1. Life at the Turn of the 20th Century Urbanization, New Technologies, Education, Discrimination, Mass Culture, Consumerism

2. Section 1 Science and Urban Life
Main Idea: Science and Technology were used to solve many problems caused by the rise of urbanization. Key people Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmstead, Wilbur and Orville Wright and George Eastman Connection to today: Society continues to look to science and technology in order to solve current problems

3. Section 1 Goals and Objectives
By the end of this section, student should be able to
Describe the problems that existed in rising cities
Identify solutions posed by science and technological advances
Provide examples of urban planning at the turn of the century.

4. 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.

5. Building New York City

6. Skyscrapers
Skyscrapers emerged after elevators & steel skeletons to bear weight were invented. Examples include Daniel Burnham’s Flatiron Building in NYC and Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright Building in St. Louis. The skyscraper, America’s greatest contribution to architecture, solved the issue of how best to use limited and expensive space.
Flatiron Building

7. Another view of Burnham’s Flatiron Building

8. 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.

9. El’s and Subways
A few large cities moved their streetcars far above street level, creating elevated or El trains. Other cities built subways by moving their rail lines underground

10. Central Park is an oasis among Manhattan’s skyscrapers
Bridges and Parks
Steel-cable suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge, also brought cities’ sections closer. Some urban planners sought to include landscaped areas and parks. Frederick Law Olmsted was instrumental in drawing up plans for Central park, NYC.
Central Park is an oasis among Manhattan’s skyscrapers

11. City Planning: Chicago
Daniel Burnham oversaw the transformation of Chicago’s lakefront from swampy wasteland to elegant parks strung along Lake Michigan. Today Chicago’s lakefront is one of the most beautiful shorelines in North America.
Chicago's lakefront features parks, harbors for pleasure boats, and stunning views of the city's skyline

12. New Technologies
New developments in communication brought the nation closer. Advances in printing, aviation, and photography helped speed the transfer of information.

13. A Revolution In Printing
By 1890, the literacy rate in the U.S. was nearly 90%. American mills began to produce huge quantities of cheap paper from wood pulp. Electrical web-presses printed on both sides of paper at the same time. Faster production and lower costs made newspapers and magazines more affordable. Most papers sold for 1 cent.

14. Wright Brother’s first flight
Airplanes
In the early 20th century, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, experimented with engines and aircrafts. They built a biplane and on December 17, 1903, they flew it for 12 seconds over 120 feet. Two years later, they were making 30 minute flights and by 1920, the U.S. was using airmail flights regularly.
Wright Brother’s first flight

16. Explosion of Photography
Before 1880, photography was a professional activity. Subjects could not move and the film had to be developed immediately. Then George Eastman invented lighter weight equipment and more versatile film. In 1888, he introduced his Kodak camera. It cost $25 camera and came with a 100-picture roll of film.

17. Section 2 Goals and Objectives:
Upon completion, students should be able to:
Analyze the expansion of public education at the turn of the 20th century.
Describe the growth of higher education.
Discuss the ways in which minorities received increased educational opportunities.

18. Expanding Public Education
Between 1865 and 1895, states passed laws requiring 12 to 16 weeks of annual education for students ages 8-14, but the curriculum was poor and the teachers were usually not qualified. However, the number of kindergartens expanded from 200 in 1880 to 3,000 in 1900

19. High School Enrollment
High schools expanded their curriculum to include science, civics and social studies. By 1900, 500,000 teenagers were enrolled in high schools.

20. Racial Discrimination
African Americans were usually excluded from secondary education. In 1890, less than 1% attended high school. By 1910, that figured had reached only 3%.

21. Education for Immigrants
Unlike African Americans, immigrants were encouraged to go to school. Most immigrants sent their children to public schools. In addition, thousands of adult immigrants attended night schools to learn English.

22. Expanding Higher Education
In 1900, less than 3% of America’s youth attended college. Between 1880 and 1920 college enrollments more than quadrupled. Professional schools were established for law and medicine

23. African American Universities
After the Civil War, thousands of African Americans pursued higher education, though excluded from white schools.
Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee University to provide technical training.
W.E.B. Dubois founded the Niagara Movement to provide liberal arts education to blacks.
Women at the 1906 Niagara Movement Conference at Harpers Ferry

24. Section 3 Goals and Objectives:
Upon completion, students should be able to:
1. Trace the historical aspects of legalized segregation and the African-American struggle against racism in the U.S.
2. Summarize the turn of the 20th century race relations in the North and the South.
3. Identify examples of racism in the American west.

25. Segregation
By the turn of century, Southern states had adopted a broad system of legal discrimination. Blacks had to deal with voting restrictions, Jim Crow laws, Supreme Court set-backs, and physical violence.

26. Voting Restrictions
All Southern states imposed new voting restrictions and denied legal equality to African Americans. Some states limited the vote to those who could read or pay a poll tax.

27. Jim Crow Laws
Southern states passed segregation laws to separate white and black people in public and private facilities. These laws came to be known as “Jim Crow Laws.” Racial segregation was practiced in schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation systems throughout the South.

28. Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1896, a legal case reached the U.S. Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of segregation. In Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of races was legal and did not violate the 14th Amendment.

29. Informal Rules and Customs
Blacks faced legal discrimination as well as informal rules and customs meant to humiliate them.
Whites were never to shake the hand of an African American.
Blacks had to yield the sidewalk to whites.
Blacks had to remove their hats in the presence of whites.

30. Violence
African Americans who did not follow the rules 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.

32. Major Areas of Lynching

33. Discrimination in the North
While most African Americans lived in the segregated South, many blacks migrated to the North in hopes of better jobs & equality. However, the North had its own brand of racism. B blacks got low paying jobs and lived in segregated neighborhoods.

34. Discrimination in the West
Discrimination in the West was most often directed against Mexican or Asian immigrants. Mexicans were forced into debt peonage – a system of forced labor. Asians were increasingly excluded from mainstream society.
Anti-Asian Cartoon

35. Section 4 Goals and Objectives:
Upon completion, students should be able to:
Give examples of the turn of the 20th century leisure activities and popular sports.
Analyze the spread of mass culture in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century.
Describe the turn of the 20th century innovations in marketing and advertising.

36. Dawn of a Mass Culture
Many middle class Americans fought off city congestion and dull industrial work by enjoying beaches, amusement parks, bicycling, tennis and spectator sports. American leisure was developing into a multi-million dollar industry.

37. Amusement Parks
To meet the recreational needs of city dwellers, many cities began setting aside land for parks. Amusement parks were constructed on the outskirts of cities. These parks had picnic grounds and a variety of rides
Coney Island was America’s most famous amusement park in the late 19th century

38. Coney Island and Electricity

39. Bicycling and Tennis
After the introduction of the “safety bike” in 1885, Americans increasingly enjoyed biking. By 1890, 312 companies made over 10,000,000 bikes. Tennis also was very popular in the late 19th century

40. 1897 Baseball team picture Kansas State University
Spectator Sports
Americans also 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

41. 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.
Pulitzer (above) & Hearst (right) initiated what was known as “Yellow Journalism”

42. Characteristics of “Yellow Journalism” included huge, sensational, exaggerated headlines.

43. Some contend that Hearst and Pulitzer’s “Yellow Journalism” was responsible for the Spanish-American War in 1898.

44. Promoting Fine Arts
By 1900, free circulating public libraries numbered in the thousands and most major cities had art galleries. In the early 20th century, the Ashcan School of American Art painted urban life.
This portrait was done by Robert Henri, who led the Ashcan School

45. Title: Dempsey and Firpo, 1924 Artist: George Wesley Bellows
The Ashcan School
Title: Dempsey and Firpo, Artist: George Wesley Bellows

46. Unsigned work, 1930

47. Popular Fiction
“Dime” novels were popular and inexpensive. Most of these focused on adventure tales and heroes of the west. Some readers preferred a more realistic portrayal from authors Mark Twain, Jack London, and Willa Cather.

48. Macy’s Department Store
Growing Consumerism
The turn of the century witnessed the beginnings of the shopping center, department and chain stores, and the birth of modern advertising.
Macy’s Department Store

49. Marshall Fields has been around for almost 150 years
The Department Store
Marshall Field of Chicago brought the first department store to America. Field’s motto was “Give the lady what she wants.” Field also pioneered the “bargain basement” concept.
Marshall Fields has been around for almost 150 years

50. Chain Stores
In the 1870s, F.W. Woolworth found that if he offered an item at a low price, “the consumer would purchase it on the spur of the moment.” By 1911, the Woolworth chain had 596 stores and sold $1,000,000 per week.

51. Advertising
Expenditures for advertising were under $10 million a year in 1865, but increased to $95 million by Ads appeared in newspapers, magazines and on billboards

52. Catalogs and RFD
Montgomery Ward and Sears were two pioneers in catalog sales. By 1910, ten million Americans shopped by mail. In 1896 the Post Office introduced a rural free delivery (RFD) system that brought packages directly to every home.