
• Hope for better opportunity, i.e. land and jobs
• Religious Freedom
• Escape from political governments (also described
  as political freedom)
• Adventure

3
Old versus New Immigrants

• Old immigrants
• Came from Northern and Western Europe
• Most arrived before 1895
• Protestant
• Spoke fairly good English
• Blended in well to American Society

• New immigrants
• Came from Southern and Eastern Europe
• Most arrived after 1895
• Jewish and Catholics
• Didnt speak English
• Didnt blend in well to American Society

4
The Immigrant Experience

• Difficulties included
• Finding work
• Discrimination
• Many saw immigrants as being different
• Believed immigrants would lower wages and take
  away jobs.

• Adjusting to America most wanted to keep some
  aspects of their own culture but at the same time
  wanted to assimilate.
• Nativist movement people in America who
  believed that there should be limitations on
  immigration

5
Moving to the City

• Cities in the U.S. expanded rapidly in the late
  1800s. Reasons include
• Immigration from other countries immigrants
  moved to cities to find jobs
• Specialized industries developed in particular
  cities such as steel in Pittsburgh PA and
  meatpacking in Chicago, IL
• Movement of Americans from rural to urban areas
  for job opportunities

6
Cities in Crisis

• Rapid industrialization and urbanization led to
  overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods and tenements
• Tenements found in the most crowded and biggest
  cities, the poorest residents (mostly immigrants)
  lived in tenements. Most were found in slums or
  ghettos.

7
Cities in Crisis continued

• Sanitation problems garbage and horse manure
  accumulated in the streets. Sewers could not
  handle the flow of human waste.
• Health problems disease spread rapidly in the
  conditions mentioned above. Whooping cough,
  diphtheria, measles, and tuberculosis killed both
  infants and adults.
• Fire
• Crime

8
Solutions to Solve Immigration and City Problems

• Settlement Houses these were located in poor
  neighborhoods and provided medical care,
  playgrounds, and other services to those in need.
• Those who worked in settlement houses pushed for
  garbage removal and police protection.
• The most famous settlement house was Hull House,
  founded by Jane Addams
• Jacob Riis was a reformer, photographer, and
  writer who was known for his work for improving
  the conditions in the slums of New York City.
  His pictures and his book How the Other Half
  Lives brought the conditions of the slums to the
  attention of readers.

9
The Changing City

• Urban growth led to important new developments.
  In the late 1800s, cities saw the introduction of
  a new type of building, new public
  transportation, and public parks.

10
The Changing City

• In 1884, William LeBaron Jenney constructed the
  first skyscraper in Chicago.
• Frederick Law Olmsted designed New Yorks Central
  Park
• New forms of public transportation was another
  cause for the growth of cities. These included
• Cable Cars San Francisco, CA
• Trolley Cars Richmond, VA
• Subway Boston, MA
• Paved streets
• Bridges Eads Bridge in St. Louis, MO and
  Brooklyn Bridge in New York
• These also allowed some people, such as the
  middle class, to move to the suburbs. These were
  areas that sprang up outside the city centers.

11
Changing Culture

• More of an emphasis was starting to be placed on
  education during this time span.
• As opportunities for education grew, more
  Americans became interested in reading.
• Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
  Pulitzer created a new style of writing known as
  yellow journalism which was imitated by Hearst.
  Both used this technique to sell newspapers.
  Yellow journalism is a sensational style of
  writing that attracts readers by focusing on
  dramatic or gruesome aspects of stories.
• Many writers used realism (shows things how they
  really are, depicts real life situations) and
  regionalism (focusing on one particular region of
  the country)
• A. Mark Twain both a realist and
  regionalist, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and
  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• B. Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of
  Courage
• C. Jack London wrote The Call of the Wild

12
Art, Music, and Literature

• For most of the 1800s, the work of American
  artists and musicians reflected a European
  influence. After the Civil War, Americans began
  to develop a distinctively American style.
• Thomas Eakins painted human anatomy and
  surgical operations
• Winslow Homer painted Southern farmers,
  Adirondack campers and stormy seas scenes
• Henry Tanner depicted warm family scenes of
  African Americans in the South

13
Art, Music, and Leisure contd

• James Whistler Arrangement in Grey and Black
  also known as Whistlers Mother is one of the
  best known American paintings

14
Art, Music, and Leisure contd

• John Philip Sousa composed marches, including
  Stars and Stripes Forever
• Jazz developed by African American musicians in
  New Orleans, jazz combined elements of work
  songs, gospel music, spirituals, and African
  rhythms.
• Ragtime Related to jazz. One of the best known
  ragtime composers was Scott Joplin, who wrote
  Maple Leaf Rag

15
Art, Music, and Leisure contd

• Spectator Sports - Sports like baseball,
  basketball, and football become popular.
• Tennis, golf, bicycling were activities Americans
  started to participated in.
• Vaudeville variety shows with dancing, singing,
  comedy, and magic acts
• Thomas Edison invented moving pictures in the
  1880s. Movies soon became very popular. This was
  the beginning of todays film industry.