Issues at the Turn of the Century How does technology, pop culture, education and segregation effect 1880s-1910s America?

Technology in the City Louis Sullivan designs the skyscraper, Otis invents elevator Electric streetcars, elevated trains, subways, steel cabled bridges improve transportation Urban planning allows for open space in cities [parks]

Pop Culture 8 hour workday gives people more free time Amusement midways have first ferris wheel & rollercoaster Spectator sports (boxing & baseball) popular Vaudeville & Ragtime are popular shows & music

George Eastman introduces Kodak camera Spread of Pop Culture Discuss: How do popular ideas & trends spread? George Eastman introduces Kodak camera Pulitzer & Hearst begin daily newspapers 1890: FW Woolworth is 1st department store (becomes chain) Sears mailed catalogs allow purchases w/o leaving house Capture the moment

Expanding Public Education Mandatory schooling for children 8-16, (literacy rises to 95%) College enrollment increases to 20% but most African Americans excluded from secondary education Booker T. Washington: 1) “black schools” that teach skills, 2) once Af-Ams have skills, will be valued by society, ends seg. WEB Dubois: 1) Niagara movement - college education to create future black leaders 2) Talented Tenth: those already educated need to legally fight segregation now!

Booker T. Washington W.E.B Du Bois born enslaved born well-off self-educated 1st AA graduate of Harvard influential black leaders “bottom up” approach “talented tenth”  “top down approach” basic work skills  economically independent goal: improve lives of African Americans politically, socially, economically classical, liberal arts education eventual rather than immediate change immediate change enforced by gov’t college educated patient, peaceful means  tolerate racial segregation Niagara Movement oppose racial segregation segregation = evil teacher Tuskegee University NAACP founder editor of The Crisis

Jim Crow Laws (De jure segregation - legal) 1877: Southern state laws allowed for segregated public & private facilities (schools, restaurants, public transit, etc Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Homer Plessy (1/8th black) tries to challenge segregation on trains that cross state lines (interstate travel = ICC) Plessy argues segregated trains violate 14 Am Sup. Court rules “separate but equal” is not a violation of 14th Amendment

Racial Etiquette (De facto segregation - customary) Many southerners want blacks to have “step & fetch” mentality & follow “southern” customs African Americans who didn’t “follow custom” could face violence & death (1,400 lynched 1882-1902) Discrimination outside the South (De facto) North: immigrants & blacks forced into segregated neighborhoods, unions disallow black & Irish membership in jobs West: many Mexicans forced into debt peonage (forced to work until your debt is paid off), some segregation West: most Chinese segregated in schools (esp. California)