What Is The Difference Between 19th Century American Culture And Social Norms

The 19th century marked the beginning of a massive migration into cities by rural Americans and Irish and German immigrants. This convergence of young men and women looking for jobs led to many cultural and social changes. With newfound freedom from parents and established religious orders, young Americans began to develop new cultural and social norms. One of the constantly changing cultural and social norms in America is the art of dancing. Even today dance is constantly changing. In the 19th century, urban newspapers and magazines contributed to the rise of new popular dances; old European dances adopted by wealthy Americans began to be replaced by new waltzes and upbeat polkas. Though many of these dances were popular and mainstream among young white folks in the city, the dances varied depending upon racial, social, and economic boundaries. In the American South, slaves had developed their own cultural traditions, including language, religion, dances, and music. Their dances and music were a core part of what helped develop strong communal and cultural bonds between and within slave communities. Slaves would typically dance to music made by various homemade string, woodwind, and percussion instruments that they had assembled using scraps of wood, string, and on occasion, horsehair. As most slaves were illiterate, mainstream
In order to keep these young workers living in the city, various forms of entertainment began to develop. After work, many people would go out at night to the different theaters and pubs, where they would dance together. Many of these dances required great knowledge and memorization of certain steps and movements, much unlike the sporadic shuffling, leaping and swinging improvisation of the slaves. Newspapers and magazines spread trending new songs and dances in order to both accommodate and keep up with the growing population of young men and