The Challenges of Urbanization

THE STORY TO DATE…

Remember all the changes after the Civil War…

• Reconstruction in the South• Manifest Destiny (westward expansion)– Mexican-American War gained land from Mexico– Native Americans removed from the land following bloody

battles and moved to reservations• Rapid rise of industrialization caused growth of cities– New inventions (light bulb, telephone, Bessemer process)– Transcontinental railroad– Robber barons (Carnegie, Rockefeller)

Immigration • Large number of immigrants – Through Ellis Island in New York– Through Angel Island in San Francisco

• 20 million Europeans between 1870 and 1920• 200,000 Chinese between 1870 and 1920• Reasons included– Poverty in home lands– Opportunities– Freedom

Growth of Urban Population

• Inventions and technological advance allowed cities to grow– Factories– Skyscrapers

• Immigration – Most moved to the cities, expanding population– From 10 million to 54 million between 1870 and

1920

This is the topic of this section…The Challenges of Urbanization

BIG IDEA –The rapid growth of cities forced people to deal with problems of housing, sanitation, transportation, jobs, water, and sanitation.

Why did immigrants settle in cities?

• Cities were the cheapest places to live.• It was closest to where they arrived in the

United States– Especially in New York (Ellis Island)

• Factories offered many jobs to unskilled laborers

How many immigrants?

• By 1890, twice as many Irish in New York as in Dublin, Ireland

• By 1910, immigrant families made up more than half of population in 18 major American cities

The Americanization Movement

• Definition: Social movement by government and citizen groups to teach immigrants skills needed for citizenship– English literacy– History– Government– Cooking– Etiquette

Immigrant response

• Many did not want to abandon their traditions• Ethnic communities developed• Enabled them to speak own language and

customs• But quickly got overcrowded

Migration from Rural areas

• Many moved from rural areas because– Technology reduced number of laborers needed– Escape racial violence in the South– Escape political oppression– To seek better jobs

Urban Problems• Housing – lack of available housing led to many

families living in tenements• Poor people needed to get around = cities developed

mass transit such as subways and street cars• Water – Lack of piping in cities led to little or no

running water• Diseases – Too many people in a small space, lack of

sanitation, medical care• Sanitation = Garbage on streets, outhouses• Crime• Fires

Reform Movements

• Social gospel movement – Preached salvation through service to the poor

• Settlement houses – Community centers to provide assistance to the poor– Run mainly by middle-class, educated women– Taught courses– Provided medical care

• Jane Adams – most famous of the social gospel movement – founded Hull House in Chicago

Jacob Riis

• An immigrant from Denmark• A police reporter, often worked in slums• Also a photographer• Documented the lives of the poor in

tenements• Most famous work: “How the Other Half

Lives”