Chapter 19 Immigration Urbanization And Everyday Life Essay

Chapter 19: Immigration, Urbanization, and everyday Life, 1860-1900

The New American City * most changes in cities with urban growth fueled by * migration from the countryside and immigration, created environment for economic development * b/w 1870 and 1900, population increased, 40% of population live in cities, * diversity of city threatened traditional expectations, rapid growth led to terrible living conditions and accentuated class differences * native born city dwellers unsatisfied with newcomers treatment; tried to clean away anything unnatural but America was becoming urban
Migrants and Immigrants * growth of industries in urban cities demanded more workers, because (pull factors): * Good wages,
broad range of jobs, opportunity * migration from rural areas increased, mechanization of farming in 19th century meant more male work leading to women moving to cites competing with immigrant black and city-born white women * from 1860 - 1890, prospect of better life attracted immigrants * Germans largest group, then English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish * By 1900, more than 800,000 French-Canadians migrated south to work in New England mills * Scandinavians rooted in farmlands of Wisconsin and Minnesota * On west, despite Chinese Exclusion Act, more than 80,000 Chinese remained in California and nearby in 1900 * earlier immigrants joined by New Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe: * Italians, Slavs, Greeks, Jews, Armenians from Middle east, in Hawaii; Japanese from Asia * Would later boost America's foreign born population by more than 18 million * majority of immigrants settled in cities in northeastern and north-central states; Irish predominated in New England, Germans in midwest, high numbers of people larger than their home capitals * 4/5 people living in New York born abroad or were children of foreign-born parents * some recent immigrants forced out of home by overpopulation, famine, crop failure, religious persecution, violence, or industrial depression (push factors) * others came for opportunity, ex: over 100,000 Japanese laborers lured to Hawaii in 1890’s to work on sugar plantations by promises of high wages * Large number of immigrants were single young men who some returned home after they had become successful * Common for wives and children to wait back home until family breadwinner gets job and saves enough money to pay for passage to America * single women less likely to come but those who did mostly Irish who sent earnings back home * immigrants traveled first from Germany on a steamship to the US usually with bad conditions and causing illness and hunger * Immigrants with contagious and bad diseases are not allowed to pass through * Anglicized names of immigrants because were hard to pronounce * build Ellis Island in New York Harbor in 1982 where could exchange foreign currency, purchase railroad tickets,, arrange lodging
Adjusting to an Urban Society * immigrants relieved stress of adjusting to new life by living near friends and family (chain migration), many different nationalities grouped together in one area * used to believe settled together b/c of nationalism but was more complex, preferred to live near others from the same region * some adjusted easier than others; skilled workers familiar with Anglo-American customs had few problems, English speaking immigrants met little discrimination * ethnic groups that were huge part of population had advantage; Irish (16% of New York’s population) facilitated immigrants into mainstream by dominating democratic party politics and controlling church hierarchy * their success led them to be called “lace curtain” Irish, referring to their adoption of middle –class ideals * although large diversity of immigrants, were labeled as foreigners and some discriminated against and experience helped create new common ethnic identity for groups * immigrants from the same foreign country formed groups as Irish American, German American, or Jewish American; this helped them compete for political power and merge into mainstream society * some immigrants did not intend to stay and did not learn English, 50% of Italians returned home, rate was highest among Chinese and Italians * as numbers of foreigners increased, they gained more hostility from native born white Americans who worried about their growing influence * only gradually did they become considered “white”, after native borns made them feel inferior
Slums and Ghettos * every major city had overcrowded slums, were clustered close by manufacturing districts * developed when landlords subdivided long, narrow buildings with few windows called tenements and packed in too many residents * the poorer the renters, the worse the slum; became ghettos when laws, prejudice, and community pressure prevented inhabitants from living elsewhere * life in slums worse for children, diseases such as whooping cough, measles, scarlet fever took toll, infant mortality; factories drifted soot and coal dust into sky daily * because tenements bordered industrial districts, had to put up with pollution, noise and foul odors of factories, foundries, and packed houses * most immigrants stayed in worst place until could afford better but blacks were trapped in segregated districts * driven out of skilled trades and excluded form most factory work, blacks took menial jobs with low pay leaving little money for housing, also neighborhood pressure to exclude them * because only small populations of urban blacks, could not overcome white’s efforts to exclude them, instead wealthy black entrepreneurs established their own churches/organizations in black neighborhoods they lived in
Fashionable Avenues and Suburbs * same cities that harbored slums, filth, suffering, violence boasted of latest technology and culture neighborhoods * John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould lied near fifth avenue in NY, other wealthy persons lived in highest class areas of their state * promoters of wealthy suburbs contrasted buzz of city; soon many city suburbs such as Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Brookline, Shaker Heights, etc. * middle class city dwellers followed precedents set by wealthy: skilled artisans, shop keepers, clerks, accountants, and sales persons moved either to new developments at edge of city of suburbs * lawyers, doctors, small businessmen, and other professionals moved further out by street railway, by 20th century, this process would result in suburban sprawl

Middle and Upper-Class Society and Culture * Middle and upper class faced challenges; how to rationalize their enjoyment of the products of emerging consumer society * To justify position of upper class, ministers appealed to Victorian morality, set of social ideas embraces by privileged classes of England and America during long reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria * Proponents of Victorian morality argued that financial success of middle and upper classes was linked to their superior talent, intelligence, morality, and self-control * Also argued that women were driving force for moral improvement (antebellum ideal) * Network of institutions, elegant department stores, hotels, elite colleges, and universities reinforced privileged position
Manners and Morals * Victorian world view first emerged in 1830’s – 40’s and rested on number of assumptions that although were ignored, held up as universal standards: * One, human nature was malleable, people could improve themselves * Two, work had social value; working hard not only developed self-discipline but also helped advance progress of nation * Third, stressed importance of god manners and cultivation of literature and arts as marks of truly civilized society * Before civil war, reformers energized crusades to abolish slavery and alcoholism by appealing to ethical standards of Victoria morality, after war, became less interested and more preoccupied by importance of social protocol and manners * Middle and upper-class families in 1870’s and 80’s increasingly defined own social standing; god manners, dining etiquette, entertaining etiquette became marks of good status * For followers of this ideal, meals became important rituals that differentiated social classes
The Cult of Domesticity * Victorian views on morality and culture coupled with need to make decisions about mountain of domestic products had subtle but important effect on middle class expectations about women’s roles at
home * From 1840’s, architects, clergymen, and other promoters of cult of domesticity had idealized home as “woman’s sphere” * Praised home as protected retreat where women could express maternal gifts including sensitivity towards children and an aptitude for religion * During 1880’s and 90’s, obligation was added: to foster artistic environment that would nurture family’s cultural improvement Houses became statements of cultural aspiration; * many middle and upper class women devoted time to decorating homes, seeking to make a home Not all women pursued this idea * for some housework and responsibilities overwhelmed concern for decorating, for others artistic idea was not to their interest * In 1880’s and 90’s, as middle and upper class women sought other outlets for creative energies in homes, social reform and women’s club activities, came about older domestic ideal
Department Stores * although Victorian social thought justified privileged status of upper class, many people who had grown up in early 19th century found it difficult to accept new preoccupation with accumulation and display * key agent in modifying attitudes about consumption was the department store * Innovative entrepreneurs like Rowland H. Macy, John Wanamaker, and Marshall Field build giant department stores * transformed shopping experience for millions of women who became most important customers Stores attracted customers with low prices and engaging price wars * to avoid keeping stock too long held giant end of season sales at drastically marked down prices * major department stores tried to making shopping exciting with imitation palaces (marble staircases, chandeliers) * large urban department store functioned as workplace for lower classes and kind of social club for comfortable women and for those who could afford, shopping became an adventure, form of entertainment, and way to affirm place in society

Working-Class Politics and Reform * the contrast between the affluent world of the college-educated middle and upper classes and the gritty lives of the working class was most graphically on display in the nation’s growing urban centers * immigrants, newcomers reshaped political and social institutions to meet their own needs
Political Bosses and Machine Politics * earlier in the century the swelling numbers of urban poor had given rise to a new kind of politician * the “boss” * listened to his urban constituents and lobbied to improve their lot * presided over the city’s “machine” – an unofficial political organization designed to keep a particular part or faction in office * wielded enormous influence in government * often a former saloonkeeper or labor leader * political machine – American’s unique contribution to municipal government in era of pell-mell urban growth * by the turn of the century, many cities had experienced machine rule * working through the local ward captains to turn out unusually high numbers of voters * herd on the tangle of municipal bureaucracies, controlling who was hired for the police & fire dep’t * rewarded its friends and punished the enemies through its control of taxes, licenses, and inspections * machine gave tax breaks to favored contractors in return for large payoffs and slipped them insider information about upcoming street & sewer projects * the ward boss often acted as a welfare agents, helping the needy and protecting the troubled * while the machine helped alleviate some suffering, it entangles urban social services with corrupt politics and often prevented city gov’t from responding to the real problems of the city’s neediest habitants * NYC’s boss William “Magear” Tweed, the Tammany Hall machine revealed the slimy depths to which extortion and contract padding could sink * 1869-1871, he gave $50k to the poor and $2.25mil to schools, orphanages, and hospitals * his machine dispensed 60K patronage positions and pumped up the city’s debt by $70mil through graft and inflated contracts * convicted of fraud & extortion, escaped to Spain, died in jail in 1878 * by the turn of the century the bosses were facing well-organized assaults on their power, led by an urban elite whose members sought to restore “good gov’t” * the results, paved the way for new sewage and transportation systems, expanded parklands, and improved public services
Battling Poverty * middle-class city leaders sought comprehensive solutions for relieving poverty * Jacob Riis and the first generation of reformers believed that the basic cause of urban distress was the immigrants’ lack of self-discipline and self-control * he and his peers focused on moral improvement and exposing squalid tenement housing * although many reformers genuinely sympathized w/ the suffering of the lower classes, the humanitarians often turned their campaign to help the destitute into missions to Americanize the immigrants * eliminate customs that they perceived as offensive and self-destructive * poverty-relief workers first targeted their efforts at the young, thought to be most impressionable * Protestant reformers started charitable societies to help transient youths and abandoned street children * in 1843, Robert M. Hartley organized the NY Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor to urge poor families to change their ways * was supplemented by Charles Loring Brace, founded NY Children’s Aid Society in 1853 * established dormitories, reading rooms, and workshops where boys could learn practical skills, swept orphaned children off the streets, shipped them to the country, placed w/ families to work as farm hands * the YMCA – Men’s, founded in England in 1841 and exported America 10 years later, provided housing and wholesome recreation for country boys who had migrated to the city * the YWCA – Women’s, provided housing and a day nursery for young women and their children * in the Protestant tradition of moral improvement, both org subjected their members to curfews & expelled them for drinking and other forbidden behavior * by 1900, > 1500 YMCAs &YWCAs served as havens for nearly a ¼ million young men & women
New Approaches to Social Reform * the inability of the Children’s Aid society, YMCA, YWCA, & other relief organizations to cope w/ the explosive growth of the urban poor in the 1870s & 1880s convinced some reformers to search for other ways to fight poverty * Salvation Army – earliest & most effective agencies * a church established along pseudo military lines in England in 1865 by Methodist minister “General” William Boot * the Salvation Army sent uniformed volunteers to the US in 1880 to provide food, shelter, and temporary employment for families * army’s strategy – attract the poor w/ marching bands & lively preaching; * follow up w/ offers of food, assistance, and employment * then teach them the solid middle-class virtues of temperance, hard work, and self-disciplines * NY Charity Organization Society (COS) founded in 1882 by Josephine Shaw Lowell * tried to make aid to the poor more efficient * divided NYC into districts, compiled files on all aid recipients, and sent “friendly visitors” who were trained, salaried women, into the tenements to counsel families on how to improve their lives * served as a useful coordinator for relief efforts and developed helpful statistics on the extent of poverty * critics justly accused the society of being more interested in controlling the poor than in alleviating their suffering * stressed the importance of introducing “messy housekeepers” to the “pleasures of a cheery, well ordered home”
The Moral-Purity Campaign * other reformers pushed for tougher measure against sin and immorality * in 1872, Anthony Comstock founded the NY Society for the Suppression of Vice * the org demanded that municipal authorities close down gambling and lottery operations and censor obscene publications * prostitution both exploited women and offered them a steady income and a measure of personal freedom * after the Civil War, the # of brothels expanded rapidly * in the 1800s, saloons, tenements, and cabarets, often controlled by political machines, hired prostitutes of their own * reformers often labeled immigrant women as the major source of the problem * in 1892, brothels, along w/ gambling dens and saloons, became targets for the reform efforts of NY Presbyterian minister Charles Parkhurst * the purity campaign lasted scarcely three years * the reform coalition quickly fell apart * NYC’s population was too large, and its ethnic constituencies too diverse, for middle and upper class reformers to curb all the illegal activities flourishing within the metropolis
The Social Gospel * in the 1870s and 1880s, a handful of Protestant ministers began to explore several radical alternatives for aiding the poor * these ministers argued that the rich and the wellborn deserved part of the blame for urban poverty and thus had a responsibility to do something about it * William S. Rainsford pioneered the development of the so-called institutional church movement * large downtown churches in once-elite districts that had been overrun by immigrants would provide their new neighbors w/ social services as well as a place to worship * Social Gospel movement – launched in the 1870s by Washington Gladden * he insisted that true Christianity commits men & women to fight social injustice wherever it exists * in response to the violent strikes in 1877, he urged church leaders to mediate the conflict between business & labor * their attempt to do so was unsuccessful * the Social Gospel’s attack on what its leaders blasted as the complacent Christian support of the status quo attracted only a handful of Protestants

Working-Class Leisure in the Immigrant City * in colonial America preachers had linked leisure time to “idleness” a dangerous step on the road to sin & wickedness * the routines of farm labor left little time for relaxation * family picnics, horse races, country fairs, revival meetings, 4th of July, and Christmas celebrations provided occasional permissible diversions * after the Civil War, as immigration soared, urban populations shot up – and a new class of wealthy entrepreneurs arose – striking new patterns of leisure & amusement emerged, among the urban working class * for millions of working-class Americans, leisure time took on increasing importance as factory work became routinized and impersonal * involved both genders but some attracted only one gender in particular
Streets, Saloons, and Boxing Matches * urban working class wanted amusement and recreation * a banner carried by the Worcester, Mass, carpenters’ union in an 1889 demonstration for the 8hr workday summed up the importance of worker’s leisure hours * city streets provided recreation that anyone could afford * relaxing after a day’s work, shop girls and laborers clustered on busy corners, watching shouting pushcart peddlers and listening to organ grinders and street musicians * for a penny or nickel, they could buy bagels, baked potatoes, soda and other foods and drinks * in the summer, when the heat & humidity in tenement apartments reached unbearable levels, the streets became a hive of neighborhood socials like * the streets were open to all, but other leisure institutions drew mainly a male clientele * for workmen of all ethnic backgrounds, saloons offered companionship, & 5 cent beer * NYC had an estimated 10K saloons by 1900 and Denver nearly 500 * Saloon reinforced group identity and became centers for immigrant politics * the conventions of saloon culture thus stood in marked contrast to both the socially isolating routines of factory labor and the increasingly private and family centered social life of the middle class
Vaudeville, Amusement Parks, and Dance Halls * welcomed all comers regardless of gender, some proved congenial to working-class women * vaudeville evolved out of the pre-Civil War blackface minstrel shows * the shows typically opened w/ a trained animal routine or a dance number * followed by a musical interlude ft. sentimental favorites * comic skits showing trials of urban life, etc * by the 1880s, vaudeville was drawing larger crowds * immigrant audiences could also laugh at their own experience * the white working class’s fascination w/ vaudeville’s blackface acts had been the subject of considerable recent scrutiny by historians * some had interpreted this as a way for the white working class to mock middle-class ideals * in this view popular culture was making fun of the ideals of thrift and propriety being promoted in marketplace and domestic ideology * by the end of the 19th century, NYC had well over 300K female wage earners, most young unmarried women working as seamstresses, laundresses, typists, domestic servants, and department-store
Ragtime
* have developed a string, creative musical culture * the middle class * hymns and songs that conveyed moral lessons * in the 1800s with the black musicians in the saloons and brothels of the south and Midwest & was played strictly for entertainment * ragtime developed pit of the rich tradition of sacred and secular songs through which African Americans long eased through the burden of their lives * “honky-tonk” piano players, ragtime was introduced to the public in 1890’s * ragtime proved to be popular and a blessing for their blacks * ragtime simply confirmed some whites’ stereotype of blacks as primitive and sensual
Schools
* elementary schools * tax-supported elementary schools were adopted on a nation-wide basis before the Civil War (concerned that if the people are ignorant, then the government will not function properly) * more State were making elementary schools mandatory * high schools * before the Civil War, tax-supported high schools were rare * spread in the 1880s and 1890s * opinion was that every citizen should have a high school education was gaining support; 1900 – 6,000 high schools * other features of schools * free textbooks gained support in the 1880s and 1890s * teacher-training schools expanded (normal schools) * new Immigration led to the strength of private, Catholic schools * higher education * the number of US colleges increases in the late 1800s largely as a result of * land grant colleges established under the Morill acts of 1862 and 1890 * universities founded by wealthy philanthropists-the university of Chicago by John D. Rockefeller, for example, the founding of new college for women, such as Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Mount Holyoke * by 1900, 71 percent of the colleges admitted women, who represents more than one-third of the attending students