The Lust for Learning

Notes CH 25 Part 2

Public Education continued to expand…tax-supported elementary schools adopted on a nationwide basis after the Civil War…was expanding. Many Americans began to believe that EDUCATION…could be a remedy for many of the negative aspects of this growing income gap and worked in conjunction with the SOCIAL GOSPEL..in an attempt to provide a more equal opportunity for social advancement FOR ALL AMERICANS.

The Successes of the expanded PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM….can be found in the #’s – The “illiteracy rate” (measure of those who could not read and write…fell from 20% in 1870 to 11.7% by 1900….

The American People were accepting the truism that a FREE GOVERNMENT cannot function if the PEOPLE are shackled by IGNORANCE…a K-12 education was a BIRTHRIGHT OF EVERY CITIZEN.

By 1870 more and more States made a grade school education COMPULSORY…

HIGH SCHOOLS made SPECTACULAR gains from 1880 – 1900. Before the Civil War tax-supported HS were RARE… about 100 total….BY 1900, THERE WERE 6000.

FREE TEXTBOOKS ALSO BEGAN TO BE PROVIDED BY 1900…

CITIES, generally, provided more and better educational opportunities than the rural 1 room schoolhouses in the RURAL areas…

Teacher-training schools –Universities began to expand…”NORMAL SCHOOLS”… [1860 -12/1900-300]

ADULT EDUCATION – Primarily through a lecture series…like the lyceums from before the Civil War…THE CHAUTAUQUA MOVEMENT…launched in 1874 on the shores of Lake Chatauqua, NY…(still does the lectures every summer ) became a traveling nationwide series of lectures…with well known speakers such as MARK TWAIN…and they also began to provide for adults COURSES FOR HOME STUDY –MAIL-ORDER- PRECURSOR TO ONLINE COURSES….over 100,000 enrolled in 1892 alone.

Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People************* v. W.E.B. DuBois

**The Post-War South lagged FAR BEHIND other regions in PUBLIC EDUCATION. **African-Americans suffered most severely, as did other non-whites…of which 44% were illiterate in 1900. Note: The selfless American Missionary Association and many churches did HEROIC work educating Blacks of all ages in the period after the War…and many Black Educators were developed during this period as Blacks were they could…established many schools, from K – Universities, to reach people of all ages due their recognition of the value of an education.

THE FOREMOST CHAMPION OF BLACK EDUCATION WAS BOOKER T. WASHINGTON BTW was a FORMER SLAVE who struggled to gain an education but with perseverance and determination he was successful  BTW takes over TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE IN ALABAMA and here creates a MODEL for Black Education during this difficult period (JIM CROW) BTW’S TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE focused on teaching TRADES AND EMPLOYABLE SKILLS …so that Blacks WOULD NOT BE ECONOMICALLY DEPENDENT, as much, on whites and also gain self- respect and economic security.

BTW was CRITICIZED HEAVILY due to his APPARENT “ACCOMODATIONIST” approach…THAT HE DID NOT DIRECTLY CHALLENGE “WHITE SUPREMACY”….

BTW – in taking this controversial approach believed that if he did not DIRECTLY challenge white supremacy in the South and AVOID THE ISSUE OF “SOCIAL” EQUALITY…”ACQUIESCE” TO SEGREGATION (JIM CROW) HE COULD DEVELOP THE ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY…HE BELIEVED THAT ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE WOULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO BLACK POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS .

BTW’S commitment to training young blacks in agriculture and the trades guided the curriculum at Tuskegee and made it an ideal place for GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER… who becomes an INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS AGRICULTURAL CHEMIST – discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut, sweet potato, and soybean.

****OTHER BLACK LEADERS – Notably DR. W.E.B. DuBois…(CO-founder of the Niagra Movement and N.A.A.C.P.) CRITICIZED BTW…as an “Uncle Tom” (a negative term that connoted a black person who gives up their self-respect bowing down to whites) WEB believed that by following BTW’s approach, “accomodationist” to Jim Crow and focusing on lesser skills in education, DOOMED BLACKS TO PERPETUAL MANUAL LABOR AND INFERIORITY.

WEB – was born in Massachusetts…A FREE MAN...and the 1st Black to earn his PhD at Harvard University. DuBois DEMANDED COMPLETE AND IMMEDIATE EQUALITY FOR BLACKS, SOCIAL AS WELL AS ECONOMIC. (read the BBox on p.574 digital edition on his brilliant commentary on the “twoness of being Black and an American in a predominantly white society)

As a co-founder of the Niagra Movement and NAACP W.E.B. was a forceful leader for Immediate Equality for Blacks and along with the legendary IDA B. WELLS, fought consistently for the ending of LYNCHING ACROSS THE NATION…a flag flew everyday from the offices of the NAACP …”# of Blacks were LYCNHED TODAY IN AMERICA.”

WEB rejected BTW’s gradualism and separatism and demanded complete and immediate equality for the “talented 10th” of blacks who he believed should be given FULL AND IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THE MAINSTREAM OF AMERICAN LIFE.

****NOTE: BTW’s speech in 1905 at the Cotton Exposition in Atlanta… an all white gathering… (called the Atlanta Compromise Speech) is a big part of why many believed him to be an “accomodationist”… his famous quote -“ Cast down your bucket where you are… No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as writing a poem… In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to human progress.” It is in these words as well as BTW’s association with many powerful and rich whites, to gain $$$ for support of Tuskegee Institute, that he finds the majority of the criticism of his approach.

This is a controversial competition…many believe that since BTW was a former slave who grew up in the segregated and violent South that his approach took into consideration the potential of MASS SLAUGHTER that might be accompanied by a direct challenge to JIM CROW….(there is some evidence from this period that BTW was accurate in his feelings as you study the massacres that occur in Wilmington, NC – Tulsa, OK – Roseboro, FL and many others…in which Blacks attempted to directly confront white supremacy) HOWEVER, W.E.B.’S experience being born FREE and being raised in an INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT in Mass…(clearly not free of discrimination however) led him, some believe, to underestimate the danger in his approach for millions of Southern Blacks…But, DuBois does come South to teach in Atlanta and was very aware of the situation…clearly he and BTW had differences… Eventually by the 1950’s and through the 1970’s Most Blacks come to believe that DuBois was correct in his approach and that BTW’s was in error, however, as America grew out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and into the 1980’s MANY BLACK LEADERS…began to have a new appreciation of BTW’s “Economic” approach…and began to speak to the value of having a solid economic foundation to be able to take advantage of the many new opportunities in an America that by the 1980’s had changed dramatically…and that the lack of economic advancement had hindered the Blacks ability to fully enjoy the fruits of the gains of the Civil Rights Movement…(Cornell West)

BTW from 1865 until about 1900 was the leader of the Black community and chief spokesman…however, as the new century dawned W.E.B. DuBois and others, as BTW aged, began to take over Leadership of the Black Community…others, as we will see continue to fight for a FULL AND COMPLETE CITIZENSHIP FOR BLACKS…every second, hour, day, week, month, and year in which they are denied their COMPLETE EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW.

The Hallowed Halls of Ivy

After the Civil War the # of colleges and Universities exploded… a college education became to be considered to be crucial to success. Women’s college’s like Vassar and Barnard (Harvard and Columbia’s schools for women) were gaining students…and CO-ED educational institutions were opening as well.

By 1900 25% of all college graduates were Women. By 1900 there were also several universities for Blacks…and most allowed blacks and whites (outside the South) Howard U, Atlanta U, Shaw, Hampton, Tuskegee, and many others rose during this period.

THE MORRILL ACT OF 1862*****HUGE******[like the Pacific Railway Act, 1862 & the Homestead Act, 1862…these three acts passed while Southerners were not in congress are monumental in changing America and very important] Is the prime cause of the explosion of Universities…this act provided a generous grant of public land to each state to support public education. “Land-Grant” Colleges became State Universities [NC State for example] in return for the grant of land…the colleges had to provide ROCTC (military training) The Hatch Act, 1887 – extended the Morrill Act…providing Federal Funds for the establishment of Agricultural and Mechanical (engineering) schools… [A&M’S] OR [A&T’S} TECH SCHOOLS

Private funding – Philanthropy – Also funded the creation of many schools; Cornell, 1865, Stanford, 1891, U of Chicago, 1892 for example…the last two by Leland Stanford and John D. Rockefeller.

Professional and Technical Schools – Johns Hopkins University, 1876, THE NATIONS 1ST HIGH GRADE GRADUATE SCHOOL…and continued the German tradition that had provided many of our best scholars their graduate degrees.

The March of the Mind

The industrial era brought a change to college curriculums….an introduction to electives and specialized training in the sciences. Medicine and Medical Schools in America was improving…Science gaining helped medical procedures… Pasteur and Lister [pasteurize –Listerine] recognizing the role of “germs” caused many to shave their beards to be cleaner…and public health campaigns improved our life expectancy…

William James introduces PSYCHOLOGY to America…teaching and writing at Harvard…besides Psychology along with others in the “METAPHYSICAL CLUB” – THEY CREATE AMERICA’S GREATEST CONTRIBUTION OF PHILOSOPHY – PRAGMATISM- truth…was to be tested…by the practical consequences of an idea…by action….rather than theories… and this REFLECTS AMERICANS- a nation of doers…

Gold Pages- 580-81 PIONEERING PRAGMATISTS***** Prominent intellectuals during the late 19th centuries often met and ate together and formed “CLUBS.” The Saturday Club – Hawthorne, Emerson, and Agassiz among other prominent Bostonian Intellectuals met together often and discussed the issues and ideas of the day…often proposing new ideas testing them within their group.

The METAPHYSICAL CLUB…founded in Cambridge, Mass. in 1872…lasted only 9 months BUT HAD A HUGE IMPACT…Charles Pierce, mathematician –William James, physician/psychologist – John Dewey, Educator, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice, Chauncey Wright, philosopher, George Mead – most in their early 30’s…assembled frequently and argued often over many subjects..nature of the universe, meaning of life, etc… THESE MEN CREATE THE UNIQUE AMERICAN PHILOSPHY OF PRAGMATISM…they criticized “absolute truth” sanctioned by religion or idealism which led to inflexible orthodoxy - prejudice and discrimination…They believed that knowledge was more fallible, provisional, and thought the idea of TRUTH should be proven by EXPERIMENTATION…that all knowledge was provisional and experimental …an uncertainty of truth….and that the value of any idea was proportional to that ideas ability to solve problems. MOST FAMOUSLY – JOHN DEWEY, created a lab school at the U of Chicago and applied this to education….”LEARNING BY DOING” BECAME HIS GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT AND PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY – STILL TODAY – “HANDS ON” LESSONS STILL LEAD MANY TEACHING PRACTICES...these men gave the earliest expression of AMERICAN TRUTH – TO LIVE WITH KNOWLEDGE AS EXPERIMENTAL PROVISIONAL AND A LIFE LIVED PURSUING TRUTH BY OPEN ENDED DEBATE AND EXPERIMENTATION, ALL DONE ETHICALLY, of course 

The Appeal of the Press

Books continued to be read by many Americans…The Library of Congress, the largest in the World opened in 1897…Carnegie, donated $$$ to many communities to open “public” libraries…60$million. By 1900, there were over 9000 free public libraries in the USA.

NEWSPAPERS…were now being filled with SENSATIONAL…stories, Sex-Scandal- Human Interest stories…many exaggerated or simply false…ALL WITH THE PURPOSE TO SELL NEWSPAPERS… CALLED YELLOW JOURNALISM***********(named after a cartoon called the “yellow kid.”)

TWO TITANS EMERGE IN THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS William Randolph Hearst – San Francisco Examiner Joseph Pulitzer (Pulitzer Prize) – New York World

Both printed “SENSATIONAL” stories to sell more papers and make more $$$....kind of prostituting truth…their flare for representing scandal and rumor…as truth…was not our best hour.

Apostles of Reform Magazine’s became very popular during this period. Harper’s and Atlantic Monthly are two examples. The most influential was the NEW YORK NATION….launched in 1865 by Eugene Godkin…who was a merciless critic….it crusaded for reform and honesty in Government.

Henry George – pens “Progress and Poverty,” “to solve the greatest enigma of our time….the association of progress with poverty”…he proposes a SINGLE TAX OF 100% ON PROPERTY…in an attempt to free up land for more people to have ownership…thus a chance at wealth. This book sold over 3 million copies…reflecting the publics belief..and strongly influenced the founding of English Fabian Socialism – the modern democratic socialism that runs most of Europe today.

“ as long as one man can claim the exclusive ownership of the land from which other men must live, slavery will exist, and a material progresses on, must grow and deepen.”

Edward Bellamy –pens “Looking Backward,” 1888, his hero falls into a hypnotic sleep and awakens in the year 2000. He “looks backward” and finds that the social and economic injustices of 1887 have melted away under an idyllic government, which has nationalized big business to serve the public interest. COMMUNISM? “THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO,” IS PUBLISHED BY German Philosophers, KARL MARX AND FREDERICH ENGLES IN 1848….and discusses how the Capitalist Economic System will be replaced by Socialism. This book sold over a million copies and “Bellamy Clubs” sprang up all over the nation…to discuss a form of “mild utopian socialism.” These clubs have a heavy influence on the reform movements at the end of the 19th century.

Postwar Writing

Late 19 th Century Authors and different genre’s of popular literature:

Dime Novels – short stories, usually depicting the “wild” west...indians, gunfights, hero’s, villians and where the good guy wore a white hat and the bad guy a black one….simple and where virtue (goodness) wins the day. Tens of Millions sold…

Christian – Lewis Wallace, “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) made into a movie in the 60’s and played often…great story. Sold 2 million copies…a response to Darwinism…very anti-darwin.

Young Adult/American Dream – “Horatio Alger Stories” – famous character that showed that a young person with good morals and discipline will always become successful. INFLUENCED GENERATIONS OF YOUTH IN AMERICA…HUGE….100 MILLION COPIES

Poetry – Walt Whitman’s, “Leaves of Grass,” One of the most successful poets in American History… - Emily Dickinson – her poems were published AFTER her death., over a thousand poems.

Literary Landmarks

Romanticism of the pre- and early post civil war era …fades away….War has a tendency to change literature dramatically, as life.

Rugged Realism becomes the dominant form during this period…like the Ash Can School of Art…. That reflects more faithfully the materialism of an industrial society…struggle.

Kate Chopin’s, “The Awakening,” 1899 – about women’s ambition, adultery, and suicide. Bret Harte – wrote “Dime Novels” about the West….themes explained earlier.

William Dean Howells,”The Rise of Silas Lapham,” 1885 – about the trials of a newly rich manufacturer and his struggle to be accepted in upper class society.

Stephen Crane’s, “ The Red Badge of Courage,” (1895) a story about a young Civil War recruits experiences in war.****still read in thousands of schools today.

Jack London****** “Call of the Wild,” (1903) amazing…. realistic nature v. man stories

Frank Norris*** “The Octopus,” (1901) about corrupt railroad and government who dominate California.

Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles W. Chestnutt were Black writers who wrote in the 1890’s and their characters used accurate Black dialects and speech patterns…which was very controversial in both the White and Black population for different reasons.

Theodore Dreiser’s – “Sister Carrie,” (1900) considered a “Social Novelist,” a graphic and realistic novel about a young girl exploited as she moves from the farm to the big city chasing the glamour and middle class …and eventually becomes one man’s mistress …elopes with another…then leaves him to make her own career as an actress. Very controversial…

The New Morality

****[one of my favorite characters from US History XC for anything about or written and reflected on by VW] Victoria Woodhull shook the pillars of conventional morality…when she proclaimed her belief in “FREE LOVE” IN 1871….”MARRIAGE IS A PRISON,” 1ST WOMAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT-1872 EQUAL RIGHTS PARTY, DIVORCEE, STOCKBROKER –she and her sister Tennessee Claflin held a SEAT ON THE NYC STOCK EXCHANGE THE 1ST WOMEN TO DO SO*****, FEMINIST, INTELLIGENT, PUBLISHER…

Pure minded Americans, Traditionalists, resisted. Their crusader was Anthony Comstock…who made a life long war upon the immoral… and the “Comstock Law”, 1873, allowed him to pursue his immoral enemies with the authority of the Government… he confiscated “obscene” – Photos, abortionists pills- powders, paintings in museums, etc…he boasted that he had personally driven at least 15 people to suicide.

This dichotomy between Woodhull and Comstock illustrates the larger battle taking place in America during this period over Traditional v. Modern culture that continues today…Sexual attitudes and the place of Women…feminism, liberation, birth control, divorce, and the “new morality.” By 1913, one popular magazine stated it was “Sex O’ Clock,” in America….Certainly the end of the Victorian Era…where all controversial topics were only discussed in private behind closed doors.

Families and Women in the City

Families cracked under the strain of industrialism…The Urban era launched the era of divorce….a “REVOLUTION” had begun that continues to today…

Birthrates dropped and family size continued to shrink and continues to do so today… more children did not help in the city as it did on the farm…it meant more mouths to feed….and with Women becoming more financially independent and educated…gone were the days of women having children every two years until menopause. Marriages were delayed, birth control practiced, and the woman was having a considerable more input on decisions made at home. The Urban environment provided independence for Women…in 1898 a prophet appeared…. CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILLMAN, “ Women and Economics,” a classic of feminist literature… In her masterwork…Gillman called on Women to abandon their dependent status and contribute to the larger life of the community through productive involvement in the economy…she argued that, “our highly specialized motherhood is not so advantageous as believed.” …she advocated centralized nurseries and cooperative kitchens to facilitate Women’s participation in the work force…anticipating by more than a half-century the day-care centers and convenience–food services of a later day.

Other Feminists continued to insist on the ballot. [ see map p. 583 digital edition] In 1890 militant suffragists formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association (nawsa—NWSA)..its founders included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped to organize “Seneca Falls” in 1848…(Wow) and Susan B. Anthony, who was at Seneca as well and who was arrested for attempting to cast a ballot in the 1872 Presidential Election. ******************But a new generation of Women Suffragists had come of age …Their most effective leader was Carrie Chapman Catt…. Her contributions would be essential to the success of their cause…. HER ARGUMENT: THAT WOMEN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE BECAUSE OF THEIR SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AS “REPUBLICAN MOTHERS” AND “HOMEMAKERS” (cult of domesticity) and in this new Urban age the Men were so busy that Women would be voice on boards of public health, police commissions, and school boards…so that they could effectively do the job of keeping their family healthy, safe, and their children educated in civic responsibility. HUGE***************************

By thus linking the ballot to the traditional roles of Women, “Republican Mother,” and “Homemaker,” She and the feminists were able to convert many “busy” men to their way of thinking…not just stating that they “deserved” their rights ….but as to play into the hubris of men…

Women were successful in some states in gaining the right to vote ESPECIALLY IN THE WEST…Wyoming Territory gave Women the right to vote 1st, “the equality state,” in 1869…By 1890 many states had finally given Women the right to keep their own property…and many the right to vote in state elections….but not the Federal elections…it was Jeannette Rankin, from Montana, who is elected to the House of Representatives in 1916 before she could vote in a national election 

Black Women were excluded from the NWSA…for fear it would compromise their efforts to get the vote… Ida B. Wells [ANTI-LYNCHING CAMPAIGN WITH W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP] inspired Black Women to mount the anti-lynching campaign and to form the National Association of Colored Women in 1896…and continued to lobby for inclusion in both the NWSA and Alice Paul’s NWP (National Women’s Party)… where she had a bit more success than in NWSA.

Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress

Temperance was an old movement, remember the Maine Laws from before the Civil War during the 2nd Great Awakening ….

During the Civil War….liquor consumption increased…and saloon’s spread…most immigrant groups opposed temperance as liquor was part of their culture…

The National Prohibition Party organized in 1869 ran as a consistent 3rd party in many Presidential elections during this period, with few results but were determined… Militant Women entered the fray…and created the WCTU – Women’s Christian Temperance Union… organized in 1874 and led by Francis E. Williard… and it became THE LARGEST WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD***************** The militant WCTU was aided by Carrie A. Nation…who was often pictured with a hatchet…because she and other militants were believed to go into taverns with these hatchets and destroy them…called “hatchetations” 

The Anti-Saloon League was next….organized in 1893...

********THE COMBINATION OF THE THREE…AND WITH THE SUPPORT OF CONGRESS PASSING THE INCOME TAX TO REPLACE THE FUNDS LOST FROM “EXCISE TAXES” ON ALOCOHOL…. CONGRESS PASSED THE 18 TH AMENDMENT WHICH BEGAN PROHIBITION JAN.1 ST 1920….

Women were also crucial in forming two organizations that are still strong today…the ASPCA in 1866, (prevent cruelty to animals), and the RED CROSS, in 1881 by Clara Barton- “angel of the Civil War battlefield nurses.”

Artistic Triumphs

The Ash Can School of Art and Impressionism both came alive late in the 19th century one realistic, ACS, and one a blurry vision, Impressionist. [*****for extra credit copy and paste works from either genre from American Artists and show me tomorrow…Claude Hassam? Or Mary Cassat…(impressionists) or find some Ash Can school artists]

Music – gained popularity due to mechanical means with the invention, Edison, of the phonograph…or the Metropolitan Opera House and Symphonies in large cities like Boston, NY, or Chicago….JAZZ is on the horizon as Black performers are as well about to be able to perform with whites on stage…that leads to a truly unique American Art Form… initially called “ragged music.”

Architecture was celebrated with the grandiose, Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago…it honored the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovery of the New World…this is visited by 27 million people and featured a city of light…powered by electricity.

The Business of Amusement

With more leisure time….American workers sought an escape from their de-personalized industrial jobs… Phineas T. Barnum’s multi-ringed circus teamed with James T. Bailey to form Barnum and Bailey’s “Greatest Show on Earth,” still touring today….Barnum later creates with Ripley the “Believe it or not” show of oddities….

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show….became very popular as the West began to close late in the 19th century… featuring Sitting Bull, Indians, a fake Buffalo Hunt, and the Famous Annie Oakley-sharpshooter…who could put 6 bullets through a tossed up card with a rifle at 30 paces…Wow

Baseball, popular before the war, gained popularity during the CW…with even prisoners sponsoring games in Salisbury, NC…and a PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE IS FORMED IN THE 1870’S…AND AN ALL-STAR TEAM EVEN PEFORMED IN EGYPT USING THE SPHINX AS A BACKSTOP… FOOTBALL BECAME POPULAR AS WELL BUT WAS VERY DANGEROUS AT THIS TIME…NO HELMETS, AND AS MANY AS A COUPLE HUNDRED DIED BEFORE A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION SUGEESTED AN END TO THIS VIOLENT SPORT…but it was not ended and as many as 50,000 attended a Yale- Princeton game in 1893. Boxing was always popular and Professional Boxing Matches could be found across the nation…

Two more athletic crazes swept the nation before the end of the 19th century…CROQUET…deemed naughty because Women bared their ANKLES…OMG  and the SAFETY BYCYCLE…became popular… replacing the high seated model…by 1893 over a million safety bicycles were in use…and Thousands of young women were turning to this sport that offered FREEDOM….

Basketball, invented by James Naismith, a YMCA director from Springfield, MASS …Designed an active indoor sport that could be played during the Winter Months…it spread rapidly and enjoyed enormous popularity in the next century…

America began to an increasing degree share a common popular culture…playing, reading, and shopping and as the Century was coming to a close…The explosion of cities paradoxically made Americans more diverse and more similar at the same time. (whew)