Life in the Big City Life in the Big City

Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration

Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration

A few revealing statsA few revealing stats» Life expectancy

» 1900: » 46.3 yrs for men» 48.3 yrs for women

» Family size» 5.7 kids for laborers» 5.2 children for skilled workers

» Top 12% of nation controlled 86% of wealth in 1900; lowest 44% controlled 1.5%

UrbanizationUrbanization» Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, etc.

» From 1860 to 1910, city population grew sevenfold

» By 1920, the majority of Americans lived in urban areas

» Urban growth came from southern and eastern European immigrants; Southern African Americans who moved north

» New innovations in transportation: cable cars, subways, trolley cars, Brooklyn Bridge, etc.

ImmigrationImmigration» “Push” and “pull” factors» 1860-1890: Irish and Germans» After 1890: “New immigrants:” Italians, Poles, Greeks, Russians, Slovaks, Croats; Catholics and Jews; many were very poor and illiterate

» 1892: Ellis Island constructed» http://www.ellisisland.org/» 1910: Angel Island (California): Asian immigrants

» Immigrants settle in ethnic neighborhoods, ghettos

Immigration (cont.)Immigration (cont.)

» 15% of Americans in 1900 were immigrants» 4 out of 5 New Yorkers were born abroad or were children of immigrants

» Assimilate or stay true to your roots?» Discrimination by native-born Americans» Nativism: anti-Catholic organizations, immigration restriction groups like the Protective Association, Immigration Restriction League, etc.

» 1880s/90s: more restrictive immigration laws limiting Chinese, “undesirables,” etc.

Working class family lifeWorking class family life

» Cooperative family effort: women take in laundry, boarders

» Children went to work at age 10 and turned over earnings to parents

» Most children stopped education after elementary school; Catholic immigrants founded their own schools separate from Protestant-controlled public schools

Urban Problem 1: HousingUrban Problem 1: Housing

» Shortage of quality, affordable housing

»Tenements»4-5 story buildings on 25x100 foot lots (500-800 people?)

»4,000 people per block/700 per acre»Bordered industrial districts: noise, odor, smoke, coal dust

»1879 NYC law: each bedroom must have a window; dumbbell tenements with an air shaft in the middle

»http://www.tenement.org/»Lively ethnic neighborhoods

TenementsTenements

Urban Problem 2: WaterUrban Problem 2: Water

» Skyrocketing population; not enough clean drinking water

» Poor (or no) indoor plumbing» Disease (cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, whooping cough, measles, scarlet fever)

» 20% infant mortality rate in Chicago in 1900

» Filtration and chlorination introduced in late 19th and early 20th century

Urban Problem 3: SanitationUrban Problem 3: Sanitation

»Sewage flowed through open gutters, horse manure piled up on the streets, factories spewed foul smoke into the air; outhouses

»In Chicago, only 25% had access to a bathroom with running water

»No dependable trash collection»Early 1900s: many cities developed sewer lines and created sanitation departments

Urban Problem 4: Political corruptionUrban Problem 4: Political corruption

» Political machines fill the power vacuum » Precinct captains» Ward bosses» City boss

» Tammany Hall, NYC: Boss Tweed (in the 1860s, 65% of public building funds went directly in his pocket)

» New immigrants=new voters!» Bosses provide food, favors, and JOBS

to immigrants» Graft and corruption

Urban Problem 5: CrimeUrban Problem 5: Crime

» Pickpockets and thieves, murder» Ethnic street gangs» NYC: first police department, 1853

» Widespread corruption and cooperation between criminals and police

» Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt cleans NYC up: 1895-97

Urban Problem 6: FireUrban Problem 6: Fire» Caused by limited water supply, wooden houses, use of candles

» Absence of organized municipal fire departments

» The Great Chicago Fire (1871)» The San Francisco Earthquake (1906)

Final questionFinal question

» Whose responsibility is it to deal with these problems?