Topic 11 - The Progressive Era (1865-1920)

Lesson 6 - A Changing American Culture

Progressives fought for reforms in government and society. The Progressive Era also was a time of enormous change in American culture. Cities, sports, education, and the arts all broke new cultural ground.

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In this photo, one of the first great baseball players, Honus Wagner, prepares to swing at a pitch. What does the rise of sports tell you about America at this time?

Guiding Questions

How did cities change in the Progressive Era?
What new forms of theater, music, art, and literature appeared during this time?
What advances occurred in public education in the Progressive Era?

Vocabulary

skyscraper
suburb
vaudeville
ragtime
yellow journalism
realist
local color

Academic Vocabulary

convey
compulsory

Changes and Challenges in City Life

A building boom changed the face of American cities. Cities such as Chicago and New York gradually began to run out of space in their downtown areas. Resourceful developers decided to build up instead of out.

Touching the Sky

After fire leveled downtown Chicago in 1871, planners tried out many new ideas as they rebuilt the city. Using new technology, they designed skyscrapers, tall buildings with many floors supported by a lightweight steel frame. The first skyscraper, only nine stories tall, was built in Chicago in 1885. As technology improved, builders competed to raise taller and taller skyscrapers.

Skyscrapers and larger apartment buildings featured newly invented electric elevators. As they carried residents and workers to upper floors, elevators moved so quickly, according to one rider, that “the passenger seems to feel his stomach pass into his shoes.”

Transportation Innovations

As skyscrapers crowded more people into smaller spaces, they added to a growing problem: traffic. Downtown streets were jammed with horse-drawn buses, carriages, and carts.

Electricity offered one solution. Frank Sprague, an engineer from Richmond, Virginia, designed the first electric streetcar system in 1887. Streetcars, or trolleys, were fast, clean, and quiet. Many trolley lines ran from the center of a city to the outlying countryside, creating the first suburbs. A suburb is a residential area on or near the outskirts of a city.

Other cities built steam-driven passenger trains on overhead tracks. In 1897, Boston built the first American subway, or underground electric railway. Subways and elevated railroads conveyed workers rapidly to and from their jobs.

Some cities needed ways to move masses of people and goods across rivers. In 1874, James B. Eads designed and built a three-arched bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Eads Bridge was more than a quarter of a mile long. Nine years later, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Manhattan Island and Brooklyn, was completed. More than a mile long, this suspension bridge carried a footpath, roadways, and two railroad lines. Four huge cables suspended the bridge, which was soon carrying 33 million people a year.

Analyze Images Along with a subway, this elevated railway was built to relieve Boston’s traffic problems.

Infer Why would an elevated rail line improve street congestion?

Places to Relax

While cities grew up and out, some planners wanted to preserve open spaces. They believed that open land would calm busy city dwellers.

In the 1850s, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted planned spacious Central Park in New York City. Other cities followed this model. They set aside land for public parks that contained zoos and gardens so that city people could enjoy green grass and trees during their leisure time.

A New Pastime

Shopping areas also got a new look. In the past, people had bought shoes in one store, socks in another, and dishes in a third. The new department stores sold all kinds of goods in different sections or departments. As the American economy was able to produce more goods at cheaper prices, American consumers were better able to afford them. Americans were therefore both producers and consumers of goods and services, encouraging new department stores to open across the country.

In New York, R. H. Macy opened a nine-story department store in 1902. Its motto stated, “We sell goods cheaper than any house in the world.” Soon, other cities had department stores. Shopping became a popular pastime. People browsed through each floor, looking at clothes, furniture, and jewelry. On the street, “window-shoppers” paused to view elaborate displays behind enormous new plate-glass windows.

Analyze Images Large department stores such as Marshall Field & Company, located in a Chicago skyscraper, offered customers a variety of items available for purchase all in a single location.

Use Visual Information What advances of the era can you identify in this photograph?

READING CHECK

Identify Cause and Effect How did developers respond when cities began running out of space in their downtown areas?

Why Did Sports Become Popular?

The rise of the factory split the worlds of work and play more sharply than ever. With less chance to socialize on the job, there was more interest in leisure. Sports provided a great escape from the pressures of work.

“Play Ball!”

Baseball was the most popular sport in the nation. Organized baseball was first played in New York. During the Civil War, New York soldiers showed other Union troops how to play. By the 1870s, several cities had professional baseball teams and the first professional league was organized.

Early baseball was somewhat different from today’s game. Pitchers threw underhanded. Catchers caught the ball after one bounce. Fielders did not wear gloves. As a result, high scores were common. One championship baseball game ended with a score of 103 to 8!

At first, African Americans played professional baseball. In time, though, the major leagues barred black players. In 1885, Frank Thompson organized a group of waiters into one of the first African American professional teams, the Cuban Giants of Long Island. They took the name “Cuban,” not because they were from Cuba, but in hopes that all-white teams might be willing to play them.

An Early Version of Football

Football grew out of informal English games that also gave rise to rugby. Americans had played forms of football since colonial times. Early football called for lots of muscle and little skill. On every play, the opposing teams crashed into each other like fighting rams. The quarterback ran or jumped over the tangle of bodies.

Players did not wear helmets and were often hurt. In 1908 alone, 33 college football players died from injuries. Some colleges banned the sport or drew up stricter rules of play for the game.

Basketball Begins

In 1891, James Naismith invented basketball. Naismith taught physical education at a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. He wanted a sport that could be played indoors in winter. He nailed two bushel baskets to the gym walls. Players tried to throw a soccer ball into the baskets.

Basketball caught on quickly. It spread to other YMCAs and then to schools and colleges around the country.

Analyze Images This Smith College women’s basketball team played in front of all-female audiences because their uniforms were considered too “immodest” for men to see.

Infer How have sports changed over the last hundred years?

READING CHECK

Draw Conclusions Why might all-white baseball teams be willing to play African Americans who called themselves “Cubans”?

New Forms of Entertainment

By the late 1800s, American cities supported a wide variety of cultural activities. Talented immigrants contributed to new forms of music and theater. People from different cultures sang the same songs and enjoyed the same shows.

In urban centers, public socializing increased. Before this time, young men and women got together in the home, under the watchful eye of parents. Now many single women had jobs in the cities, often as teachers, clerks, or secretaries. With more places to go, such as theaters, dance halls, and amusement parks, dating became more common. Men, who generally earned a higher wage than women, usually paid for the entertainment.

As railroads grew, circuses, acting companies, and “Wild West” shows toured the country. These traveling groups helped spread American culture beyond the cities to the small towns.

An Evening Out

Many large cities organized symphony orchestras and opera companies. Generally, only the wealthy attended the symphony or the opera. For other city dwellers, an evening out often meant a trip to a vaudeville house. Vaudeville (VAWD vil) was a variety show that included comedians, song-and-dance routines, and acrobats.

Vaudeville provided opportunities for people from many ethnic backgrounds, such as Irish American dancer-singer George M. Cohan and Jewish comedians like the Marx Brothers. Will Rogers, a performer of Cherokee descent, was one of the best-loved entertainers in the nation. He began his career doing lariat tricks on stage. Later, Rogers, wearing a cowboy hat and twirling a rope, used gentle wit to comment on American life. “Everybody is ignorant,” he said, “only on different subjects.”

Analyze Images Will Rogers began his career in vaudeville doing rope tricks, but became renowned for his gentle wit.

Infer Why was show business so attractive to diverse performers?

Popular Music

Songwriters produced many popular tunes, such as “Shine On, Harvest Moon.” Later, Thomas Edison’s phonograph sparked a new industry. By 1900, millions of phonograph records had been sold.

Ragtime was a new kind of music with a lively, rhythmic sound. Scott Joplin, an African American composer, helped make ragtime popular. His “Maple Leaf Rag” was a nationwide hit.

In towns and cities, marching bands played the military music of John Philip Sousa. Sousa wrote more than 100 marches, including “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” His marches are still favorites at Fourth of July celebrations.

READING CHECK

Draw Conclusions How did Edison’s phonograph affect the music industry?

Why Did More Americans Attend School?

Before 1870, fewer than half of American children went to school. Many who did attended one-room schoolhouses, with only one teacher. Often, several students shared a single book.

Analyze Images Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the focus of schools in the late 1800s.

Compare and Contrast How is a modern classroom different from this one? How is it similar?

Government-Funded Schools

As industry grew, the nation needed an educated work force. As a result, states improved public schools at all levels. By 1900, there were 4,000 kindergartens across the nation.

In the North, most states passed compulsory education laws that required children to attend school, usually through sixth grade. In the South, which had no tradition of public schools, the Freedmen’s Bureau had built grade schools for both African American and white students. By 1900, most southern schools were segregated.

In cities such as Boston and New York, public schools taught English to young immigrants. Children also learned about the duties and rights of citizens. In the 1880s, Catholics became worried that public schools stressed Protestant teachings. They opened their own parochial, or church-sponsored, schools.

A Typical School Day

The typical school day lasted from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Pupils learned the “three Rs”: reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic. Students memorized and recited passages from the most widely used textbook,McGuffey’s Eclectic Reader. With titles like “Waste Not, Want Not,” the poems and stories taught not only reading but also religion, ethics, and values.

Schools emphasized discipline and obedience. Students had to sit upright in their seats, often with their hands folded in front of them. Punishment was swift and severe—a rap on the head for whispering or a paddling for arriving late.

Higher Learning

After the Civil War, many cities and towns built public high schools. By 1900, there were 6,000 high schools in the country. Higher education also expanded. New private colleges for both women and men opened. Many states built universities that offered free or low-cost education.

To help meet the need for trained workers, the Chicago Manual Training School opened in 1884. It offered courses in “shop work,” such as electricity and carpentry, as well as in a few academic subjects. Soon, most public schools in the nation had programs to prepare students for jobs in business and in industry.

READING CHECK

Compare and Contrast How did public and parochial schools differ?

A Newspaper Boom

“Read all about it!” cried newsboys on city street corners. As education spread, people read more, especially newspapers. The number of newspapers grew dramatically. By 1900, half the newspapers in the world were printed in the United States.

The newspaper boom was linked to the growth of cities. In towns and villages, neighbors shared news face to face. In the crowded and busy cities, people needed newspapers to stay informed.

Newspapers reported on major events of the day. Most of them featured stories about local government, business, fashion, and sports. Many immigrants learned to read English by spelling their way through a daily paper. They also learned about American life.

Competition Creates Yellow Journalism

Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, created the first modern, mass-circulation newspaper. In 1883, Pulitzer bought the New York World. He set out to make it lively and “truly democratic.”

To win readers, Pulitzer slashed prices and added comic strips. Pictures and bold “scare” headlines attracted reader attention. The World splashed crimes and political scandals across its front page.

William Randolph Hearst challenged Pulitzer. Hearst’s New York Journal began to outdo the World in presenting scandals, crime stories, and gossip. Critics complained that the papers offered less news and more scandal every day. They coined the term yellow journalism for the sensational reporting style of the World and the Journal.

Analyze Images News carriers wait for newspapers “hot off the press” in Cincinnati.

Use Visual Information What role did these men and boys play in the newspaper business?

The Female Readership

Newspapers competed for women readers. They added special sections on fashion, social events, health, homemaking, and family matters. Newspapers rarely pushed for women’s rights, however. Most were afraid to take bold positions that might anger some readers.

Magazines and Novels

Americans also read more books and magazines. New printing methods lowered the cost of magazines. Magazines also added eye-catching pictures to attract readers.

Each magazine had its special audience. The Ladies’ Home Journal appealed mostly to middle-class women. By 1900, it had one million readers. Other magazines, such as Harper’s Monthly and The Nation, specialized in politics or current events.

Low-priced paperbacks, known as dime novels, offered thrilling adventure stories. Many told about the “Wild West.” Young people loved dime novels, but parents often disapproved. One critic complained, “Stories for children used to begin, ‘Once upon a time . . . .’ Now they begin, ‘Vengeance, blood, death,’ shouted Rattlesnake Jim.’”

Horatio Alger wrote more than 100 dime novels for children. Most told of poor boys who became rich and respected through hard work, luck, and honesty. ”Rags-to-riches” stories offered the hope that even the poorest person could succeed in the United States.

Analyze Graphs Education was a priority for the Progressives.

Draw Conclusions What conclusions can you draw about trends in the level of education, based on this graph?

READING CHECK

Draw Conclusions Why did serious newspaper readers criticize yellow journalism?

New American Writers and Artists

In the 1880s, a new crop of American writers appeared. For the first time, Americans were reading more books by American authors than by British authors.

Depicting Reality

One group of writers, called realists, tried to show the harsh side of life as it was. Many realists had worked as newspaper reporters. They had seen poverty and wanted to make people aware of the costs of urbanization and industrial growth.

Stephen Crane was best known for his Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Crane also wrote about the shattered lives of young city slum dwellers in novels such as Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Jack London, born in California, wrote about miners and sailors on the West Coast who put their lives at risk in backbreaking jobs.

Kate Chopin found an audience in women’s magazines for her short stories about New Orleans life. Chopin’s stories showed women breaking out of traditional roles.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African American to make a living as a writer. He wrote poems, such as “We Wear the Mask,” in a serious, elegant style. In other poems, he used everyday language to express the feelings of African Americans of the time.

Mark Twain

The most famous and popular author of this period was Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens. Twain had his first success in 1865 with his comical short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

Like many other writers, Twain used local color to make his stories more realistic. Local color refers to the speech and habits of a particular region. Twain captured the speech patterns of southerners who lived and worked along the Mississippi River.

In his novels Twain used homespun characters to poke fun at serious issues. Huckleberry Finn, a country boy, and Jim, an escaped slave, raft down the Mississippi River together in the days before the Civil War. Huck comes to respect Jim and to view slavery as wrong.

Here, Huck talks about Jim’s love for his family:

Primary Source

“He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free state he would go to saving up money, . . . and when he got enough he would buy his wife, and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn’t sell them, they’d get an Ab’litionist to go and steal them.”

—Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Analyze Images American author Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, gained national renown through his depiction of southern life in novels like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Compare and Contrast How was the work of a realist like Twain different from that of authors who had preceded him?

Lifelike Art

Like writers of the period, many artists sought to capture local color and the gritty side of modern life. In the late 1800s, leading artists painted realistic everyday scenes.

During the Civil War, Winslow Homer drew scenes of brutal battles for magazines. Later, he gained fame for realistic paintings of the New England coast. Henry Tanner, an African American, won fame for paintings of black sharecroppers. Later, Tanner moved to Paris to enjoy greater freedom.

Other American artists preferred to work in Europe, too. James Whistler left Massachusetts for Paris and London. His use of color and light influenced young European artists. Mary Cassatt painted bright, colorful scenes of people in everyday situations, especially mothers and children.

Analyze Images American artist Mary Cassatt used bold colors to paint scenes of everyday life, such as The Boating Party (1893).

Infer Why do you think Cassatt moved to France?

READING CHECK

Identify Main Ideas What was the main goal of writers referred to as realists?

Lesson Check

Where would you have found a skyscraper in 1900—in the city center or in a suburb? Explain.
What did the writing of realists have in common with yellow journalism?
Summarize How did city life change during the Progressive Era?
Infer Why did education become available to more people during the Progressive Era?
Writing Workshop: Use Technology to Produce and Publish You are nearly ready to write the research paper, based on the notes. Technology will help you efficiently produce and publish a well-organized paper that clearly answers the question that you posed earlier.

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