THE GILDED AGE The Gilded Age Gilded something

THE GILDED AGE

The Gilded Age • “Gilded” = something covered in gold, but not made of gold; looks nice, but really is not • Term coined by author Mark Twain in his 1873 book, The Gilded Age • Crooked Politicians • Greed, Poverty, & Racism, Industrial filth • Hidden by a new culture that stemmed from industrial growth

IMMIGRATION & URBANIZATION

1900 s Immigrants: Who? • Immigration – the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country • East Coast (Ellis Island) • Old Europeans – Western Europe • New Europeans – South and Eastern Europe • West Coast (Angel Island Hawaii) • Asians – Chinese and Japanese • Mexican, Cuban, Jamaican • “Birds of Passage” – make $ and then return home Foreign-Born Population Change 1901 -1910

1900 s Immigrants: Why? Push Factors Pull Factors • Religious persecution • Job opportunities and (Jews) • Rising populations • Job and food scarcity • High taxes higher wages • Sense of independence

The Journey • By steamship, mostly in steerage (cargo) • 1 week from Europe • 3 weeks from Asia • Ellis Island, NY and Angel Island, CA • Immigration stations to receive • • immigrants for processing 5+ hours Pass physical exam (diseases, serious health issues, etc) Documents checked by gov’t inspector (no felonies, able to work, had at least $25) Only 2% denied entrance, but many were detained in filthy facilities while being processed

Settling In America • Immigrants faced many challenges. • English language • Place to live • Job • Cultural clashes • Many joined ethnic communities lifelines for immigrants

Nativism Increases • Many immigrants formed hyphenated American identities and assimilated to an extent while keeping many cultural beliefs increase in American nativism – favoring nativeborn citizens, anti-immigrant beliefs • Favored immigrants – Old Europeans, protestant, white • Disliked immigrants – New Europeans, Catholic or Jewish, Asian and Pacific

Anti-Immigrant Legislation • 1896 –Congress passed a bill requiring literacy tests for immigrants BUT POTUS Cleveland vetoed the bill • >40 words in English and/or native language denied entry • Similar bill passed in 1917 • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – banned entry of Chinese immigrants EXCEPT educated and upper class professions • Not repealed until 1943 • Gentlemen’s Agreement – 1907 -08, US wouldn’t impose official immigration restrictions on Japanese, in return for Japan limiting the emigration of Japanese • Did not include Japanese immigration to Hawaii

Challenges of Urbanization • Urbanization – growth of cities • Immigrants, southerners, westerners moved to cities easier to find jobs • Growth of the Americanization movement – social movement to assimilate immigrants into American culture • Sponsored and funded by gov’t and citizen organizations • Teach skills needed for citizenship – English literacy, American history, government/politics • Teach cultural skills – cooking, etiquette • Met by mixed immigrant sentiments – didn’t want to leave behind many cultural practices and ethnic neighborhoods didn’t require knowledge of English language or US customs

Urban Problems • Housing – lived in tenements (small apartments) • Often 1+ families, unsanitary, cramped, made into sweatshops • Transportation – mass transit street cars could move many people along fixed routes, ill-kept • Water – usually no indoor plumbing, cholera and typhoid fever, early filtration and chlorination systems by 1910 • Sanitation – no dependable trash collection, build up of trash, manure, and sewage in streets; increased air pollution

Urban Problems • Crime – increased pickpockets and theft; NYC organized 1 st salaried police force but it was not very effective • Fire – candles and kerosene lamps + wooden dwellings + lack of water supply large scale fires in almost every big city in the late 1800 s Great Chicago Fire, 1871, burned for 29 hours, destroyed 1/3 of Chicago San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, burned for 4 days

Reformers Mobilize • Social Gospel Movement – religious movement preaching salvation through helping the poor • Settlement houses – community centers that provided help to the local poor • Educational, social, cultural, and health services • Jane Addams – established Hull House settlement house in Chicago

Reformers Mobilize • Jacob Riis – wrote and photographed How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890) • Riis – Danish immigrant, couldn’t find work • Documented the living and working conditions of urban life to raise awareness and hopefully spur change • Blamed the apathy of the wealthy classes for NYC slums • Basis for muckraking journalism (Unit 2…)