Lesson 6: A Changing American Culture

Question 1

Chautauqua Society Definition

Answer 1

a traveling adult education program in the 1800s

Question 2

Compulsory Education Definition

Answer 2

the requirement that children attend school to a certain grade or age

Question 3

Department Store Definition

Answer 3

a large retail store offering a variety of goods organized in separate departments

Question 4

Dime Novel Definition

Answer 4

in the late 1800s, a low-priced paperback offering an adventure story

Question 5

Local Color Definition

Answer 5

the speech and habits of a particular region

Question 6

Parochial Definition

Answer 6

connected to a church parish; often used to refer to church-sponsored schools

Question 7

Ragtime Definition

Answer 7

a form of popular music of the late 1800s and early 1900s that had a lively, rhythmic sound

Question 8

Realist Definition

Answer 8

writer or artist who aims to show life as it really is

Question 9

Skyscraper Definition

Answer 9

a tall building with many floors supported by a lightweight steel frame

Question 10

Suburbs Definition

Answer 10

a residential area on the outskirts of a city

Question 11

Vaudeville Definition

Answer 11

a type of variety show made popular in the late 1800s that included comedians, song-and-dance routines, and acrobats

Question 12

Yellow Journalism Definition

Answer 12

news reporting, often biased or untrue, that relies on sensational stories and headlines

Question 13

True or False: 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.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

In 1871, a fire leveled downtown Chicago. How did planners respond to this? How tall was the first skyscraper built in 1885 in Chicago? What was the influence of the electric elevator?

Answer 14

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. Newly invented electric elevators, like those installed in larger apartment buildings, 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.”

Question 15

What problem did skyscrapers add to? What were some solutions to this problem?

Answer 15

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 carried workers rapidly to and from their jobs.

Question 16

What solution did James B. Eads create to solve the problem of needing a way to move masses of people and goods across rivers? How did New York follow his strategy?

Answer 16

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, New York City completed the Brooklyn Bridge linking Manhattan Island and Brooklyn. More than a mile long, it carried a footpath, roadways, and two railroad lines. The bridge was soon carrying 33 million people a year.

Question 17

What idea did Frederick Law Olmsted have to preserve open areas of nature in cities? How did others follow his plan?

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

How did the creation of department stores influence American consumers?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

What did R. H. Macy do in New York? How did shopping become a popular pastime? Who were “window shoppers”?

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

True or False: 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.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

What was the most popular sport in the nation? Where was organized baseball first played? How did the Civil War influence the spread of baseball? Where was baseball at by the 1870s?

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

How was early baseball different from the day today?

Answer 22

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!

Question 23

Due to major leagues later barring African Americans, why did Frank Thompson create the Cuban Giants of Long Island in 1885? Although they were African Americans, why did they choose “Cuban”?

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

How were early versions of American football different from football today?

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

How did basketball get its start in America? Who invented it in 1891?

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

By the late 1800s, what did American cities support? How did music and theater bring people of different cultures together?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Which forms of entertainment were predominantly for the wealthy? What form of entertainment was for city dwellers? What was Vaudeville? How did Vaudevilles bring cultures together?

Answer 27

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. Wearing a cowboy hat and twirling a rope, Rogers used gentle wit to comment on American life. “Everybody is ignorant,” he said, “only on different subjects.”

Question 28

What was the influence of songwriters and Thomas Edison’s phonograph?

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

What was Ragtime? How did Scott Joplin help popularize the genre? What was John Philip Sousa known for?

Answer 29

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 became favorites at Fourth of July celebrations.

Question 30

True or False: Scott Joplin was known as the “King of Ragtime”

Answer 30

True

Question 31

How many children went to school before 1870? What conditions were they dealt with?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

How did the growth of industry influence the need of education? By 1900, how many kindergartens were there in the United States? What were compulsory education laws? What did they typically state? How did the Freedmen’s Bureau set up the South’s public school system? By 1900, what happened to most southern schools?

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

In cities such as Boston and New York, what did public schools teach immigrants? In the 1880s, what type of school did Catholics create out of the worry that public schools were teaching Protestant beliefs. What are parochial schools?

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

What was a typical school day like in American public schools? What did pupils learn?

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

How did schools emphasize discipline and obedience?

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

How did higher education increase after the Civil War?

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

In 1874, a Methodist minister opened a summer school for Bible teachers along Lake Chautauqua. How did this summer school expand and change into the Chautauqua Society in 1903?

Answer 37

In 1874, a Methodist minister opened a summer school for Bible teachers along Lake Chautauqua in New York. The next year, the camp was opened to the general public. Mostly middle-class men and women of all ages gathered at Chautauqua each summer. In addition to receiving spiritual guidance, they enjoyed lectures about art, politics, philosophy, and other subjects. In 1903, the Chautauqua Society began to send out traveling companies. Before long, Chautauquas were reaching as many as 5 million people in 10,000 American towns every year.

Question 38

How did the growth of cities and literacy influence the newspaper boom?

Answer 38

“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.

Question 39

Who was Joseph Pulitzer? Which newspaper company did he run? Who was Willian Randolph Hearst? How did his newspaper company challenge Pulitzer’s? What genre of newspaper did these two create? What is Yellow journalism?

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

How did newspapers compete for women readers? Why did newspaper companies not push for women’s rights?

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

What were the contributions of reporter Nellie Bly in reforms for the mentally ill?

Answer 41

A few women worked as reporters. Nellie Bly of the World pretended to be insane in order to find out about treatment of the mentally ill. Her articles about cruelty in mental hospitals led to reforms.

Question 42

Why did Americans start to read more books and magazines? How did new printing methods affect consumers of these industries? What was the relationship between magazines and their audience?

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

What were dime novels? Why did kids love them, although their parents despised them?

Answer 43

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. “Stories for children used to begin, ‘Once upon a time …,’”a critic complained. “Now they begin, ‘“Vengeance, blood, death,” shouted Rattlesnake Jim.’”

Question 44

What message was conveyed in most of Horatio Alger’s dime novels? How did this fill poor Americans with hope?

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

True or False: 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.

Answer 45

True

Question 46

Who were realists? What were their background?

Answer 46

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.

Question 47

Who was Stephen Crane? What is he known for?

Answer 47

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.

Question 48

Who was Jack London? What was he known for?

Answer 48

Jack London, born in California, wrote about miners and sailors on the West Coast who put their lives at risk in backbreaking jobs.

Question 49

Who was Kate Chopin? What was she known for?

Answer 49

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.

Question 50

Who was Paul Laurence Dunbar? What was he known for?

Answer 50

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.

Question 51

Who was Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)? What was he known for?

Answer 51

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 novels like Huckleberry Finn, Twain used homespun characters to poke fun at serious issues. Huck, 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.

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, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; 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

Question 52

Why did some schools and libraries refuse to buy “Huckleberry Finn”?

Answer 52

Although Huckleberry Finn became a classic, some schools and libraries refused to buy the book. They claimed that Huck was a crude character who would have a bad influence on “our pure-minded lads and lasses.”

Question 53

Who were some popular artists during the late 1800s? What were their goals?

Answer 53

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. Thomas Eakins learned anatomy and dissected dead bodies to be able to portray the human form accurately. Many of his paintings depicted sports scenes or medical operations. Henry Tanner, an African American student of Eakins, won fame for pictures 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 (kuh SAT) also carved out a place for herself in the French art world. Cassatt painted bright, colorful scenes of people in everyday situations, especially mothers with their children.