Mass Culture in America 1880-1910

Task:

Students will work in pairs to create a 5 minute PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation about mass culture at the end of the 19th century (1800s).

Your presentation must be at least 5 minutes in length (approximately 8-10 slides) and will need to include bulleted information as well as images.

Although you will have information on the presentation, you will be required to expand on the information. To receive full credit you can't just read the slides.

Please keep in mind the following while you are preparing and researching:

• Who, What, Where, When, Why and How!
• Show and explain how the event you selected developed and changed during the time period (1880-1910)
• Include information about where these activities were most popular and who participated
• Be thorough - this will be a quiz grade!

Topics: (pages in textbook)

Baseball - p.480

• Baseball from American Eras
• Baseball from American Decades

Boxing - p. 480

• Prizefighting from American Eras
• Bare-Knuckle Prizefighting from American Eras
• Prizefighting from Dictionary of American History

Tennis - p.479

• Lawn Tennis from American Eras
• Tennis from Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure

Advertising and Shopping - p. 484

• The Department Store from American Eras
• Advertising gets Respectable from American Eras
• Everyday Life: Consumerism from American Eras

Ashcan School - p. 471

• Ashcan School from Dictionary of American History
• Ashcan School from Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
• George Bellows (Ashcan) from The Artist's Magazine

George Eastman - p. 466

• George Eastman from Encyclopedia of US Economic History
• George Eastman from Encyclopedia of World Biography

The Olympics

• 1896 Olympic Games from American Eras

The Circus - p. 481

• The Circus from American Eras
• Circuses from The Encyclopedia of Leisure and Recreation in America
• The Circus from The Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century

Amusement Parks - p. 478

• Amusement Parks from American Eras
• Amusement Parks from Encyclopedia of US Economic History

Vaudeville - p. 481

• Vaudeville from Encyclopedia of Pop Culture
• Vaudeville from American Decades

Ragtime - p. 481

• Ragtime from Dictionary of American History
• Ragtime from African-American History and Culture

Silver Screen - p. 482

• The Emergence of Cinema to 1907
• Movies from the Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century
• Nickelodeons from the Encyclopedia of Pop Culture
• Early Cinema from Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

Mark Twain - p. 472

• Mark Twain from American Eras
• Mark Twain from Encyclopedia of World Biography

Wright Brothers - p. 465

• Wright Brothers from American Decades
• Wright Brothers from Science and Its Times

Newspapers - p. 483

• American Correspondents Cover the Spanish-American War from American Eras
• The New York Times from American Eras
• Yellow Journalism and the Circulation War of 1896 from American Eras

Resources