Dangerous Work Conditions

- half of all the work-related deaths happened in the coal mining and railroad industries around 1900
- though there aren't nearly as many worker deaths now, they still happen regularly in ocean fishing, construction of big bridges and sky scrapers, and other dangerous jobs

Library of Economics and Liberty - Working Conditions

The Progressive Era

1. Progress is advancement towards a societal or personal goal.

2. The Progressive Era is defined as the 1890s to 1920s This period of time was when political and social movements took place to rectify the problems introduced to America by industrialization.

3. Progressive reforms all had to do with social and political improvements and changes during the Progressive Era. (Source 3)

4. Major goals of Progressives: (Sources 1 & 2)
      (1 Essential goals worth striving for/ Necessary changes
       2 Good Goals – not strictly necessary but could really improve life
       3 Strange Goals
       4 Not a good idea)
 - Make cities cleaner and healthier (1)
 - Make workplaces safer (1)
 - Improve the treatment of workers and customers (2)
 - Income tax (16th Amendment) (2)
 - Ban on alcohol (3 & 4)
 - Protect social welfare (1)
 - Promote fairness (2)
 - Control big businesses (4)
 - Promote efficiency in government and business (2)

Sources:
1. Google - "goals of the progressive movement"
2. Reference.com - "What were the four goals of the progressive movement?"
3. Google - "progressive reforms"

What People Thought the Future Would be 100 Years Ago

    One hundred years ago, people were trying to predict what the future (our present) would be like. Some of the thing they came up with were a little strange and didn't come true, but other ideas - although, not spot-on - were pretty close to some of the thing we do have today. Here are a few examples of what people thought things would be like today:

firefighters with bat wings

domesticated seahorses

 1. flying cars
 2. domesticated animals              (especially ocean life) that       could be used for                     transportation or work
 3. firefighters with bat wings 
 4. space travel on a regular           basis
 5. high tech education

high tech eduction

 6. video chatting

video chatting

     7. blimp boats
     8. automated bathrooms
     9. robot barbers
   10. mobile homes
   11. radium fire places

    Some of these things, such as the domesticated animals, bat-winged firefighters, and hover cars were pretty hopeful and seem to be more of a "wish list". Other things like the robots performing jobs and high tech education seem to be more on the warning side. People could feel threatened that robots would put them out of jobs, or that their kids could be hooked up to machines.
    Maybe not all of the predictions came true, some of them are pretty far from our reality today, but others came pretty close to being spot-on predictions. The mobile home that was predicted may not be the exact one we have today but it was pretty close. The same goes for video chatting, but giant domesticated seahorses that we can race and ride across the ocean would have to go in the "didn't really happen" category.
     Most of the predictions seem to be about types of transportation, like the blimp boat, the hover cars, and animals.
     Personally, I don't think that we will have another time of drastic change like the one that happened 100 years ago, but I do think that things will continue to change gradually.



1. Wired - Here’s How People 100 Years Ago Thought We’d Be Living Today
2. Up Worthy: 11 ridiculous future predictions from the 1900 world's fair — and 3 that came true.

Animals During Urbanization

     Some may think that when the United States started to urbanize, people would have left their animals on the farms, but this was not the case. As people started to move from the rural countryside to the more densely populated urban cities, they brought their animals with them. Animals performed jobs, they were kept as companion pets, the way animals were kept and treated made people start thinking about cleanliness in a way they never had before, and having animals even started changing what was considered to be a part of the "private sphere" of people's home lives. Urbanization had a huge affect on the lives of animals.

Pigs in the city streets near a residential area.

     At the start of urbanization, people used animals mainly for work and food. In late 1850's and early 1860's New York City, cows and pigs - which were an important food source for the lower-class city residents - were kept in the outskirts of the city near the residential areas and were fed wastes rather than actual food. This made for poor-quality food, add that to the unsanitary conditions - which caused putrid smells for the people close by - led to newspaper articles that coerced the New York City government to take action. The livestock was taken over by the government, who were now able to control the quality of urban food (Source 8). This was the beginning of people caring about what they were eating, and the start of the Department of Health in urban cities. 

Horse-drawn carriage (1900)

     Another instance that helped early cities in the US realize that they needed to improve the conditions of the city to be more sanitary was the Great Epizootic. During the early 1870's, horses and mules were used as work animals, usually pulling carriages or hauling heavy work materials. In 1872 and epidemic that originated in Toronto spread to all the horses in the majority of the major cities of the US. For two weeks, horses in big cities such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco were all unable to work because they caught distemper. Many people were very annoyed at the lack of a work force, and construction and transportation was halted for a brief period of time. Dr. Andrew Smith, a veterinarian at Ontario Vet College even voiced that he thought of it as a "considerable loss and annoyance to owners of horses and to the community generally"(Source 8) People in the city realized that their multi-species communities made for unique ecological conditions and an easy was for disease to spread that was unlike that in the rural countryside. 

Boston Terriers ("America's dog") 

Black and white photo of a Saint Bernard

     The role of animals in the home also adapted during this time period. Before urbanization, the only pets that were really kept - usually just in the homes of the wealthy - were big dogs kept as hunting partners or child companions. Not until the end of the urbanization period does one see small dogs and other animals kept inside the home. According to Source 5, at the beginning of urbanization in the 1880's, the most popular dog breeds were gun dog (spaniels, setters, and pointers), then in the 1890's it was the Saint Bernard, then the Collie in the 1900's, and finally in the 1910's the most popular dog breed is the Boston Terrier. The Boston Terrier (or "America's dog") is the first really small "companion dog" that wasn't kept for any other purpose than to keep the owner company. This marks the start of pets used as symbols of class or status in the home, or simply for entertainment. Around this time, birds became very popular because they could be kept in a small space and provided "music" to the owners. Instead of going to an opera or a theater, the owner of a bird simply had to sit in his or her home and listen to their small, convenient pet as they sang.

ASPCA giving water to a carriage horse.

    Animals in the city also had an affect on what was considered to be part of the "domestic sphere" of everyday life. With some animals performing work in the cities, and others being kept as pets inside the homes, they were considered part of the "public sphere" and the "private sphere". The people's ability to see how the work animals were treated in public led to the creation of the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and new morals for the treatment of all animals, whether they were used for work or kept as pets (Source 2). A saying arose during urbanization that went, "A man who beats his beast is a man who beats his children." This saying is a great example of how people viewed animals in the home the same way that they viewed their children. They would show them off to guests, making sure that they were well-behaved and taken care of properly. Animals became symbols of the moral stability in a home. 
     Urbanization changed the way animals were kept and what role they played in the lives of their human counterparts. The keeping of animals during urbanization even changed the way that humans viewed things like hygiene in the city communities. Animals also had an affect on urbanization. Without work horses or mules to haul heavy materials, construction would not have happened as fast as it did in the beginning of urbanization. Urbanization changed many things for animals as a whole, but animals also helped the process of urbanization happen. 




Citations:

1. NY Times - Pet Sounds: a review of a book that gives a general background on domestic animals in America
2. Backstory- Pet Friendly: A History of Domestic Animals - a podcast on the history of domestic animals
3. Express - A secret history of pets: Why humans have kept animals as pets since ancient times: used to get dates of important animal events
4. Library of Congress - Books that Shaped America: used to get a description of The American Woman's Home
5. The CSM - Most Popular Dog Breed: which breed of dog was most popular for each decade from 1880's to present
6. NY Times - Coney Elephant Killed: newpaper article about the execution of a circus elephant, used to get the perspective of people on animals during that time period
7. History Matters - The American Woman’s Home: a more detailed description of the book in order to get an idea of what role pets played in the home
8. ASEH 2013: International Perspectives on Urban Animals in the Nineteenth Century - several accounts of events having to do with animals in cities during urbanization

MLK Speaker Review (Peggy Wallace Kennedy)

   Peggy Wallace Kennedy, the speaker that came today to talk to us during Randolph's MLK community time, had a lot of interesting and important points to make on what it was like in Alabama during a time of segregation and racism. Though she may have had used the old style of giving a scripted speech, which made it very hard for this generation of students to stay engaged through the whole thing, she spoke on many subjects that she was able to experience firsthand - as opposed to only being able to hear about it through older people like our generation.
   One of the most interesting facts that stuck in my brain was the fact that her father, Governor George Wallace, ran first as a "racial moderate" candidate and lost. I thought that was understandable seeing as Alabama is one of the states more well-known for its inclination towards racism during that time. What surprised me about her statement was that her father had run as a racial moderate in the first place. Last week, they informed us that the daughter of Governor George Wallace was coming to speak to us on what it was like to have a racist government official for a father. This made me expect to hear all about how she felt having a racist father in the government. I did not expect her to talk about how he used to invite some of his African-American coworkers to lunch in his office so they didn't have to deal with the segregated cafes around their workplace. After she told us about his losing the election where he ran as a racial moderate, she told us that he later ran again as a racist and won. She was disappointed in him for giving up on who he was just to gain power.
   Another thing that surprised me was when Mrs. Kennedy told us that she knew Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter. Not only that, but stood arm-in-arm with her! She told us that the two of them represented the "little black girl and little white girl" that Martin Luther King Jr. had spoken of in his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Philanthropy - Oprah Winfrey

Inside Philanthropy - Oprah Winfrey
 Net worth: $3 billion
 Main Source: Oprah Winfrey Show/Harpo Productions/Winfrey Network
Love to Know - Charities of Oprah Winfrey
 Main Charities:
 - The Angel Network
    - supports and pulicizes on her talk show hoping to get audience "to be more involved in giving             and volunteering"
    - collects millions of $'s in donation then gives grants to organizations focusing on her initiatives               (education, developing leaders, protecting human rights, making support communities)
    - started in 1997/98
    - pays all overhead and operating costs herself & 100% of donation goes to funding a project
 - The Oprah Winfrey Foundation
    - runs it exclusively
    - provides grants (funded by her personally) to non-profit organizations
    - no donations or grant applications; she chooses charities
 - The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation
    - exclusively for Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa
      - began in 2007
Other Charities:
 - O Ambassadors
    - school-based program which encourages kids "to give and act on behalf of their peers in                     underdeveloped countries"
 - The US Dream Academy
    - after school program that works with children who have a parent in jail
    - aims to "break the cycle of incarceration"
    - Oprah is one of the biggest supporters
Bio. - Oprah Winfrey Biography
 - single mother in Mississippi
 - sexually abused by several male relatives and friends of her mother when she was young
 - launched  The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986
 - Harpo Productions (Oprah backwards)
 - Oprah's Book Club --> put many unknown authors on top of bestseller lists & renewed popularity       of pleasure reading
 - co-founded Oxygen Media --> dedicated to "producing cable internet programming for women"
 - Angel Network has raised more than %52 million for charitable programs
 - proposed a bill to Congress, which was passed in 1994, making a nationwide database of convicted    child abusers
CNN - Oprah Wifrey Fast Facts
 - President Clinton signed "Oprah Bill"
 - "Oprah's Book Club" = influential in the publishing world
 - "Oprah Winfrey Show" was originally called "AM Chicago"
 - Won the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2002
 - Opened school for girls in 2007 ($40 million to open)
    - houses 152 girls from bad backgrounds and gives them education
 - OWN was originally "Discovery Health Channel"
 - was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2010 at 33rd annual Kennedy Center Honors gala
 - received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2001
 - Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2013

Industry Book Cover

This book cover displays the relationship between innovation and the growth of American industry.