-
Apr 27, 1300
Southwest Tribes- Early America
-In the early history of the Southwest, the dominant Anasazi tribe, known for their elaborate cliff dwellings, mastered irrigation and farming. A system of roads connected many of these villages.
-By natural causes and drought, the Anasazi left their contained spots by 1300 AD, and their desecedants, the Pueblo emerged more dominantly -
Apr 27, 1400
Eastern Woodlands Indians-Pre Columbus
The Iroquois tribes, known as the Five Nations, controlled the Northeast. The Cherokee and other tribes inhabited the Southeast; the Fox, Chee, and others lived around the Great Lakes; and the Mississippian culture dominated the Mississippi flood plains. While all these Eastern Woodlands tribes hunted, many were skilled in agriculture, employing the “slash and burn” technique and crop rotation to manage their land for food production.
They are also known for their "mounds" ,architectural feats. -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), communicable disease, and ideas between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. -
Apr 27, 1500
Effect of White Man on Indian Culture
-As more and more explorations were being made, Indians sfferend greatly at the expansion sought by many explorers- populations plumetted from new disease and being pushed out -
Apr 27, 1540
Plains Indians
The Cheyenne, Sioux, and other tribes hunted in the Great Plains, which extended from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. The Plains were largely uninhabited before the arrival of Columbus. When Europeans brought horses and guns into the Plains, the tribes developed into powerful hunting groups. -
Jamestown Settlers
-The settlers who came to Jamestown were entrepreneurs, looking to make money. They were single, young men (not a lot of families).
-Jamestown's economic culture and life was built around their specialty crop, tobacco. This is also a catalyst for population growth -
Indentured Servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed the paperwork. They included men and women; most were under the age of 21, and most became helpers on farms or house servants. It ended in the 1700s when conditions in England started to improve. -
Puritan Migration
1620-1640; The term Great Migration usually refers to the migration in this period of English settlers, primarily Puritans to Massachusetts and the warm islands of the West Indies, especially the sugar rich island of Barbados, 1630-40. They came in family groups, rather than as isolated individuals and were motivated chiefly by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion. -
Plymouth
-The Pilgrims were unprepared for the harsh New England winter, and about half of the settlers died by March 1621. Those who survived owed their lives to the aid of some English-speaking Native Americans, who taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn. After that terrible first winter, Plymouth quickly grew and prospered.
-Formed a 'civil-body politic' -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
-The Puritans wanted their colony to be a theocracy, and emphasized religion over trade. In 1630, under the leadership of John Winthrop, who had been elected governor, about 900 Puritans traveled to MA. He saw Massachusetts Bay as “a city upon a hill,” a beacon of religious righteousness that would shine throughout the world.
-Had General Court
-Operated to a system called congregationalism, where each independent church congregation served as the center of a community’s political/social life -
Emigration to New England Colonies
Emigration to the New England colonies after 1640 and the start of the English Civil War decreased to less than 1% (about equal to the death rate) in nearly all years prior to 1845. The rapid growth of the New England colonies (total population ~700,000 by 1790) was almost entirely due to the high birth rate (>3%) and low death rate (<1%) per year. -
Indian and English Conflicts
-In this 1646, the English claimed over the Indians that they had to settle north of the York River and were not allowed to interfere with English holds south of that -
New England Colonists
The New England colonists included more educated men as well as many skilled farmers, tradesmen and craftsmen. They were mostly farmers and settled in small villages for common religious activity. Shipbuilding, commerce, and fisheries were important in coastal towns. New England's healthy climate (the cold winters killed the mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects), and abundant food supply resulted in the lowest death rate and highest birth rate of any place in the world. -
Early Slavery
-Slavery technically started very early under the encomienda system, a glorified slave control system implemented by the Spanish
-Slavery became more and more prevalent in the Southern colonies, especially after Bacon's Rebellion
-By 1660 slavery was recognized under law
-At this time, fewer than 1,000 slaves lived in Maryland/Virginia. Over the next forty years, it grew to nearly 20,000. Slavery later spread to the Carolinas, and by the 18th century blacks outnumbered free whites there -
Life in the Middle Colonies of America
- Economically, the colonies relied on grain production, shipping, and fur trading with the local Native Americans. -PA: Seeking religious freedom, Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, Baptists, and others flocked to the new colony. Pennsylvania soon became economically prosperous, in part because of the industrious Quaker work ethic. By the 1750s, Pennsylvania’s capital, Philadelphia, had become the largest city of the colonies with a population of 20,000.
-
Pennsylvania Quakers
The Pennsylvania colonial center was dominated by the Quakers for decades after they emigrated there, mainly from the North Midlands of England, from about 1680 to 1725. The main commercial center of Philadelphia was run mostly by prosperous Quakers, supplemented by many small farming and trading communities with strong German contingents located in the Delaware River valley. -
Life in the South
-From 1607 to 1692 colonies were being developed
-In the South/Chesapeake region, half the population died as young adults, and disease was prevalent
-Not many women until the end of the 17th century
-a large number of African slaves
-In the South, families were smaller than in other regions because adult men far outnumbered women. Men needed to work on the region’s massive plantations. -
Life in the Northern Colonies
-Typically, more Northern colonies had better survival than their Southern counterparts
-Many families migrated here, which increased the birthrate and family life
-Religion dominated all aspects of life in New England. To vote or hold office, a person had to be a member in good standing of the church.
-Puritan communities were close-knit, and because all followers of God were expected to read the Bible, they placed great emphasis on education
-Had self-government- 55% of males in MA voted -
Earlier Colonial era
Nearly all commercial activity was run in small privately owned businesses with good credit both at home and in England being essential since they were often cash poor. Most settlements were nearly independent of trade with Britain as most grew or made nearly everything they needed—the average cost of imports per most households was only about 5-15 English pounds per year. Most settlements were created by complete family groups with several generations often present in each settlement. -
New York residents
The Dutch-started colony of New York had the most eclectic collection of residents from many different nations and prospered as a major trading and commercial center after about 1700. -
Frontier Settlement
The colonial western frontier was mainly settled from about 1717 to 1775 by mostly Presbyterian settlers from northern England border lands, Scotland, and the northern portion of Ireland, fleeing bad times and persecution in those areas. Most initially landed in family groups in Philadelphia or Baltimore but soon migrated to the western frontier where land was cheaper and restrictions less onerous. -
Colonial Society Trends
Several social classes
One’s social class determined political and legal rights, personal attire, even church seating.
Most influential class was the gentry
Owned large farms or plantations or were merchants, doctors, lawyers, or ministers.
The middle class farmed small lands, ran small stores, worked at skilled crafts
Women of the middle class made their own goods to help
Men of the middle class could vote, few held public office
The lower class was composed of day laborers, slaves, servants -
Family Stucture in Colonial America
Colonial family size was typically nine people, though a household often included stepchildren, grandparents, aunts, and cousins also. The head of the house was the father; the mother was his companion and helper; the children were expected to obey both their parents and all other authority figures without hesitation. Unruly or belligerent behavior was dealt with so harshly that the instruments of discipline would easily be categorized as instruments of torture by modern society. -
Settlement of colonies
Nearly all colonies in the United States were settled by migration from another colony or state, as foreign immigration usually only played a minor role after the first initial settlements were started. Many new immigrants did end up on the frontiers as that was where the land was usually the cheapest. -
Georgia Colony
-The colony of Georgia was specfically founded for the purpose that its population would be made of debtors -
Population Growth
By 1750, there are over a million colonists. By 1775, the population doubles. This rise in population represented the attractiveness of the colonies. There was also internal growth -
Proclamation of 1763
The American colonists wanted to settle in the Ohio River area. However, British issued this proclamation that stated that Americans may not settle anywhere west of the Appalachian Mountains. -
Quebec Act
-The Quebec Act, while grossly opposed by Americans because if its provisions, also limited expansion because it claimed Quebec’s borders south to the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi, thereby inhibiting westward expansion of the colonies. -
Loyalists Leading into the War
-Approximately 20 percent of free Americans were Tories. Tory influence was most powerful in the Middle Colonies and in Georgia. Slaves also made up a significant number of Tory loyalists, responding to Britain’s promises of freedom for any slave who fought to restore royal authority. -
American Population-Revolutionary Period
-Were immigrants or their descendants from England. In addition there were immigrants from others parts of Europe as well as African Americans, the majority of whom were slaves. Finally the American colonies contained Native Indians from many different Indian tribes. The overwhelming majority of Americans in 1776 were Protestant. America contained a smaller number of Catholics as well as a very small minority of Jews. Finally it contained a large number of believers in American Indian religion -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
-forbade slavery in the territory above the Ohio River, contained a settlers’ bill of rights, and defined the process through which territories could become states. In such expansion efforts, the government faced fierce opposition from the Native Americans and Spanish along the frontier.
-An earlier ordinance in 1785 set the standards for settlement -
French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars limit immigration
In the early years of the U.S., immigration was only about 6000 people a year on average, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. The French Revolution, starting in 1789, and the Napoleonic Wars from 1792 to 1814 severely limited immigration from Europe. -
Beginnings of American Diversity
Already by 1790 the ancestry question is starting to become meaningless as many people from many different countries intermarry in each generation and nearly all these ancestries are starting to merge to become American. The total white population in 1790 was about 80% British ancestry and roughly doubles by natural increase every 25 years. The native born population of the U.S. has never fallen below 85% of the population after about 1675–100 years before the American Revolution. -
Loyalists emigrate
The 1790 population already reflects the approximate 50,000 “Loyalists or Tories”, who emigrated to Canada at the end of the American Revolution and the less than 10,000 more who emigrated to other British possessions including England. -
Treaty of Greenville
-Signed by 12 Native American Tribes and cleared the Ohio territory of tribes and opened it up to U.S. settlement. -
Election of 1796
In this election, Republicans controlled the South, while Federalists dominated New England, New Jersey, and South Carolina. -
New England Life Post Revolution
-Towns were built around "commons," or central town squares, and focus was on community
-New England had many great marchants, lawyers, etc
-As rural New England became overpopulated, many began leaving the farms and looking for opportunities elsewhere. Many headed to northern New York State; Maine, which was considered a wilderness at the time; and the West. -
Post Revolution Mid Atlantic
-Quakers, German, Scots Irish helped define culture in PA
-NJ was mostly descendants of Germans, English, Dutch, French, plus immigrants
-Most of New York's residents were English, with a number of Dutch and German immigrants and a Scotch-Irish settlement in the northern part of the state. Although slavery was legal in the Middle States, there were few slaves, and many free blacks.
-The Iroquois, Erie, Mohegan and Susquehanna Indians lived in Western NY and PA until the US took control -
Post Revolution South
-Religion (Anglican Church) was less of an influence here
-Southern lifestyles differed according to the socio-economic level of the individual
-Most free Southerners were small farmers who did not own slaves. Many of these farmers were of Scotch-Irish/German descent, living in the up-country of the South.
-Plantation owners had great influence on Southern life
-Although there were small communities of free blacks, the vast majority of them lived in slavery. -
American West Post Revolution
-Life in the Northwest was daily challenging, as settlers and Native Americans battled with each other and with the environment. Eventually, towns and cities developed from trading posts as transportation improved and populations increased.
-People who would have faced discrimination out East, such as free blacks, found greater freedom in the Northwest. -
National (Cumberland) Road provides gateway to the West
The approximately 620-mile (1,000 km) long National Road provided a connection between the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and a gateway to the West for thousands of settlers. -
War of 1812 Limits immigration
The War of 1812 (1812–1814) with Britain again prevented any significant immigration. By 1808 Congress had banned the importation of slaves, slowing that human traffic to a trickle. -
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society was the primary vehicle to support the "return" of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. It helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821–22 as a place for freedmen. -
Cult of Domesticity
In the mid-1800s, society began to change rapidly. Civil war, industrialization, and a huge immigrant influx of Irish, then later, Germans. As fathers left to fight wars and work in factories, there developed a belief that the father was the earner/in charge of the family’s societal and financial affairs, and that the women were in charge of domestic life/raising the family. This wasn’t the reality, since women and children were working in factories as well, but it was a middle class concept wh -
Gradual Increase in Immigration
After 1820 immigration gradually increased. For the first time federal records, including ship passenger lists, were kept for immigration. Total immigration for one year in 1820 was 8,385, gradually building to 23,322 by 1830, with 143,000 total immigrating during the intervening decade. -
New Harmony Community- IN
-Robert Owen purchased the Harmony land and buildings from the Rappites to establish the first socialist commune organized on the principle of rational ethics and not religion
-Owen rebelled against the “trinity of evils:” private property, irrational systems of religion, and marriage founded on property and religion. He developed a plan of curfews, house inspections, and fines for drunkenness and illegitimate children.
-This community was very regulated, in all parts of life -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included many members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory (eastern sections of the present-day state of Oklahoma) -
Treaty of New Echota/Trail of Tears
-The Treaty of New Echota (1835) had terms under which the entire Cherokee Nation was expected to cede its territory in the Southeast and move west to the Indian Territory. The treaty was not approved by the Cherokee National Council, it was ratified by the U.S. Senate .
-trail of Tears a direct result of this; it moved well over 10,000 Indians (who refused to initially move) and about 4,000 died on this brutal march -
Fourier, Brisbane, Associationism, and Phalanxes
-Based on an agrarian-handicraft economy, the phalanx consisted of about 1500 people. Work was voluntary and goods produced were the property of the phalanx. But members were paid an hourly wage (the scale escalating according to the disagreeableness of the task), and private property and inheritance were permitted. Fourier’s premise was that people could live harmoniously in a state of nature, free of government intervention.
-Brisbane studied under Fourier and transported Fourier's ideas to US -
Irish Potato Famine contributes to Immigration
From 1831 to 1840 immigration increased greatly, to 599,000 total, as 207,000 Irish, even before the famine of 1845-49, started to emigrate in large numbers as Britain eased travel restrictions. 152,000 Germans, 76,000 British, and 46,000 French formed the next largest immigrant groups in that decade. From 1841 to 1850 immigration exploded to 1,713,000 total immigrants and at least 781,000 Irish, with the famine of 1845-1919 driving them, fled their homeland to escape poverty and death. -
Mormons move to Utah
Brigham Young and 3000 Mormons set out for Utah on February 4, 1846 -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo extends citizenship
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, concluding the Mexican War, extended U.S. citizenship to approximately 60,000 Mexican residents of the New Mexico Territory and 10,000 living in California. -
The German Fourty-Eighters
Europeans supporters of the revolutions of 1848, these Germans emigrated to America because of disappointment in the failure of the revolutions to reform Germany. Between 1830 and 1860, many Germans came to America because of crop failures and other hardships. Unlike the Irish, the Germans possessed a modest amount of material goods. The Germans were more educated than the Americans and were opposed to slavery. -
Oneida Community- Family Structue (2nd Great Awakening)
-Structured on bible
-Eugenic breeding- "complex marriage" defined families
- Practice of complex marriage was regulated by the practice of what Noyes called "male continence", a highly successful form of birth control. Noyes needed to control pregnancy so he could control which members of the community parented children, and through this type of social engineering people his community with the "best" people -
California Gold Rush
In 1849, the California Gold Rush spurred significant immigration from Mexico, South America, China, Australia, Europe and caused a mass migration within the US, resulting in California gaining statehood in 1850, with a population of about 90,000. -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad". -
"Bleeding" Kansas
-Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, nullified the Missouri Compromise; implemented the concept of popular sovereignty. (popular sovereignty: inhabitants of each territory or state should decide whether it would be a free or slave state) -This resulted in immigration en masse to Kansas by activists from both sides. (1854-1861) -
Comstock Lode
Henry Comstock found the Comstock Lode in Nevada, an area rich with gold ore. This caused a boom in population in this area, as well as Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. -
Immigration in 1860-1890
From 1860-1890, many people immigrated to America because of the prospect of a better life.
-Germans:3 million
-English, Scottish, Welsh: 2 million
-Irish: 1.5 million
These immigrants typically stayed in the Eastern cities of America. -
Number of Industrial Workers Increased
From 1860 to 1900, the number of industrial workers jumped from 885,000 to 3.2 million. The trend toward large-scale production became unmistakable. -
Family Life During the Civil War
The Civil War split families and friends, as each took different sides of support.
As men left for war, women had to step in to fill their place. Women took up roles as factory workers, clerks and school teachers. As the number of sick and wounded increased, women also took on the role as nurses. -
Pacific Railroad Act
This act promoted the construction of the transcontinental railroad by government aid, such as land grants. As a result of these land grants, inhabitants were attracted to the western lands the railroads crossed. As more settlers moved west, women homesteaders became more common. Also, the railroads brought almost 2.2 million foreign born settlers to the trans Mississippi West between 1870-1900. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act gave people 160 acres of land so long as they lived on it for 5 years and paid a registration fee. This Act served as a pull factor, which lured people to settle in the West.
*Note: Many of the settlers were single, young men looking to take advantage of the opportunity in the West. -
Knights of Labor
-The Knights of Labor had around 60,000 black members around the mid-1860s -
Post Civil War: African Americans
-1865-1877
-Postwar years did see economic progress for some African Americans, but redistribution did not lift many blacks out of poverty- black per capita income rose from ¼ of whites to ½, then grew little more afterward
Major black response during Reconstruction was effort to build/rebuild families, and many immediately left plantations was to seek relatives and family.
Women began performing more domestic work/child caring.
Economic necessity led to women taking jobs that resembled slavery. -
Medicine Lodge Treaty
This treaty relocated the Southern Plains Indians to assigned reservations in Oklahoma. -
Fort Laramie Treaty
This was a treaty signed by the Sioux agreeing to move to reservations on the Western Part of South Dakota, which included the Black HIlls, in exchange for money and provisions. -
Growth of Urban Cities
Between 1870 and 1900, New Orlean's population nearly doubled, Buffalo's tripled, and Chicago's increased more than fivefold. By the start of the new century, Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago all had more than a million residents, and 40 percent of all Americans lived in cities. In 1900, New York's 3.4 million inhabitants almost equaled the nation's entire 1850 urban population. -
Suburbs
In the 1870s and 1880s, wealthy city-dwellers began moving to new suburbs to distance themselves farther from the crowded tenement districts. -
Grange Membership
-1.5 million members in the Grange in the early 1870's -
Period: to
Black Migration
-Between this time, around 10,000 blacks migrated to Chicago -
Voting Turnout: 1876-1896
Voter turnout in this period was at its peak. Women were still not able to vote and blacks were being disenfranchised against. The high voter turnout was also due to the intense competition between political groups.
-More than 80% of eligible, white male voters voted
-In areas that were very competitive, up to 95% of eligible, white male voters voted -
Black Migration
-Several thousand blacks migrated to Kansas -
New Colleges and Universities were founded
Between 1880 and 1900, more than 150 new colleges and universities were founded and enrollments more than doubled. -
Divorce Rate 1880-1900
During this time, women had changing views on marriage
In 1880, it was 1 out of 21 marriages resulted in a divorce.
In 1900, the number changed from 1 in 12 marriages.
Typically, the reasons cited were the husband's failure of repsonsibility and failure to respect the woman's independence. -
Voting Statistics: Religion and Ethnicity
In the 1870s-1880s,...
-Catholics tended to vote Democratic
-75% of Methodists and Congregationalists, 65% of Baptists, and 60% of Presbyterians voted Republican
-British Protestants, 80% of Lutherans who had Swedish/Norweigan descent, and African Americans voted Republican -
Period: to
Lynchings
-Approximately 100 blacks lynched annually -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese people to America for the next decade. However, despite this act, the Chinese population in California still exceeded 81 thousand in 1900. -
Pendleton Act
The Pendleton Act...
-initially covered 12% of those who held federal government jobs (only these were bracketed under the term "civil service jobs")
-Covers 90% of federal jobs now -
President Harrison: Pension Rolls
Harrison increased the number of pensioners by 43%
-It went from 676,000 to 1,000,000 -
"In God we trusted, in Kansas we busted!"
-Western Kansas lost 50% of its population from 1888-1892 -
Oklahoma Land Rush
Oklahoma, which was originally meant to be eternal Indian reservations, opened to white settlement and caused a rush for land. -
New Immigration
New immigrants, including Italians, Slavs, Greeks, Jews from southern and eastern Europe, Armenians from the Middle East, and in Hawaii, and Japanese. For the next three decades, America's foreign-born population was increased by new immigration by more than 18 million. -
New York City Immigration Statistics
By 1890, New York City contained...
-2 times as many Irish as Dublin
-1/2 the amount of Italians as Naples
-2 1/2 times the Jewish population of Warsaw
-the same amount of Germans as Hamburg
In addition, 4 out of 5 people in New York had foreign born parents or were born abroad themselves. -
The Farmer's Alliance Membership
-The Southern Alliance boasted 3 million members
-The National Colored Farmers Alliance boasted 1.2 million
-The Kansas Alliance had 130,000 members -
Industrial Unemployment
From 1893-1897 after the Panic of 1893, the industrial unemployment percentage was 20-25% -
Settlement Houses
By 1895, at least fifty settlement houses had opened in cities around the nation. -
New York City female workers
By the end of the 19th century, New York City had well over three hundred thousand female wage earners, most of them young, unmarried women working as seamstresses, laundresses, typists, domestic servants, and department store clerks. -
Higher Learning
In 1900, despite enrollment increases in the preceding decades, only 4 percent of the nation's 18-21 year olds were enrolled in institutions of higher learning. -
Tenant Farmers
-1/3 of southern farmers were tenants by 1900 -
Increase of White-Collar Work Force
From 1900 to 1920, the white-collar work force jumped from 5.1 million to 10.5 million people. Many new white collar jobs also grew with the industry, making for this more than doubled increase. -
Women in White-Collar Jobs and Education
Young, unmarried women consistently went to cities that offered opportunites. They became things like school teachers, operators. The total amount of women in white collar jobs was 3.4 million in 1920; much higher than 949,000 in 1900. College educated women tripled in number in these 20 years as well -
Divorce Rate 1900-1916
-1 out of 12 marriages in 1900 resulted in divorce
-1 out of 9 marriages in 1916 resulted in divorce
Hinting of the "New Woman" -
Lynchings in the early 1900's
In the twenty year span of 1900 to 1920, about seventy five lynchings occured yearly. -
Industrial Accidents
(based off of a typical year, 1907)
-4,500+ railraod workers were killed on the job
-Around 3,000 miners were killed on the job -
NAACP
-By 1914, this organization had 6,000 members in 50 different branches -
Families in Factories
- Two-thirds of young immigrant women were in the workforce in 1900 -1.6 million children, aged 10-15, were in the nonfarm labor force in mills, tenements, etc.
-
Migration of Blacks
-By 1910, about 20% of the nation's black population lived in cities
-By 1910, about 54% of America's black women had jobs, typically in seamtresses, workers in factories, or domestic servants.
-By 1920, 1.4 million blacks lived in the North
-200,000 blacks migrated North from 1890 to 1910 -
Women's Suffrage in States
-By 1910, women could only vote in four states, and had failed referendum in six states. -
Socialism
-At its peak aroun 1912, the Socialist Party had about 118,000 members, and carried about 6% of the vote in the same year's election -
Charlie Chaplin
During the rise of entertainment and "nickolodeons", Charlie Chaplin appeared in 62 short films between 1914 and 1917. -
Great Migration
There was a movement of about 6 million blacks from the South to the North. Specifically, during the war, about half-million blacks moved during the war, and most settled in cities.
-Chicago's black population grew from 44,000 in 1910 to 110,000 in 1920
-Cleveland's grew from 8,000 to 34,000. -
Wage Increase of Industrial Workers
In the late nineteenth century, wages were around $532, in average annual wages. This increases to $687 by 1915. -
Bureau of War Risk Insurance (BWRI)
The BWRI was created by Congress in October 1917 to aid soldiers' families. By the end of the war, the BWRI was sending regular checks to 2.1 million families. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
America's draft during World War 1.
-Out of 65,000 men who registered as conscientious objectors, 21,000 were drafted.
-There was a lot of draft resistance. About 2.4 million to 3.6 million young men did not register at all, and 12% of those who did, did not appear to the draft site or deserted afterwards. -
St. Louis white mob attacks blacks.
Whites were growing angry at the competition the newly arrived blacks brought with them for their jobs. In East St. Louis, Illionois, home to thousands of recently arrived southern blacks, a white mob torched black homes and shot the residents while they were fleeing. At least 39 blacks died. -
Shortage of European Immigrants
World War 1 put a halt on immigrants from Europe due to the anti-radical and anti-immigration sentiment in America. There was a strong feeling of nationalism, and suspicion of foreginers. -
World War 1 benefitted U.S. economy.
From 1914 to 1918, factory output grew by more than one third.
The civilian work force expanded by 1.3 million between 1916 and 1918, due to the new jobs in war-related industries.
Unskilled workers enjoyed wartime wage increases averaging nearly 20%. -
The consumption of cigarettes increased.
Soldiers and workers would carry cigarettes in their shirt pockets, and the number soared from 14 billion in 1914 to 48 billion in 1918. -
Farmers profited from the booming economy of WW1
With European farm production disrupted, U.S. agricultural prices more than doubled between 1913 and 1918, and the farmers' income rose significantly.
-cotton prices rose from 12 cents a pound in 1913 to 29 cents a pound by 1918. -
Influenza Epidemic
The 1918 epidemic killed as many as 30 million people worldwide. The total U.S. death toll was about 550,000.
-In Philadelphia on Sept. 19th, 635 new cases of influenza were reported after 200,000 people turned up for a Liberty Loan rally. -
Black lynchings continued
Wartime spirit of "100% Americanism" led to increased racial tensions.
In 1919, mobs in various parts of the country lynched 75 blacks. -
Red Scare
Wartime antiradical panic. A lot of paranoia.
-Public officials received bombs.
-350,000 steelworkers went on strike in September 1919, and were accused of being "red agitators"
-In December 1919, the government deported 249 Russian born aliens.
-In January 2, 1920, federal marshals and local police raided homes of ruspected radicals and headquarters of radical organizations in 32 cities. They took more than 4,000 people into custody (550 were deported). -
Public School Enrollment
In 1870, public school enrollment was at 7 million. In 1920, enrollment was over 23 million. -
Urban America
-1920: Urban population passes the 50% mark
-68 US cities had more than one hundered thousand people
-For example, Chicago had 1 million more people in 1920 than in 1900, and New York had 2.2 million more people -
Infant Mortality Rate
In 1900-1920, efforts of Progressives to reform public health went from 165 deaths per 1,000 population to 75 deaths per 1,000 population -
AFL
With only half a million members in 1897, the AFL expanded to around 4 million members in 1920 -
African Americans find work in Northern factories.
By 1920, 1.5 million African Americans were working in northern factories and other urban based jobs. -
Cars became extremely popular
From the 1920s to 1920, about 60% of all U.S. families owned cars. -
Urban and Rural Population
In the 1920 Census, for the first time, the urban population surpassed the rural. By 1930, more than 40% of the nation's 12 million blacks lived in cities, 2 million of them in Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc. -
Overall Wage Rates Rose in the 1920s
While overall wages rose in the 1920s, the workers benefited unequally.
- average unskilled laborer in New England in 1928 earned 47 cents per hour, but only 28 cents in the South. -
Farm Income falls by 60%.
Farmers did not share in the boom. Grain prices plummeted, and America's high protective tariff depressed agricultural exports. From 1919 to 1921, farm income fell by 60%. -
Immigration from Latin America soared in the 1920s.
Because the National Origins Act did not place restraints on the Western Hemisphere, immigration from Latin America soared int he 1920s. By 1930, there were at least 2 million Mexican born people living in the United States, mostly in the Southwest. California's Mexican-American population boomed from 90,000 in 1920 to almost 360,000 in 1930. -
KKK Membership
The KKK membership in the early 1920s was almost 5 million. From its southern base, the Klan spread through the Midwest and across the country from Long Island to the West Coast, especially among the working class and lowe rmiddle class in cities with native-born Protestant majorities. -
Female Workers in the 1920s
Ranks of working women increased by more than 2 million in the 1920s. However, their number as a proportion of the total female population hardly changed, hovering at about 24 percent. Women also faced wage discrimination. In 1929, a male trimmer in the meatpacking industry received 52 cents an hour, but females only earned 37 cents. By 1929, the proportion of women workers belonging to unions fell to only 3%. By 1920, about 2 million women were working as secretaries, typists, or filing c -
Unemployment Fell to 3%
From 1922-1929, unemployment fell to as low as 3 percent. -
Divorce Rate
Around 1922, according to F. Scott Fitzgerald, adults embraced the rebelliousness of the young. However, divorce rates remained constant during this year. -
Automobile popularity led to fatalities from crashes
There were more highway fatalities (more than 26 thousand) due to the increased popularity of the automobile. -
Union Membership Falls
From 1920 to 1929, Union membership fell from 5 million to 3.4 million. Black membership stood at 82 thousand in 1929. -
Wealth Inequality
40% of Americans who were in the lowest rung of the economy in 1929 were only recieving 12% of the nation's total national income. -
Immigration Rates Fall
From 1914-1929, the total immigration fell from 1.2 million to 280,000. The National Origins Act contributed to this decline. -
Women Education
The proportion of female high-school graduates reached 12% by 1920. Nearly fifty thousand women received college degrees that year, almost triple the 1920 figure. -
Women in the Depression
-Female jobless rate stood at 20% through much of the Depression
-25% of American women were employed during the Depression though
-Women earned significantly less than males; for example, women teachers earned 20% less than male teachers
-Wage earning married women reached a high of only 16% -
Population Decrease
-Due to more family planning and limiting size of families, and reduced immigration, the population growth stood at 7% for the decade, as compared to the usual 20%
-Birthrates declined as well -
High School Enrollment
-It increased sharply during the depression, because of the lack of jobs available -
Mexican Immigration
-Facing tough adversity in America, 500,000 Mexicans returned to their homeland in the 1930s -
West Coast Population Increases
During the 1930's, due to Okies moving West and people wanting to start anew made the West Coast's, especially California's, share of the population jump
-Los Angeles went to become the 5th most populated cities from the 10th -
Americans on Relief
-In 1935, 1 million Americans over 65 were on a relief program -
Increase in Factory Workers
Between 1900 and 1930, factory workers went from 3.7 million to 7.7 million -
Suicide Rate
In the time between 1928 and 1932, the suicide rate climed 30% -
Unemployment in the Worst of the Depression
National unemployment stood at 25%, or 13 million workers. Sometimes, in individual cities, rates were as high as 80%. -
Agricultural Adjustment Act
This act affected farmers by paying them to reduce their crops by means of plowing or slaughter.
Also, by means of this act, the farm income increased by 50% from 1933-1937 -
National Incomes Up
The national incomes were up about 25% in 1934, but still left many unemployed and frustrated (this frustration was sometimes channeled through strikes) -
Annual Immigration Quota
-In 1934 Congress set an annual quota of fifty immigrants from the Commonwealth of the Philippines -
Diversion Over Reorganization
When voting over this act took place
-181 tribes voted, and 77 of them did not like the act -
Dust Bowl
Nearly 3.5 million people left the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl, and typically traveled West. -
Nuremberg Laws of 1935
Though not in America, the Nuremberg laws greatly rediced rights of the Jewish, a major target in the second World War by Germany. These acts outlawed marriage between a Jew and Non-Jew, and stripped them of their German citizenship. -
The WPA's Accomplishments
Over it's span, the WPA created
-650,000 miles of road
-125,000 schools/hospitals/public buildings built
-124,000 bridges erected
-8 million Americans employed -
Rural Electricfication Administration
-Extended electricity by way of loans to the 90% of rural America lacking it
-By 1941, 40% of farms had power in the US -
Black Voters Swing Democratic
In the 1936, 76% of black voters supported FDR (D) when they typically went Republican -
Roosevelt Recession
-Industrial production slumped, with steel at 19% capacity
-Unemployment was at more than 20% again -
Southern Textile Industry
-40% of workers in the Southern textile industry were female and didn't have as much force to stand up to bosses like the CIO -
Membership in the CIO
-The CIO had 2 million members when it broke from the AFL in 1938
-Overall union membership went from 3 million in 1933 to 8 million in 1941 -
Poll: Would You Let In Jewish Refugees?
When asked, 75% of pollsters said that they would not change the amount of Jewish refugees from Germany into America. -
Movies!
- In 1939, roughly 65% of Americans went to the movies at least once a week
-
Sinking of the Reuben James
The U-Boat torpedoed Reuben James sank, killing 115 American soliders. -
Divorce Rate
-Dipped in the early thirties, and then hit an all time high in 1940
-Many were due to "desertions" -
Non-farm Labor
- More than 3/4 of nonfarm laborers remained unorganized in 1940
-
Black Migration
-By 1940 23% of the 12 million blacks in the nation lived in the Urban North
-400,000 southern blacks moved to northern cities in 1930 -
War Economy
Overall, the war economy created
-17 million jobs
-Raised real wages of industrial workers by 50%
-Increased corporate after-tax profits by 70% -
World War II Home Front
War affected those on the home front as well as those in the armed forces.
-More than 15 million Americans went to the war, an equal number were on the move
-unprecedented number of women went to work outside the home -
Evening out of Wealth
-Distribution of income became more equal
-The richest (5%) had their share of disposable income drop to 17% fro 23%
-The middle class had theirs doubled
-The bottom fifth of all workers had their earning rise 68% -
Southern Population Changes
-Farm population in South went down by 20%, whereas the urban population increased by 36%
-This was due to the fact that the industrial capaity of the South increased by 40% -
WWII brought employment opportunities for blacks
There were about 2 million African Americans employed in industry and two hundred thousand in the federal civil service. Between 1942 and 1945, the proportion of blacks in war-production work rose from 3 to 9 percent. Black membership in labor unions doubled to 1.25 million, and the number of skilled and semiskilled black workers tripled. Some three hundred thousand black women found work in factories and the civil service. -
Pearl Harbor
The surprise attack from the Japanese left 2,400 Americans dead and damaged multiple destroyers and aircraft. -
Income Tax Increase
-The Revenue Act of 1942 raised the top income-tax rate to 94% from 60% -
Many Americans moved to secure new economic opportunities during WWII
Almost a quarter of a million found jobs in the shipyards of the Bay Area and at least as many in the aircraft industry that arose in the orange groves of southern California. More than one hundred thousand worked in the Puget Sound shipyards of Washington State and half as many in the nearby Boeing airplane plants. -
During WWII, many people moved to work in urban areas.
At least 6 million people left farms to work in urban areas, including several million southern blacks and whites. They doubled Albuquerque's population and increased San Diego's by about 90%. -
Going to the movies was quite popular during WWII
Between 60 million and 100 million Americans a week went to the movies (in a population of 135 million) -
Navajo "Code Talkers"
More then twenty-five thousand Native Americans served in the armed forces during the war. Another fifty thousand Indians left the reservations to work in defense industries, mainly on the West Coast. -
Gay/Lesbians in the military
Thousands of gay men and lesbians who served in the armed forces found new wartime opportunities. Just four to five thousand men out of 18 million examined for induction were excluded because of homosexuality. -
Japanese Internment
There were about thirty-seven thousand first generation Japanese immigrants (Issei) and nearly seventy-five thousand native born Japanese-American citizens of the United States (Nisei) in "relocation centers". -
Braceros/ Chicanos
An estimated two hundred thousand braceros, or temporary Mexican workers, received contracts. Tens of thousands of Chicanos left agricultural work for jobs in factories, ship building, etc. By 1943, about half a million Chicanos were living in Los Angeles County, 10 percent of the total population. In New Mexico, nearly 20 percent of the Mexican American farm laborers escaped from rural poverty to urban jobs. -
GI Bill of Rights
When veterans of World War 2 came home, this bill gave them priority in many jobs, unemployment benefits, provided low-interest loans, and paid for education. These were all benefits exclusively for the veterans of WW2. -
Strained family and community life during WWII
There were high rates of divorce, mental illness, family violence, and juvenile delinquency during WWII. Juvenile delinquency increased fivefold and the divorce rate rose from 16 per 100 marriages in 1940 to 27 per 100 in 1944. -
High School Enrollments sank as employment rose.
The number of teens enrolled in high school sank, as the number of full-time employment of teenagers rose from 900,000 in 1940 to 3 million in 1944. -
Higher Education- colleges were admitting more and more people.
Nearly a million servicemen took college classes in science, engineering, and foreign languages. Harvard University awarded four military-training certificates for every academic degree it conferred. -
Holocaust
The War Refugee Board managed to save the lives of just two hundred thousand Jews and twenty thousand non-Jews. Six million other Jews, about 75 percent of the European Jewish population were killed during the Holocaust -
Beginning to End of WW2
Though only 1.6 million people served in the armed forces at the start of the war, the war's end counted 15 million men and 350,000 women, -
Federal Civilian Employees 1940-1945
Due to the increased production, the amount of federal civilian employees went from 1.1 million in 1940 to 3.8 million in 1945 -
African Americans in the armed forces- WWII
About 1 million African Americans served in the armed forces. From just five in 1940, the number of black officers grew to over seven thousand in 1945. -
Women in the Workforce WWII
More than 6 million women entered the labor force during the war, increasing the number of employed women to 19 million. In 1945, women constituted well over a third of all workers. 75 percent of the new women workers were married, 60 percent were over thirty-five, and more than 33 percent had children under the age of fourteen. -
Female Employment During the War
Overall, during the war, female employment rose steadily and peaked in 1944 at just under 20 million female employees. -
Labor Union Membership
Membership went from 9 million in 1940 to 14.8 million in 1945 -
Labor Strikes, 1946
After strikes being disallowed during a time of war, 4.5 illion strikes took place in 1946. United Mine Workers paralysis of the economy for forty days because of their strike was most notable. -
Black Voting Registration
Helped by voter-registrtion drives, the southern blacks voter percentage went from 2% in 1940 to 12% in 1947 -
Coming Home
After much popular demand, Truman bowed to the public and the military strength overseas dropped from 12 million at the end to 1.5 million by 1948. -
Displaced Persons Act
Though they were previously guarded from entering America, this act allowed entry of 205,000 survivors of the Nazi death and labor camps. -
Women In College By 1950
By 1950, only 25% of college graduates were women, as compared to 40% in 1949. -
Education in the 1950s
Primary school enrollment rose by 10 million in the 1950s (compared with 1 million in the 1940s), aided by the baby boom. California opened a new school every wekk throughout the decade and still faced a classroom shortage. The proportion of college-age Americans in higher education climbed from 15 percent in 1940 to more than 40 percent by the early 1960s. -
Puerto Rican Immigrants
From seventy thousand in 1940 to a quarter of a million in 1950 and then nearly a million in 1960, El Barrio in New York City's East Harlem had a larger Puerto Rican population and more bodegas than San Juan by the late 1960s. -
Americans in Debt
Installment buying, home mortgages, and auto loans tripled Americans' total private indebtedness in the 1950s. Advertising expenditures also tripled. -
Sunbelt Residence Rises
Many former servicemen who had first glimpsed the Sunbelt in military camps returend to take up residence, as did others lured by job opportunities, the climate, and the pace of life. California's population went from 9-19 million between 1945 and 1964, supplantint New York as the most populous state. -
Communist Membership Decreases
During the time in the late 40's and 50's, when America was most emphasizing Communist membership, it was ironically shrinking; Communist Party membership stood at below 30,000 in America. -
Are you loyal? Jobs Decrease
During the second Red Scare, the government was especially concerned about loyalty within federal jobs. Of the 4.7 million people who had jobs or had applied for one, 560 were fired or denied the job based on security grounds. Many also resigned or withdrew their applications, based on intimidation or actual ties to communism. -
Eisenhower Pulls in Voters With Pledge
-Eisenhower's "I will go to Korea" pledge made 62.7% of eligible voters come out in the 1952 election, as opposed to the 51.5% in 1948. -
Earlier Marriage and Baby Boom
Americans in the 1950s wed at an earlier age than had their parents (one woman in three married by age nineteen). The fertility rate (the number of births per thousand women), 80 in 1940 peaked at 123 in 1957, when an American baby was born every seven seconds. -Between 1946 and 1964, 76 million Americans were born -
Native Americans
Native Americans remained the poorest minority, with a death rate three times the national average. Unemployment rates on reservations during the 1950s reached 70 percent for the Blackfeet of Montana and the Hopi of New Mexico, and a staggering 86 percent for the Choctaw of Mississippi. By the end of the decade, about sixty thousand reservation Indians had been relocated to cities. A third returned to the reservations. -
March of Dimes
Millions contributed to the March of Dimes to fund research for a vaccine for polio. The number of American children afflicted dropped from 58 thousand in 1952 to 57 thousand in 1958.
-The decline in childhood mortality helped raise American life expectancy from 65.9 years in 1945 to 70.9 years in 1970.
- This, along with the baby boom, brought a 19 percent increase in the U.S. population during the 1950s.
-By 1960, children under 14 made up one-third of the population. -
Suburbs
Eighty-five percent of the 13 million new homes built in the 1950s were in the suburbs.
-In the 15 years after WWII, more than 40 million Americans migrated to the suburbs. 14 of the 15 largest U.S. cities lost population
-In the 1950s, 20 million Americans moved to the suburbs, doubling the numbers and making the suburban population equal to that of the central cities. By 1960, over 60% of American families owned their homes. Americans purchased 58 million new cars during the 1950s. -
Domesticity and Education
While a higher percentage of women than men graduated from high school in the 1950s, more men than women went to college. Almost two-thirds of college women failed to complete a degree. -
Deportation of immigrants
During the 1953-1955 recession, the Eisenhower administration's "Operation Wetback" deported about 3 million allegedly undocumented entrants. -
Electronics become popular
Electronics became the fifth-largest American industry. Electricity consumption tripled in the 1950s as industry automated and consumers purchased electric washers and dryers, freezers, blenders, television sets, and stereos. Computer sales also ruse from twenty in 1954 to more than a thousand in 1957. -
Transformation of the Labor Movement
Consolidation also transformed the labor movement. In 1955, the merger of the AFL and CIO brought 85 percent of union members into a single federation. Union leaders began to view themselves as middle class rather than as a militant proletariat due to the benefits earned such as higher wages, shorter workweeks, paid vacations, health-care coverage, and automatic wage hikes. The 1950s saw far fewer strikes than the 1930s. The % of the unionized labor force dropped from 36% in 1953 to 31% in 1960. -
"You auto buy now"
Americans purchased 58 million new cars during the 1950s. -
American exodus to the Suburbs
In the 15 years after World War II, more than 40 million Americans migrated to the suburbs. Fourteen out of the fifteen largest U.S. cities lost population. 85% of the 13 million new homes built in the 1950s were in the suburubs. In the 1950s alone, some 20 million Americans moved to the suburbs, doubling the numbers and making the suburban population equal to that of the central cities. By 1960, over 60% of American families owned their homes- a symbol of the affluent society. -
Poverty and Urban Blight
Although the percentage of poor families (family of four with a yearly income of less than three thousand dollars) declined from 34 percent in 1947 to 22 percent in 1960, 35 million Americans remained below the poverty line. Eight million senior citizens existed on annual incomes below one thousand dollars. A third of the poor lived in depressed rural areas, where 2 million migrant farm workers experienced the most abject poverty. -
Veterans School Attendance
1.5 million veterans were attending college by 1946 (with much help from the GI Bill of Rights), and made up at least half of all college students in 1947. This also caused an influx in the amount of schools built. Overall, by 1956, the government had sent 2.2 million veterans to school. -
Farming in the 1950s
Farming grew increasingly scientific and mechanized. In 1956, one-eleventh of the farm population left the land. -
Farming in the 1950s
Small family farmer joined the rural exodus to the cities. In 1956, one-eleventh of the farm population left the land. On the other hand, large farms prospered. The large farms grew more and more scientific and mechanized. Technology cut the work hours necessary to grow crops by half between 1945 and 1960. -
Rise of White-Collar Workers
In 1956, for the first time in U.S. history, white-collared workers outnumbered blue-collar workers. This led some to believe that the United States had become a "postindustrial" society. -
Fulfillment of the American Dream
By the end of the 1950s, about 60 percent of American families owned homes; 75 percent, cars; and 87 percent, at least one TV. By 1960, the average worker's income was 35 percent higher than in 1945. -
Church Attendance Increased
Church attendance swelled, and the percentage of people who said they belonged to a church or synagogue increased from 49 percent in 1940 to 55 percent in 1950, and to a record-high 69 percent in 1959. -
Mexican-American population
However, Congress reintroduced the wartime bracero program, and it peaked in 1959, admitting 450,000 workers.
-The Mexican-American population of Los Angeles County doubled to more than six hundred thousand, and the colonias of Denver, El Paso, Phoenix, and San Antonio grew proportionately as large. The percentage of Mexican-Americans living in urban areas rose to 65 percent in 1950 and to 85 percent by 1970. -
The Affluent Society
By the end of the 1950s, abou 60 percent of American families owned homes; 75 percent, cars; and 87 percent, at least one TV. -
Sunbelt grew in population
Many former servicemen were attracted to the Sunbelt due to job opportunites, the climate, and the pace of life. California's population went from 9 to 19 million between 1945 and 1964.
-Orange County, bordering Los Angeles, doubled its population in the 1940s and then tripled it in the 1950s. Senior citizens, attracted to places like Sun City, Arizona, brought a more conservative outlook to the Sunbelt as well. By 1980, the population of the SUnbelt, exceeded that of the North and East. -
Women in the Work Force
From 1947 on, despite domesticity, increasing numbers of women entered the work force. By 1952, 2 million more women worked outside the home than had during the war; and by 1960, twice as many did in 1940. In 1960, one-third of the labor force was female. One in three married women worked outside the home. 60 percent were married while 40 percent had school-age children. -
Higher Education
Americans now banked on higher education to ensure national security after the Sputnik affair.
-The number of college students, 1.5 million in 1940 and 2.5 million in 1955, skyrocketed to 3.6 million on 1960. -
Americans are a "people of plenty"
By 1960, the average worker's income (adjusted for inflation) was 35% higher than in 1945. The United States had achieved the world's highest living standard ever. -
Youth Movement
In the 1950s, the number of American students purusing higher education rose from 1 million to 4 million, and the number doubled to 8 million in the 1960s. By then, more than half the U.S. population was under thirty years of age. These numbers gave the young a collective identitiy and guarenteed that their actions would have force. -
New Right Youth Activists
Many baby boomers followed conventional paths in the 1960s. They sought a secure place within the system. They joined sororities and fraternities, and had bumper stickers with things such as "My Country- Right or Wrong" written on it. Tens of thousands of young people mobilized on the right, joining organizations such as Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). -
Nixon-Kennedy Debates: Televised
-70 million tuned into the first telecisde debate between presidential candidates -
Kennedy Voters
-Kennedy sealed 80% of the Catholic vote in the midwest and northeastern states
-Still, his religion caused the margin between the two candidates to be a slim 120,000 -
The Other America: America's Poverty
Published in this 1962 report by Michael Harrington, it was reported that around 40 million people lived in substandard housing. This ignited Johnson's "War on Poverty" -
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
This report documented the differences in the workplace suffered by women. It had:
-Women received less pay than men for comparable work
-Only 7% of doctors were women
-Less than 4% were lawyers
-They had less chance of moving into professional or managerial careers -
Peace Corps
By 1963 the Peace Corps had over 5,000 members serving two year terms in Third World Countries in various occupations -
March on Washington
A quarter of a million people, including 50,000 whites went to Washington to protest in one of the biggest civil-rights demonstrations -
Election of 1964
Due to the various acts and protests (such as the Freedom Summer), many blacks were able to vote. Over 90% of African American voters cast their vote for the Democratic Party in the election of 1964. However, there were still places where blacks were a significant portion of the population, yet only 1% were registered to vote. -
Counterculture
The hippies disdained consumerism, joined communes, experimented with drugs and sex, rejected monogamy, and flaunted outrageous personal styles. Sexual revolution- shift in attitude and behavior by the counterculture.By 1970, ten million women were taking the Pill. In New York, in 1970, one fetus was legally aborted for every two babies born. -
Immigration Quotas Slashed by LBJ
-The strict quotas set in the 1920s were abolished in the 1960s
-Legal immigration would increase to over a million annually, many of them coming from Latin America and Asia
-1965-1970 almost 400,000 Cubans immigrated to the US, population of Chinese, Koreans, and Filipions doubled
-Almost twenty years after the act, the number of Asian-Americans went to 5 million (previously 1 million) -
Voting Rights Act
This act expanded black suffrage from 1 million in 1964 to 3.1 million in 1968. -
Race Riots Heighten
In the most fervent and intese period of racial violence (1964-68), over 150 racial confrontations and 40 riots occured, killing many, In Los Angeles, the Watts district had 50,000 blacks retaliating against white owned shops, police, and fire fighters for six days. It ended in 34 dead, 900 injured, and 4,000 arrested. -
El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA)
Started by Chicago students, this movement led hundreds of of other students in LA, Denver, and San Antonio to reject assimilation and demand other deserved rights for Latinos. -
Students for a Democratic Society
The Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam attracted a half-million antiwar protesters to New York's Central Park. By 1968, SDS claimed one hundred thousand members on three hundred campus chapters. -
Doves and Hawks
After the Tet Offensive, Johnson's approval rating dropped to 35%. The number of Americans who described themselves as prowar "hawks" slipped from 62 percent in January to 41 percent in March, while the proportion of antiwar "doves" climbed from 22 percent to 42 percent. -
McCarthy's youth
Nearly five thousand college students had dropped their studies to stuff envelopes and ring doorbells for Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire primary contest. -
Black Ghettoes burst into Violence
As the news of MLK's assassination spread, black ghettoes in 125 cities burst into violence. Twenty blocks of Chicago's West Side went up in flames. In Washington D.C., under night skies illuminated by seven hundred fires, army units in combat gear set up machine-gun nests outside the Capitol and White House. The rioting left 46 dead, 3,000 injured, and nearly 27,000 in jail. -
Effects of the Great Society
The percentage of the poor population went from 22% in 1960 to 13% in 1969, infant mortality declined by 1/, African American family income rose to 61% of white family income, the amount of blacks living below the poverty line dropped 20%, and Head Start helped over 2 million poor children -
Native American Activism
In order to secure their rights, hundered of Indians lobbied in Washington in 1964 to demand inclusion in the 'War on Poverty.' They were, in fact, the worst sufferers of poverty, disease, and inadequate housing. This led to the popularity of 'Red Power' and the AIM, which culminated in occupying Alcatraz island. -
Divorce Rates climb
The divorce rate rose from 2.2 per thousand in 1960 to 3.5 in 1970, then nearly doubled in the 1970s. Cohabitation- living together without marriage- became thinkable to average middle-class Americans. The national birthrate plunged steadily throughout the 1960s and the 1970s. -
Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight
Around 80% of the men who were enlisted and fought in the Vietnam War came from working-class, poor families. -
Student Movement Violence
A storm of violence in the spring of 1970 marked the end of the student movement as a political force. ie. Kent State massacre, Jackson State massacre. -
The Pill
By 1970, over 10 million American women were on 'The Pill'. -
Earth Day
Growing environmental awareness culminated in 20 million Americans celbrating the first Earth Day in April 1970. Zero population growth (the birthrate should not exceed the death rate) became a discussed issue. -
Womens Strike for Equality
In the largest women's rights demonstration to date, tens of thousands of women nationwide congregated to parade for the right to safe and legal abortions, as well as equal employment.
By 1970, over 40% of all women held full-time jobs outisde the home. -
Greenpeace Membership
-Greenpeace, established in 1971, had amassed 250,000 US members and 2.5 million members worldwide by 200 -
Southern Strategy
Despite public appeals for unity, Nixon hoped to divide the American people in ways that would make him unbeatable in the 1972 election. He wished to win the support of blue-collar workers, southern segregationists, and northern ethnics. He attempted to win over white Southerners by opposing integration, and busing. -
African Americans in Elective Office
In 1964, fewer than 2 dozen blacks held elective offica in the South; in 1970, it was almost five hundred, and in 1972, it totaled nearly twelve hundred. -
Election of 1972- Voter Turnout
-In this election, only 55.7% of voters turned out to the polls, a decrease from the 63.8% in 1960
-People were dienchanted or indifferent -
Gay Liberation Front
Supporters of the Gay Liberation Front came primarily from the gay subcultures found in the largest cities. By 1973, some eight hundred openly gay groups were fighting for equal rights for homosexuals, for incorporating lesbianism into the women's movement, and for removing the stigma of immorality and depravity attached to being gay. -
Medicare and Medicaid: Effects
By 1975, the Medical Care Act (1965) would serve 47 million people, orginally part of LBJ's Great Society -
NOW Membership
-NOW boasted 50,000 members by 1975, only formed 9 years prior -
Ford Presidency- Unemployment
-Unemployment reached 11% in 1975 as a severe recession set in
-Curbing of energy consumption contributed to the laying off of 225,000 workers for Ford, GM, and Chrysler -
"Gay Pride Marches"- 1977 and 1979
1977: These parades drew 75,00 marchers to NYC, 300,000 to San Francisco
1979: 100,000 to Washington DC during the first national gay and lesbian civil rights parade -
Carter Presidency- Voting, Unemployment
-In the election, Cater garnered 90% of the black vote
-During his term, he fought the recession and reduced unemployment to 5% by 1978 -
Average Life Expectancy Rises
Average life expectancy at birth rose from 74 to 77 between 1980 and 1999. -
Abortions Increase
-In the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, the maount of abortions went from 750,000 in 1973 to 1.5 million in 1980 -
Unmarried Couples
-By 1980, around 50% of unwed 19 year olds had sexual experience
-Unmarried couples living together hit 3.5 million nearing the 1990s
-Both these trends continued to grow -
Family Farming in Decline
-By the early ninties, only 2.5% of the labor force was comprised of farmers -The acerage, however, increased to average 430 by the end of the 1980s -
Demographics and Reagan's Election
-Simple demographics aournd the time that Reagan was running helped him win
-Democratic strongholds like Detriot, Chicago, and NYC had lost population
-The Sunbelt, like Texas, California and Florida (along with other historically conservative states) had gained population -
Recession under Reagan
-Unemployment stood at 10% in late 1982
-By 1983, 11.5 million US workers lost jobs over the four previous years as a result of the recession -
Moral Majority- Pro-Reagan & Jerry Falwell
-Between 1980 and 1984, the Moral Majority, New Right had registered about 2 million voters -
1984 Election
-Depsite Geraldine Ferraro being on the Democratic ticket, more women voted for Reagan in 1984 -
Tax Reform Act 1986
-This act cut about 6 million low-income Americans from the income tax rolls -
Women's Change
-By the end of the 1980's, almost 60% of women were working outside the home
-Legal and medical professions were 20% female
-The median marriage age went from 20 to 24
-The birthrate fell to approx. 1.6 children per family -
AIDS Diagnosed
-By the end of the 1980s, more than 31,000 Americans had died of AIDS, and the epidemic would continue and peak in the 1990s -
Immigration Patterns in the late 20th Century
-45% of the late 20th century immigrants came from the Western Hemishpere and some 30% from Asia
-In 1990, 20% of Mexican American lay below the poverty line, and 30% of Puerto Ricans lived below the poverty line
-Illegal aliens was edging 12 million in the late 1980s
-Ethnic trends contributed to america's diversity -
The Two Black Americas
-By 1990, blacks made up 12% of the college enrollments and 46% of them held white-collar jobs (resembled in th show The Cosby Show)
-However, at the same time, 1/3 ofthe black population lived in inner-city slums, where the unemployment rate had reached 60%
-A young black male was 6x more likely to be killed over his white counterpart
-Unmarried women accounted for 60% of all black births -
American Indian Identification
In the 1990 census, 1.7 million people identified themselves as American Indian, as opposed to less than 800,000 in 1970 -
Changes in male labor force
In 1960 about half of the male labor force worked in industry or in related jobs such as truck driving. By the late 1990s, this figure had fallen to under 40 percent. -
"Festival of Violence" Study
-In this 1995 study, it was found
-More than 80% of Southern Lynchings were black victims
-Most commonly occured in the Cotton Belt -
Uneven Prosperity
From 1979 to 1996 the portion of total income to the wealthiest 20 percent of the population increased by 13 percent, while the share going to the poorest 20 percent dropped by 22 percent. -
Increase of service workers
In 1960, professional, technical, and service workers had comprised about 42 percent of the male labor force; by 1998 the figure was 58 percent. The percentage of women workers in the service sector was even higher. -
Number of "Traditional" nuclear-family households fall
The proportion of "traditional" nuclear-family households headed by a married couple fell from 74 percent in 1960 in 2000. -
Rise of Interracial married couples
The number of interracial married couples in the United States rose tenfold in the years 1960-2000 from 149,000 to 1.5 million.
