1. LIFE AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA

2. SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE
By the turn of the 20th century, four out of ten Americans lived in cities
In response to urbanization, technological advances began to meet communication, transportation, and space demands
Artist Annie Bandez

3. SKYSCRAPERS
Skyscrapers emerged after two critical inventions: elevators & steel skeletons that bear weight
The skyscraper was America’s greatest contribution to architecture and solved the issue of how to best use limited and expensive space
Flatiron Building

4. ELECTRIC TRANSIT
Changes in transportation allowed cities to spread outward
By the turn of the century, intricate networks of electric streetcars – also called trolley cars –ran from outlying neighborhoods to downtown offices & stores

5. Central Park is an oasis among Manhattan’s skyscrapers
BRIDGES & PARKS
Steel-cable suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge, also brought cities’ sections closer
Some urban planners sought to include landscaped areas & parks
Central Park is an oasis among Manhattan’s skyscrapers

6. Actual photo of Wright Brother’s first flight 12/17/03
AIRPLANES
In early 20th century, brothers Orville & Wilbur Wright, experimented with engines and aircrafts
On December 17, 1903 they flew their plane for 12 seconds covering 120 feet
Within 2 years the brothers were making 30 minute flights
By 1920, U.S. was using airmail flights
Actual photo of Wright Brother’s first flight 12/17/03

7. EXPANDING PUBLIC EDUCATION
Between 1865 & 1895, states passed laws requiring 12 to 16 weeks of annual education for students ages 8-14, but the curriculum was poor & teachers usually not qualified
However, the number of kindergartens expanded from 200 in 1880 to 3,000 in 1900

8. HIGH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT SOARS
High schools expanded their curriculum to include science, civics & social studies
By ,000 teen-agers were enrolled in high schools
Elroy High School Photo 1906

9. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
African Americans were mostly excluded from secondary education
In 1890 less than 1% attended high school
By 1910 that figured had reached only 3%
African American school in the south about 1920

10. EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS
Unlike African Americans, immigrants were encouraged to go to school
Most immigrants sent their children to public schools
Also, thousands of adult immigrants attended night schools to learn English

11. AFRICAN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES FORMED
After the Civil War, thousands of African Americans pursued higher education despite being excluded from white institutions
Howard, Fisk, & Tuskegee Universities (founded by Booker T. Washington)
W.E.B. Dubois founded the Niagara Movement, which sought liberal arts educations for all blacks
W.E.B. Dubois

12. Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington: prominent African American educator, believed that racism would end once African Americans acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society.
Headed Tuskegee National and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University)
Focus on education now and then equality later, must have education first

13. W.E.B. Dubois
1st first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard (1895)
Disagreed with BTW’s gradual approach
Founded Niagara Movement, insists that African Americans should seek a liberal arts education so that the African American community would have well educated leaders
Work to achieve immediate equality, don’t have to prove ourselves
All are created equal

14. SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION
By the turn of the 20th century, Southern States had adopted a broad system of legal discrimination
Blacks had to deal with voting restrictions, Jim Crow laws which limited rights of African Americans , Supreme Court set-backs, and physical violence

15. VOTING RESTRICTIONS
All Southern states imposed new voting restrictions and denied legal equality to African Americans preventing the 15th Amendment
Some states limited the vote to those who could read (literacy test), other states had a poll tax which had to be paid prior to voting

16. PLESSY v. FERGUSON
Eventually a legal case reached the U.S. Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of segregation
In 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of races was legal & did not violate the 14th Amendment

17. VIOLENCE
African Americans who did not follow the racial etiquette could face severe punishment or death
Between , more than 1,400 black men and women were shot, burned, or lynched
Lynching peaked in the 1880s and 90s but continued well into the 20th century

18. NORTHERN DISCRIMINATION
WESTERN DISCRIMINATION
While most African Americans lived in the segregated South, many blacks had migrated to the North in hopes of better jobs & equality
However, the North had its own brand of racism as blacks got low paying jobs and lived in segregated neighborhoods
Discrimination in the west was most often directed against Mexican and Asian immigrants
Mexicans were often forced in Debt Peonage – a system of forced labor due to debt
Asians were increasingly excluded from mainstream society
Anti-Asian Cartoon

19. DAWN OF A MASS CULTURE
Many middle class Americans fought off city congestion and dull industrial work by enjoying amusement parks, bicycling, tennis and spectator sports
American leisure was developing into a multi-million dollar industry

20. 1897 Baseball team picture Kansas State University
SPECTATOR SPORTS
Americans not only participated in new sports, but became avid fans of spectator sports
Baseball and boxing became profitable businesses
Mark Twain called baseball, “the very symbol of the booming 19th century”
1897 Baseball team picture Kansas State University

21. NEWSPAPERS
Mass-production printing techniques led to the publication of millions of books, magazines, and newspapers
Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were two leading publishers whose competition led to more and more sensational newspaper reporting
Hearst (above) and Pulitzer initiated what was known as “Yellow Journalism”

22. Characteristics of Yellow Journalism included huge, sensational, exaggerated headlines
Some contend that Hearst and Pulitzer’s Yellow Journalism was responsible for the Spanish-American War in 1898