The Middle Class Family

1. The Middle Class Family • Less moral fervor • Smaller families due to late marriage and abstinence • Introduction of contraceptives and abortion • Children treasured and carefully supervised • Family could afford servants • Family defined by tangible goods

2. Skilled and Unskilled Workers • Increased production resulted in increased standards of living • Shorter working hours (11 -10 - 8) • Skilled workers usually well off compared to unskilled • Mechanization made workers less important • Time clock drove production • Management became more ruthless towards workers • Mechanization accentuated business cycles – emergence of unemployment

3. Working Women • More women working outside the home • Paid lower wages than men • Jobs as salespersons and cashiers, clerks and secretaries • Middle-class women nurses and teachers • Higher wages than unskilled factory laborers • Little to no opportunity for advancement

4. Farmers • Urban population increasing at faster rate than rural • Decline in social status (hicks) • Granger movement sought greater protection and social & economic experimentation • Farms in East and Mid-West secure versus West and South • Crop-Lien system in South • Harsh environment on Plains • Life for farm women particularly hard

5. Working-Class Family Life • Standards of living due to several factors • Health • Intelligence • Wife’s ability as homemaker • Values • Luck I hate Kids

6. Working-Class Attitudes • Varied response from content to extremely dissatisfied • Wealth gap widening – but poor better off as well

7. Working Your Way Up • Rags to Riches – Carnegie • The way to move up was to move on – mobility often accompanied by economic and social improvement • Movement generational • Unskilled immigrants to skilled later generations

9. Working Your Way Up • Growth of education • Horace Mann • By 1860’s half of all children receiving some formal education • School often seasonal and teachers untrained • Industrialization increased demand for educated worker • Very few attended past 8th grade • Very few real rags to riches stories

10. The “New” Immigration • Pull Factors • Industrial expansion increased need for labor and stimulated immigration • New steamships increased ability to carry large numbers of immigrants quickly and safely • Competition between lines brought down prices • Family networking

11. The “New” Immigration • Push factors • Industrialization and cheap products from America and Russia helped cause collapse of European agriculture • Political and religious persecution • Democratic institutions versus European monarchies

12. The “New” Immigration • Most immigrants entered US through New York • Before 1882, immigration was relatively unrestricted – state governments exercised whatever controls were present • Only restrictions were: criminal, mental deficiency, health risks • Private agencies- philanthropic and commercial- were links between immigrants and employers looking for labor Inspecting immigrants at Ellis Island

13. The “New” Immigration • Until Foran Act 1885 outlawed the practice, some companies recruited skilled laborers advanced travel costs that were later recouped from wages (quasi indentured servants) • Nationality groups organized “immigrant banks” that provided money for immigrants from selected regions • The Padrone System - supplied employers with gangs of laborers for a lump sum • Immigrants in late 1800’s tended to be from Southern Europe and Russia

14. New Nativism • Some new immigrants more clannish – less willing to assimilate • Some were sojourners and not concerned with becoming “American” • Most, however, eager to become Americans • Problems adjusting due to cultural differences • Religious differences between immigrant religions and between immigrant-native religions

15. New Nativism • Conflicts caused many natives to believe new immigrants unable to become good citizens • Charities burdened by numbers of immigrants believed immigrants too many • Racial purists believed new immigrants racially inferior and should be kept out • Workers feared competition in labor • Employers feared influx of radicals

16. New Nativism • Nativism re-emerged- Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) denounced “long-haired radicals” • American Protective Association 1887 – organized against the “Catholic menace” • Other than the Exclusion At 1882, no laws were enacted limiting immigration • Nativists pushed for a literacy test to restrict immigration – bill vetoed by President Cleveland

21. The Expanding City • Urban populations rising for both native-born and immigrants • Ethnic neighborhoods (comfort) and lack of money to settle in West resulted in large urban immigrant concentrations • Most immigrants became citizens but retained “national” ties through newspapers, churches, schools, and social organizations Little Italy – New York City

22. The Expanding City • The American “Melting Pot” • The American “Ghetto”

23. Teeming Tenements • Growing urban populations resulted in suffering • Sewer and water systems could not keep up • Garbage piled up faster than it could be removed • Fire protection was overwhelmed • More streets were created than could be paved

24. Teeming Tenements • Housing could not meet demand • People were packed into substandard slums with little light and air • Attempts at regulating housing construction were weak • Jacob Riis, a reporter, exposed the horrors of the slums

25. Teeming Tenements • Overcrowding impacted public morals • Proliferation of gangs • Number of prison inmates increased by 50 percent in the 1880’s • Well-to-do residents retreated to exclusive city sections or the suburbs

26. Cities Modernize • The social problems brought about by poor conditions in cities caused cities to solve the underlying conditions • When the connection between polluted water and disease was realized, efforts were made to create decent water and sewage systems • Citizens began to form public-spirited groups to clean up their cities

27. Cities Modernize • Streets were paved with cobblestone and asphalt • Gas and, later, electric lights were used to light streets and cut down on crime • Electric trolleys replaced horse-cars • Trolley lines (streetcars) extending into the suburbs allowed commuters and shoppers to access the downtown areas

28. Cities Modernize • Trolleys extended the radius of big-city life from 2 ½ miles (walking distance) to more than 6 miles • Even greater population shift occurred resulting in economic segregation • Low fares allowed working poor to access the countryside on holidays

29. Cities Modernize • Advances in bridge design • John Roebling – Brooklyn Bridge • High cost of land in cities caused architects to build “up” • Introduction of iron-skeleton frame allowed taller buildings • Louis Sullivan – new ideas in architecture • Introduction of words: skyscraper and skyline

30. Cities Modernize • The “White City” built for 1893 World’s Fair led to a national “city beautiful” movement including establishment of city parks – Central Park leading example • Little changes in slums despite new ideas and technologies

31. Leisure • Cities were centers of artistic and cultural life with museums, symphonies, and theaters • Saloons were the refuge of the male working-class • Sports became popular- bicycling became a fad • Picnic grounds and amusement parks were constructed at the edges of cities

32. Leisure • Spectator sports developed – large populations needed to support them • Wealthy and working classes mixed at horse races and boxing matches • Sports was a “man” thing- few women involved as players or spectators • Team games emerged: • Baseball • Football • Basketball

33. Leisure • Baseball • First emerged in 1840’s • Became popular during Civil War when played in military camps • National League formed in 1876 • American League formed in1901 • First World Series in 1903 • Baseball evolved- not invented

34. Leisure • Football • Evolved out of English rugby • For many decades it was a game of the privileged played at college • First inter-college game 1869 • Much of modern football was work of Yale coach Walter Camp

35. Leisure • Basketball • Invented by James Naismith 1891 • First basketball was a soccer ball- baskets were peach baskets • Did not become a major spectator sport for many decades

36. Christianity and Social Gospel • Social problems of the slums still lingered despite modernization of the cities • Traditional churches lost influence in poorer sections • Protestant churches withdrew and catered to better-off • Poor tended to be Catholics – parishes helped in some ways but not effective

37. Christianity and Social Gospel • Christian evangelists established missions in the slums – YMCA and Salvation Army • Social Gospelers advocated civil service reform, child labor legislation, regulation of big corporations, and income taxes • Washington Gladden • Many Gospelers advocated socialism / welfare states

38. Settlement Houses • Community centers located in poor districts that provided guidance and services • Most famous was Hull House founded by Jane Addams in Chicago • Most important settlement house workers were women • Workers advocated for labor regulation for women and children and schools

39. Settlement Houses • Settlement Houses established playgrounds, libraries, social clubs, day-care centers and classes in everything from home management to art • Though helpful, settlement houses were too few to significantly aid the masses Hull House – Jane Addams’ Settlement House

40. Quiz

41. List four reasons middle-class families were smaller • How did mechanization affect unskilled workers? • What two occupations were considered proper for middle-class women? • What movement developed as a means to protect the farmer? • Who was most responsible for the establishment of public schools?

42. 6. What are push and pull factors as they apply to immigration? 7. Where did most immigrants enter the United States? 8. What were “immigration banks”? 9. What was the Padrone system? 10. Americans against immigration were called what? 11. What religion did Nativists most dislike? 12. The assimilation of immigrants into American society was called…?

43. 13. Who was Jacob Riis? 14. What allowed the growth of suburbs? 15. What was Roebling’s accomplishment? 16. What two new words were added to the American vocabulary due to new forms of architecture? 17. What athletic activity became an American fad? 18. What team sport was invented? 19. What were social gospelers? 20. What was the purpose of settlement houses?