URBANIZATION AMERICA BECOMES A MELTING POT IN THE LATE 19 TH & EARLY 20 TH CENTURY.

URBANIZATION

AMERICA BECOMES A MELTING POT IN THE LATE 19TH & EARLY 20TH CENTURY

THE CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION

Rapid urbanization occurred in the late 19th century in the Northeast & Midwest

Most immigrants settled in cities because of the available jobs & affordable housing

By 1910, immigrants made up more than half the population of 18 major American cities

MIGRATION FROM COUNTRY TO CITY

Rapid improvements in farm technology (tractors, reapers, steel plows) made farming more efficient in the late 19th century

It also meant less labor was needed to do the job

Many rural people left for cities to find work- including almost ¼ million African AmericansDiscrimination and segregation were

often the reality for African Americans who migrated North

URBAN PROBLEMS

Problems in American cities in the late 19th and early 20th century included:

Housing: overcrowded tenements were unsanitary

Sanitation: garbage was often not collected, polluted air

Famous photographer Jacob Riis captured the struggle of living in

crowded tenements

URBAN PROBLEMS CONTINUED

Transportation: Cities struggled to provide adequate transit systems

Water: Without safe drinking water cholera and typhoid fever was common

Crime: As populations increased thieves flourished

Fire: Limited water supply and wooden structures combined with the use of candles led to many major urban fires – Chicago 1871 and San Francisco 1906 were two major fires

Harper’s Weekly image of Chicagoans fleeing the fire over the Randolph

Street bridge in 1871

PHOTOGRAPHER JACOB RIIS CAPTURED IMAGES OF THE CITY

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

REFORMERS MOBILIZE

Jacob Riis was a reformer who through his pictures hoped for change– he influenced many

The Social Gospel Movement preached salvation through service to the poor

Some reformers established Settlement Homes

These homes provided a place to stay, classes, health care and other social services

Jane Addams was the most famous member of the Settlement Movement (founded Hull House in Chicago)

Jane Addams and Hull House

As cities grew in the late 19th century, so did political machines

Political machines controlled the activities of a political party in a city

Ward bosses, precinct captains, and the city boss worked to ensure their candidate was elected

ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS

The “Boss” (typically the mayor) controlled jobs, business licenses, and influenced the court system

Precinct captains and ward bosses were often 1st or 2nd generation immigrants so they helped immigrants with naturalization, jobs, and housing in exchange for votes Boss Tweed ran NYC

MUNICIPAL GRAFT AND SCANDALSome political bosses were

corruptSome political machines

used fake names and voted multiple times to ensure victory (“Vote early and often”) – called Election fraud

Graft (bribes) was common among political bosses

Construction contracts often resulted in “kick-backs”

The fact that police forces were hired by the boss prevented close scrutiny

LIFE AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH

CENTURY

LIFE AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH

CENTURY

THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA

SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE• By the turn of the 20th

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

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

• New developments in communication brought the nation closer

• Advances in printing, aviation, and photography helped speed the transfer of information

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 ridesConey Island was America’s most famous

amusement park in the late 19th century

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 19th 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

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

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

The Changing American Labor Force

The Changing American Labor Force

Child LaborChild Labor

WORKERS HAD POOR CONDITIONS

Workers routinely worked 6 or 7 days a week, had no vacations, no sick leave, and no compensation for injuries

Injuries were common – In 1882, an average of 675 workers were killed PER WEEK on the job

LABOR UNIONS EMERGE

As conditions for laborers worsened, workers realized they needed to organize

The first large-scale national organization of workers was the National Labor Union in 1866

The Colored National Labor Union followed

Management vs. Labor

Management vs. Labor“Tools” of

Management“Tools” of

Labor

“scabs”

P. R. campaign

Pinkertons

lockout

blacklisting

yellow-dog contracts

court injunctions

open shop

boycotts

sympathy demonstration

s

informational picketing

closed shops

organized strikes

“wildcat” strikes

National Labor Union1866

• 1st attempt to unite all workers in all states

• Goals—8 hour work day / higher wages / social programs

• Chief Victory—8 hour workday for federal government workers

• Lost support in the late 1870s

Knights of LaborKnights of Labor

Terence V. Powderly

Leader of the Knights of Labor

An injury to one is the concern of all!

Knights of LaborMembership

• Unite all workers in one big union

• Skilled / non-skilled• Men/ women / Blacks• farmers

Goals of the Knights of LaborGoals of the Knights of Labor• Eight-hour workday.

• Workers’ cooperatives.

• Worker-owned factories.

• Abolition of child and prison labor.

• Increased circulation of greenbacks.

• Equal pay for men and women.

• Safety codes in the workplace.

• Prohibition of contract foreign labor.

• Abolition of the National Bank.

• Favored arbitration over strikes

THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR

• Labor leaders continued to push for change – and on May 4, 1886 3,000 people gathered at Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police treatment of striking workers

• A bomb exploded near the police line – killing 7 cops and several workers

• Radicals were rounded up and executed for the crime

• Blamed the Knights of Labor

• Due to the Haymarket Riot and unsuccessful strikes the Knights of Labor lost support and declined in strength

CRAFT UNIONS

Craft Unions were unions of workers in a skilled trade

Samuel Gompers led the Cigar Makers’ International Union to join with other craft unions in 1886

Gompers became president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

He focused on collective bargaining to improve conditions, wages and hours

How the AF of L Would Help the

Workers

How the AF of L Would Help the

Workersù skilled worker only (white men)

ù Association of 25 craft unions

ù Goals—higher wages and improved working conditions.

ù Mediated disputes between management and labor (collective

bargaining)

ù Favored Strikes to accomplish goals

SOCIALISM AND THE IWW

Some unionists (including Debs) turned to a socialism – an economic and political system based on government control of business and property and an equal distribution of wealth among all citizens

The International Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies, was one such socialist union PROMOTIONAL

POSTER FOR THE IWW

WOMEN ORGANIZE

Although women were barred from most unions, they did organize behind powerful leaders such as Mary Harris Jones

She organized the United Mine Workers of America

Mine workers gave her the nickname, “Mother Jones”

Pauline Newman organized the International Ladies Garment Workers Union at the age of 16

STRIKES TURN VIOLENT

Several strikes turned deadly in the late 19th century as workers and owners clashed

The Great Strike of 1877: Workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad struck to protest wage cuts

Other rail workers across the country struck in sympathy

Federal troops were called in to end the strike

THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE

Even Andrew Carnegie could not escape a workers strike

Conditions and wages were not satisfactory in his Steel plant in Pennsylvania and workers struck in 1892

Carnegie hired Pinkerton Detectives to guard the plant and allow scabs to work

Detectives and strikers clashed – 3 detectives and 9 strikers died

The National guard restored order – workers returned to work

PULLMAN: A FACTORY & TOWN

In 1880, George Pullman built a factory for manufacturing sleepers and other railroad cars in Illinois

The nearby town Pullman built for his employees was modeled after early industrial European towns

Pullman workers felt his puritanical town was too strict

When he lowered wages but not rent – it led to a violent strike in 1894

THE TOWN

GEORGE PULLMAN

THE PULLMAN STRIKE After the Pullman Company

laid off thousands of workers and cut wages, the workers went on strike in the spring of 1894

Eugene Debs (American Railroad Union) tried to settle dispute which turned violent

Pullman hired scabs and fired the strikers – Federal troops were brought in

Debs was jailed

The “Bread & Roses” Strike\1912

The “Bread & Roses” Strike\1912DEMANDS:

ù 15¢/hr. wage increase.

ù Double pay for overtime.

ù No discrimination against strikers.

ù An end to “speed-up” on the assembly line.

ù An end to discrimination against

foreign immigrant workers.