The Big Question: How did the rise of large cities and the
effects of industrialization affect American society?
Chapters 18/19: Urbanization and Society, 1880-1917
18.2 Women, Men and the Solitude
of Self
A. Changes in Family Life
B. Education
C. From Domesticity to Women’s Rights
D. Darwinism and Its Critics
19.1 The New Metropolis
A. The Shape of the Industrial City
B. Newcomers and Neighborhoods
C. City Cultures
19.2 Governing the Great City
A. Urban Machines
B. The Limits of Machine Government
19.3 Crucibles of Progressive Reform
A. Fighting Dirt and Vice
B. The Movement for Social Settlements
C. Cities and National Politics
Chapters 18-19: Civilization’s Inferno:
The Rise and Reform of Industrial Cities, 1880-1917
• Industrialization empowered middle class women while often
exploiting working class women
• Family size decreased from 7.0 to 3.6 between 1800-1900
• Comstock Act failed to stop the spread of contraception information
Chapter 18.2: Women, Men, and the Solitude of Self
18.2.A: Changes in Family Life
Second Battle of
the Marne, 1918
• 71% of kids attended school in 1900 and college graduates increased
from 2% to 8% of the population with women making great strides
• Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and accommodationist
Atlanta Compromise speech made him the leading civil rights figure
Chapter 18.2: Women, Men, and the Solitude of Self
18.2.B: Education
Women studying psychology
• The WCTU successfully married temperance and women’s activism
• The NAWSA reunited the women’s suffrage movement and
successfully gained suffrage in many western states before WWI
Chapter 18.2: Women, Men, and the Solitude of Self
18.2.C: From Domesticity to Women’s Rights
• Social Darwinists applied evolutionary concepts to society arguing
that the poor were less fit ultimately fueling the eugenics movement
Chapter 18.2: Women, Men, and the Solitude of Self
18.2.D: Darwinism and Its Critics
• City growth exploded with both
immigration and rural migration
• Mass transit (trolleys and subways)
allowed cities to expand and the
wealthy to live on the outskirts
• Steel-framed skyscrapers defined
the urban skyline and greatly
increased population density
• Electric streetlights created a new
nightlife and increased safety
Chapter 19.1: The New Metropolis
19.1.A: The Shape of the Industrial City
• Economic forces drew men and women off farms as well as
immigrants to America’s cities
• Urban immigrants mostly lived in ethnic neighborhoods
Chapter 19.1: From Expansion to Imperialism
19.1.B: Newcomers and Neighborhoods
• Blacks fled racial
violence in the South
only to encounter harsh
conditions in northern
cities
Los Angeles in 1900
Chapter 19.1: From Expansion to Imperialism
19.1.C: City Cultures
• New forms of mass entertainment such as vaudeville theater, blues
and ragtime music, amusement parks and movies emerged
• Weaker parental oversight led to the rise of dating and living single
• Yellow journalism and muckracking sensationalized the news and
fueled reform efforts
US Army during Ph. Insurrection
Chapter 19.2: Governing the Great Cities
19.2.A: Urban Machines
• US cities relied on private businesses for infrastructure projects
• Political machines dominated most cities by helping immigrants and
the poor and profiting from city contracts and inside information
• The lack of government services, and middle class indifference to the
urban poor allowed machines to thrive despite corruption
• Excessive corruption, urban reform efforts and the Depression of
1893 began to turn the tide against machine politics
• Some cities experimented with a commissioner system while others
emphasized direct democracy
Chapter 19.2: Governing the Great Cities
19.2.B: The Limits of Machine Governments
The Great Galveston Flood, 1900
• Disease, poverty, and crime
motivated Progressive
reformers such as Jacob Riis
• The public health and city
beautiful movements
promoted sanitation, tackled
pollution, garbage and infant
mortality and led to the
creation of public parks
Chapter 19.3: Crucibles of Progressive Reform
19.3.A: Fighting Dirt and Vice
• Social settlements (e.g. Hull House) helped the poor and working
class by offering services and later lobbying for schools and reforms
• Margret Sanger became a famous advocate for birth control
Chapter 19.3: The United States in World War I
19.3.B: The Movement for Social Settlements