POST ONE: The Progressive Era
The American Experience segment on the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire in New York City was very intriguing and vivid. I sometimes had to take a break from watching it because it was so intensely sad and moving, simultaneously. This hour-long documentary explored the consequences of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in central New York City. Photographs from that time were shown, along with handed-down written and oral histories from survivors and their families. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory employed about 500 women, most of whom were immigrants (Stacy). The working female immigrant was a common theme in New York City during this era, and so the plight of the trapped women during the factory fire was quite personal. 400,000 New Yorkers appeared at the workers' mass funeral, almost ten percent of the city at the time because the connection was so heartfelt (American Experience). The fact that these women were basically trapped in a burning factory, with no fire exits, shoddily built fire escape staircases and no decent fire company to save them, spurred workers rights across the nation. By 1914, 36 states passed laws regulating fire safety and general worker safety conditions (American Experience).
I believe the widespread public opinion about factory conditions that really resulted from the Triangle fire awareness wouldn't have been possible without the demographics of New York City at the time, or the social changes being instigated by the feminine elite. 10% of New York City is reported to have shown up for the victims' symbolic funeral, and public conscience was very much involved with the case. New Yorkers gave money and covered funeral costs for the victims and their families.
Polish female immigrants, 1890s New York City
Copyright, Jewish Virtual Library
500,000 women were reported to spill out onto the East Side of New York City streets in the mornings for work in 1911 (American Experience). These young women were mostly immigrants, and so the identification of a young female dead from unsafe work conditions really must have resonated with the majority of the female working class. According to a study by Fordham University student Priam Saywack, "in 1910, New York’s population was 4,766,883 people" and "the foreign born population in 1910 was 2 million". In other words, "aliens made up 40% of New York City's total population" during that time. So naturally a devastating tragedy that occurred to immigrants would have the attention of other immigrants--a population that was half of the second largest city in the United States at the time. In addition to their staggering numbers, there was an attitude against the Eastern European Jewish, Italian, German and Irish immigrants by the native New Yorkers: "New Yorkers felt that the immigrants, particularly the Jewish and Italian newcomers, did not mesh with the cloth." This xenophobic attitude against the immigrants probably helped them unite to ask for better working conditions.
This common enemy of the native New Yorker probably spurred a friendship between the immigrants amongst each other. Indeed, there was such a camaraderie among female workers that a strike of untold proportions left the shirtwaist and clothing factories with little choice but to adopt more lenient working conditions. The fact that a working class, made up of women, could cause such economic change really speaks to the magnitude of women that stood up for their rights. This movement would not have been possible without so many young women. These young women frequently were confused by the hypocrisy of the language of America, and its reality. I think this confusion was carried out into action by their passionate youth.
"Shirtwaist Worker Women Preparing for A Strike"
Copyright, National Women's History Museum
Women were not supposed to stand up for their rights, back then. The American Experience episode reveals that the judicial system was very much against them, routinely sending them to jail, giving orders to beat the strikers, and never giving them a fair trial. I think women were able to withstand this because they were realizing their own power. They were becoming the breadwinners for immigrant families all over New York City, they were imposed with impressive responsibility and fiscal action. And this wasn't an isolated culture, it was very widespread. This ability for women to band together, really put steam into other movements like the suffragist movement. This can be seen vividly in the film, Iron Jawed Angels. So the Gilded Age, and the Industrial Revolution within it, really became a time for women to realize their own power. And this power was realized through economic means. One can see the similarities between the suffragette and the female union movements, in their actions and modes to focus attention on their plights below in the two images, both from the National Women's History Museum archives online:
Suffragettes Marching Triangle Shirtwaist Strikers Marching
I believe the idealism of the feminine elite, including J. P. Morgan's daughter, Anne, supported a free public. Presidents of companies during the Gilded Age financed improvement of the city they lived in--Andrew Carnegie, for example, impacting educational institutions across the nation for his benevolence. This attitude of raising up the poor through public institutions was inherent in Anne Morgan and socialite Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, who publicly supported the strikers (American Experience). Mainstream opinion and sympathetic press coverage probably couldn't have happened unless these two very public figures stepped in. And so, the ability to overcome class divisions for the sake of a larger goal, was not beyond the scope of the incredibly wealthy upper class. I think this indicated a difference of culture between America's women and women from different countries. America was touted as a place where ambition was valued, and so ambition (in men or women) was rewarded and bred.
The text presents a view of a "class bound society" during the Victorian era and Gilded Age (Helfrich, 39). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was impressive because of its examples of classes no longer being bound in such a way. The American government, laissez-faire to an extreme extent, began to take over and stop being so "modest" (Helfrich, 40). The bureaucracy began to grow in power due to the failings of private monopoly and private businesses, who were primarily motivated by wealth. Unfortunately, however, the government could prove to be dismal at providing for the people with its miles of red tape and bureaucratic arguments, as we've seen today with the Medicare and Social Security fiascos. I think the way that the robber barons provided for cities was quite effective, and their legacies remain today.
For example, Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Carnegie Hall, and distributed his wealth to many other libraries and universities across the nation, eventually giving away $4.3 billion by 2005 adjustment (Nasaw). While the working class during Carnegie's time may not have been able to access these institutes, their grandchildren certainly had the capabilities to do so. This planning for America's future by a robber baron of the 19th century really exhibits a patriotism that we do not see often today in present-day monopolies. Letting a wealthy man do what he wishes to do with his money is not always the worst case scenario for humanity, as Carnegie proves. It makes you wonder if, had Bill Gates not known about Carnegie, would he have done the same?
References
Helfrich, Ron. "US History Civil War to the Present: A Thematic History". 2012.
Nasaw, David, Andrew Carnegie (New York: The Penguin Press, 2006), pp. 54–59, 64–65.
Saywack, Priam. "New York City Demographics". Fordham University: http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/special_programs/honors_program/hudsonfulton_celebra/homepage/the_basics_of_nyc/>. 2012.
Stacy, Greg. "Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Marks a Sad Centennial". NPR.org via Online Journal (March 24, 2011).
"Triangle Fire". American Experience 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle>
POST TWO: THE GREAT WAR
During World War I, America watched as the great powers of Europe, supposedly united by their related dynasties engaged in a war that did not have "one decisive battle". Despite "the fact that all of Europe’s royal families were united by close dynastic and familial ties and by a common culture", the war was fought anyway and brought about the superpower status of the United States and Japan via their involvement (Helfrich, 85). The war would not have been possible without the extreme scientific advances that were occurring at the time in Europe (Germany in particular), and I believe the strains of social hierarchy would not yield to anything less than a war. The war brought women into men's jobs in all walks of life, as evidenced by the British episode "The Beastly Hun" of Upstairs Downstairs, and social position was not nearly as important after the war as before it.
Female Mechanics, Britain 1916
The movement towards mass production started in the years after the American Civil War and continues, even today. Battlegrounds were ideal places to test new machinery and World War I had plenty of new technological advances to exhibit. High explosive shells, grenades, machine guns, pill-boxes (automatic machine gun firing mechanisms placed before enemy lines), bolt-action rifles, hydraulic recoil mechanisms, and zig-zag trenches all were new technology that aided the shape of the Great War (Griffiths, 130). Because of the extreme efficiency and power of these machines, it was incredibly difficult to get past enemy lines. This remade the format of modern warfare. Warfare became defending ones own side, "holding the line" and not about capturing land. I believe this evolved as wars progressed, resulting in the terrorist/martyr guerrilla warfare we see today in Iraq and Afghanistan as technology improved. Furthermore, the war changed the way modern populations view technology. Any increase in technology can now be used for good or bad, and so science was forced to re-evaluate itself in terms of "what is progress?".
The Popular Vickers Machine Gun
Modern Day Machine Gun
Much of the technology used today that was created during that period, has not improved on the basic design. While a lot of warfare technology doesn't really have a positive outlook for humanity (i.e., weapons can only be used to hurt people) there were strides that were also beneficial. In the field of medicine, hygiene became very important on the front and at home. Gunshot wounds started being irrigated with antiseptic fluid (the Carrel-Dakin treatment) and the first real prostheses were seen for limb loss. Additionally, soldiers were instructed to take good care of their feet, and so changing socks and cleaning feet prevented "trench foot" (Keegan). Many citizens took part in caring for their soldiers abroad, as seen in the Upstairs Downstairs episode with the maids sewing socks to send. Pharmaceutical companies also exploded, with Bayer's aspirin effectively combating the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918.
The American Red Cross in Monte Grappa, Italy
CORBIS Images
Interestingly, our vocabulary was also affected by Great War terms. Lice were called "chat" by soldiers on the front, and often spread typhus and other diseases. While fires could be used to kill them, these were dangerous and could attract enemy attention. So soldiers would sit and pick lice off of each other, to promote their health. They called this "chatting up" or "chats", and this entered our conversational dialogue.
Many women, both under the stairs and above it, were forced to take on jobs they weren't used to. In Downton Abbey, Lady Edith of the noble Grantham family finds herself doing farm work because of the lack of young men to drive the tractors. Lady Sybil takes on work as a nurse, and works in hospitals across England. During the Great War, all military nurses were women, and there were 21,480 of them in the US alone. They were also paid and given benefits, which was unheard of. Many members of the older order, such as more mature members of the house in Upstairs Downstairs and the fantastic Dowager Countess of Grantham, disapprove of these goings-on at first but then yield when they see the necessity of war-time.
Not all women were able to find such respectful work. Many war widows became prostitutes for financial reasons, and this led to outbreaks of syphilis in France and Britain. The armies realized the dangers of this disease, and set up regular screenings for it for their soldiers.
The rise in sentimentality is a difficult thing to measure, but I believe it happened during the Great War. Men going abroad felt the need to carry a memento of their loved one with them, and it was acknowledged that it kept them fighting. This can be seen starkly in Downtown Abbey, where Daisy is forced by the kitchen staff to pretend to love William, only so he can have something to fight for. Poor William succumbs to the effects of poison gas eventually, but loves Daisy all the while and this creates quite complex feelings in Daisy. While not at all the same, in Upstairs Downstairs we see the exchange of lovers' photographs and little good luck charms for the front. This is certainly a more sentimental exchange than most seen in the Victorian Era.
Downton Abbey Cast of Characters
Social position and the ways people thought about it changed rapidly throughout the Great War. After Lady Sybil threatens to elope with the politically active Irish chaffeur in Downton Abbey, she is adamant that she cannot be stopped. And indeed, she can't. At the end of this week's episode, the Dowager Countess says that the "aristocracy has to adapt to survive, how could we have gotten so far otherwise?". The changing social positions is also seen avidly in the unabashed pursuit of Lord Grantham by a maid, and her bravery in pursuing him in his own bedroom, which is close to his wife's! Of course lords and earls have had dealings with maids before, but to have the maid pursue the lord, without any shame, seems so new for the era.
References
"Downton Abbey". PBS Masterpiece Theatre. 2011-2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/>.
Griffiths, P. Battle Tactics of the Western Front. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. p130.
Helfrich, Ron. "US History Civil War to the Present: A Thematic History". 2012.
Keegan, John. An Illustrated History of the First World War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.
"Upstairs Downstairs". PBS. 1971-1975.
POST THREE: THE TWENTIES
The 1920s in America were a time of relative excess and happiness. The momentum from the first World War had continued for the American economy, as America (relatively unscathed by the war, unlike Europe) supplied products to Europe for their rebuilding. According to the text, "by 1920....Europe owed the US $10 billion dollars thanks in
large part, of course, to the Great War". The United States was becoming a "creditor nation". Furthermore, America was protected from buying foreign products by tariffs. Consumers clamored for products to put in their homes, and the result was a huge growing of the US GDP: "Between 1922 and 1929 gross domestic product
(GDP) grew from $72 billion dollars to around $104 billion dollars, a growth of
around 40%. Manufacturing output expanded by 64%" (Helfrich). The government's laissez-faire stance (with the exception of tariffs and other restrictions) seemed to be working.
The power of advertisement continued due to all of the propaganda efforts during WWI. Propaganda, as advertisements, began appearing in newspapers and magazines all across America. The establishment of radio centers across the country were used for commercial public broadcasting. Magazine founding became a major activity, largely headed by tycoon Conde Montrose Nast, with the creation and wider distribution of fashion magazines including Vogue.
1926 Vogue Cover
American infrastructure began to change due to the prevalence of the automobile. Via the rubber, steel, nickel, plate glass, lead, leather, paint and automotive industries, "the jobs of 3.7 million Americans had a direct
or indirect relationship to the auto industry. Americans owned 80% of the
world’s motorcars" (Helfrich). This monopoly over the automotive industry would remain prevalent in the American mind for decades to come. Public road construction became vital for the new American public, and the idea of tourism across the country for vacations began to take shape.
The symbol of free femininity, the flapper, began to embody the 1920s or the "Jazz Age". Flapper girls wore bobbed hair, short skirts, makeup and smoked cigarettes. They embodied a freedom of spirit, a freedom of movement, and freedom from cultural inhibitions. Using sex to climb up social ladders was a new theme, and even portrayed in the movies (Baby Face, directed by Alfred E. Green). As women were given the right to vote in 1909, women's movements became more and more mainstream. Planned Parenthood began to get its footing in 1916, when Margaret Sanger opened a birth control clinic in New York city and started handing out birth control information (Planned Parenthood).
The Ziegfeld Follies are an oft heard term associated with the Jazz Age. The Ziegfeld Follies were a cross between a vaudeville show and a high-end broadway show, with girls in typical flapper costume running up and down sets. The Ziegfeld Follies started in 1907, in New York City's Broadway, and continued until 1957. Celebrity Ziegfeld Folly girls include Josephine Baker (the 'Creole Goddess'), Gilda Gray (inventor of the "shimmy"), and Sophie Tucker (called 'The Last of the Red Hot Mamas').
Ziegfeld Girls
The 1920s were a time for excess, entertainment, and often ignoring the rules of government (Prohibition). It is only fair to state that eventually the good times had to end.
References
Helfrich, Ron. "US History Civil War to the Present: A Thematic History". 2012.
"History and Successes". Planned Parenthood. <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/history-and-successes.htm#Sanger>.
"The Theatre: Sophie Spanked". Time. July 24, 1939. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771691,00.html>.
Blog Two consists of four components worth four points each: Readings (Progressive, World War I, Twenties), Bender (Ch 5), Viewing (Triangle Fire), Structure/Analysis.
ReplyDeleteSo how did you do? Excellent
Comments:
Read the syllabus. That will tell you in clear and straightforward tersm what should be in Blog Two (and Blog One and Blog three..). Deductions for material that should be in Blog Three
Thank you Professor Helfrich.
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