LIFE AT THE TURN OF THE 20^TH CENTURY

THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA

SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE

• By the turn of the 20^th century, four out of ten Americans lived in cities
• In response to urbanization, technological advances began to meet communication, transportation, and space demands

Artist Annie Bandez

SKYSCRAPERS

• Skyscrapers emerged after two critical inventions: elevators & steel skeletons that bear weight
• Famous examples include; Daniel Burnham’s Flatiron Building in NYC, Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright Building in St. Louis
• The skyscraper was America’s greatest contribution to architecture and solved the issue of how to best use limited and expensive space

Flatiron Building - 1902

Another view of Burnham’s Flatiron Building

ELECTRIC TRANSIT

• Changes in transportation allowed cities to spread outward
• By the turn of the century, intricate networks of electric streetcars – also called trolley cars –ran from outlying neighborhoods to downtown offices & stores

“EL’S” AND SUBWAYS

• A few large cities moved their streetcars far above street level, creating elevated or “el” trains
• Other cities built subways by moving their rail lines underground

BRIDGES & PARKS

• Steel-cable suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge, also brought cities’ sections closer
• Some urban planners sought to include landscaped areas & parks
• Frederick Law Olmsted was instrumental in drawing up plans for Central park, NYC

Central Park is an oasis among Manhattan’s skyscrapers

CITY PLANNING: CHICAGO

• Daniel Burnham oversaw the transformation of Chicago’s lakefront from swampy wasteland to elegant parks strung along Lake Michigan
• Today Chicago’s lakefront is one of the most beautiful shorelines in North America

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

• New developments in communication brought the nation closer
• Advances in printing, aviation, and photography helped speed the transfer of information

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A REVOLUTION IN PRINTING

• By 1890, the literacy rate in the U.S. was nearly 90%
• American mills began to produce huge quantities of cheap paper from wood pulp
• Electrical web-perfecting presses printed on both sides of paper at the same time
• Faster production and lower costs made newspapers and magazines more affordable (most papers sold for 1 cent)

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AIRPLANES

• In the early 20^th century, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, experimented with engines and aircrafts
• They commissioned a four-cylinder internal combustion engine, chose a propeller, and built a biplane
• On December 17, 1903 they flew their plane for 12 seconds covering 120 feet
• Within two years the brothers were making 30 minute flights
• By 1920, the U.S. was using airmail flights regularly

Actual photo of Wright Brother’s first flight 12/17/03

PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLOSION

• Before 1880, photography was a professional activity
• Subjects could not move and the film had to be developed immediately
• George Eastman invented lighter weight equipment and more versatile film
• In 1888, Eastman introduced his Kodak Camera
• The $25 camera came with 100-picture roll of film

1888 Kodak

SECTION 2: EXPANDING PUBLIC EDUCATION

• Between 1865 and 1895, states passed laws requiring 12 to 16 weeks of annual education for students ages 8-14, but the curriculum was poor and the teachers were usually not qualified
• However, the number of kindergartens expanded from 200 in 1880 to 3,000 in 1900

HIGH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT SOARS

• High schools expanded their curriculum to include science, civics and social studies
• By 1900 500,000 teen-agers were enrolled in high schools

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Elroy High School Photo 1906

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

• African Americans were mostly excluded from secondary education
• In 1890 less than 1% attended high school
• By 1910 that figured had reached only 3%

African American school in the south about 1920

EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS

• Unlike African Americans, immigrants were encouraged to go to school
• Most immigrants sent their children to public schools
• Also, thousands of adult immigrants attended night schools to learn English

EXPANDING HIGHER ED

• In 1900, less than 3% of America’s youth attended college
• Between 1880 and 1920 college enrollments more than quadrupled
• Professional schools were established for law and medicine

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AFRICAN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES FORMED

• After the Civil War, thousands of African Americans pursued higher education despite being excluded from white institutions
• Blacks founded Howard, Fisk, and Tuskegee Universities (founded by Booker T. Washington)
• W.E.B. Dubois founded the Niagara Movement, which sought liberal arts educations for all blacks

W.E.B. Dubois

SECTION 3: SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION

• By the turn of the 20^th century, Southern States had adopted a broad system of legal discrimination
• Blacks had to deal with voting restrictions, Jim Crow laws, Supreme Court set-backs, and physical violence

WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION?

• Discrimination involves:
• Beliefs : "This group of people is inferior because"
• Emotions : "I hate this group of people."
• Actions : "I will deny opportunity/hurt/kill members of this group."

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VOTING RESTRICTIONS

• All Southern states imposed new voting restrictions and denied legal equality to African Americans
• Some states limited the vote to those who could read, other states had a poll tax which had to be paid prior to voting

JIM CROW LAWS

• Southern states passed segregation laws to separate white and black people in public and private facilities
• These laws came to be known as “Jim Crow Laws”, named after an old minstrel song
• Racial segregation was put into effect in schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation systems throughout the South

PLESSY v. FERGUSON

• Eventually a legal case reached the U.S. Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of segregation
• In 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of races was legal and did not violate the 14^th Amendment

RACE RELATIONS - 1900

• Blacks faced legal discrimination as well as informal rules and customs
• Meant to humiliate these “rules” included; whites never shaking the hand of an African America, blacks had to yield the sidewalk to whites, blacks also had to remove their hats in the presence of whites

VIOLENCE

• African Americans who did not follow the racial etiquette could face severe punishment or death
• Between 1882-1892, more than 1,400 black men and women were shot, burned, or lynched
• Lynching peaked in the 1880s and 90s but continued well into the 20^th century

MAJOR AREAS OF LYNCHING

DISCRIMINATION IN THE NORTH

• While most African Americans lived in the segregated South, many blacks had migrated to the North in hopes of better jobs & equality
• However, the North had its own brand of racism as blacks got low paying jobs and lived in segregated neighborhoods

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DISCRIMINATION IN THE WEST

• Discrimination in the west was most often directed against Mexican and Asian immigrants
• Mexicans were often forced in Debt Peonage – a system of forced labor due to debt
• Asians were increasingly excluded from mainstream society

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Anti-Asian Cartoon

SECTION 4: DAWN OF A MASS CULTURE

• Many middle class Americans fought off city congestion and dull industrial work by enjoying amusement parks, bicycling, tennis and spectator sports
• American leisure was developing into a multi-million dollar industry

AMUSEMENT PARKS

• To meet the recreational needs of city dwellers, Chicago, NYC and other cities began setting aside land for parks
• Amusement parks were constructed on the outskirts of cities
• These parks had picnic grounds and a variety of rides

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Coney Island was America’s most famous amusement park in the late 19^th century

BICYCLING & TENNIS

• After the introduction of the “safety bike” in 1885, Americans increasingly enjoyed biking
• By 1890, 312 companies made over 10,000,000 bikes
• Tennis also was very popular in the late 19^th century

On the right is the “safety bike” – much easier and safer to ride

SPECTATOR SPORTS

• Americans not only participated in new sports, but became avid fans of spectator sports
• Baseball and boxing became profitable businesses
• Mark Twain called baseball, “the very symbol of the booming 19^th century”

1897 Baseball team picture Kansas State University

NEWSPAPERS

• Mass-production printing techniques led to the publication of millions of books, magazines, and newspapers
• Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were two leading publishers whose competition led to more and more sensational newspaper reporting

Hearst (above) and Pulitzer initiated what was known as “Yellow Journalism”

Characteristics of Yellow Journalism included huge, sensational, exaggerated headlines

Some contend that Hearst and Pulitzer’s Yellow Journalism was responsible for the Spanish-American War in 1898

PROMOTING FINE ARTS

• By 1900, free circulating Public libraries numbered in the thousands
• By 1900, most major cities had art galleries
• In the early 20^th century, the Ashcan School of American Art painted urban life

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This portrait was done by Robert Henri, who led the Ashcan School

Title: Dempsey and Firpo, 1924 Artist: George Wesley Bellows

ASHCAN SCHOOL

Unsigned work, 1930

ASHCAN SCHOOL

POPULAR FICTION

• “Dime” novels were popular & inexpensive
• Most of these focused on adventure tales and heroes of the west
• Some readers preferred a more realistic portrayal from authors Mark Twain, Jack London, and Willa Cather

GROWING CONSUMERISM

• The turn of the century witnessed the beginnings of the shopping center, department and chain stores, and the birth of modern advertising

THE DEPARTMENT STORE

• Marshall Field of Chicago brought the first department store to America
• Field’s motto was “Give the lady what she wants”
• Field also pioneered the “bargain basement” concept

Marshall Fields has been around for almost 150 years

CHAIN STORES

• In the 1870s, F.W. Woolworth found that if he offered an item at a low price, “the consumer would purchase it on the spur of the moment”
• By 1911, the Woolworth chain had 596 stores and sold $1,000,000 per week

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ADVERTISING

• Expenditures for advertising was under $10 million a year in 1865, but increased to $95 million by 1900
• Ads appeared in newspapers, magazines and on billboards

CATALOGS AND RFD

• Montgomery Ward and Sears were two pioneers in catalog sales
• By 1910, 10 million Americans shopped by mail
• In 1896 the Post Office introduced a rural free delivery (RFD) system that brought packages directly to every home