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

• The Jungle shocked Americans and led to the Pure Food & Drug Act

• 147 women died in the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire leading

to comprehensive workplace safety reforms copied around the US

Chapter 19.3: Crucibles of Progressive Reform

19.3.C: Cities and National Politics