7-3+USH

Abby Regan 1/20/12 USHCP Mr. Masterson

Key Terms: Compulsory Education Laws: Laws that required parents to send their kids to school. Yellow Journalism: A style of "sensational reporting" used by newspapers to attract readers. City Beautiful Movement: A movement that encouraged parks and attractive boulevards in cities. Vaudeville: A type of variety show that featured many short performances. Ragtime: A style of music made in the 1890s by African American pianists who played a driving rhythm with one hand and an invented melody on the other.

Key People: John Dewey: A reformer who encouraged "hands on learning". Frederick Law Olmsted: Designed Central Park in New York city. Walter Camp: A football player for Yale during the 1870s who helped establish many of it's rules in principals. James Naismith: A gym teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts who invented the game of basketball in 1891. Edwin Booth: An actor who portrayed William Shakespeare's tragic heroes and a popular attraction in the 1860s and 70s. Scott Joplin: The King of Ragtime.

Summary:

Education
 * To help the urban working class, social reformers tried to extend more educational opportunities to them.
 * The number of children who attended school increased dramatically after the expansion of public schools and the Compulsory Education Laws were passed.
 * As enrollments increased, many thought that "hands on" learning was as important as reading, writing, and math, but many schools were slow to try 'hands on" methods of teaching.
 * Other reformers stressed that schools educate kids on social matters, such as proper behavior.
 * Although immigrants were often segregated in public schools, women were able to obtain an education.
 * The number of American Colleges and the amount of students who attended them also grew.

Publishing
 * Because more people could read, newspapers and literature became an important part of American lifestyle.

Popular Journalism
 * The newspaper industry grew because the printers developed a new type of inexpensive paper that could withstand high speed printing, and papers sold for just pennies each.
 * The different newspapers fought for the largest amount of viewers, and tried to attract readers with sensational new stories, and fancy illustrations and photos.
 * The newspapers also fought for readers by publishing the comic "The Yellow Kid", who reflected the stereotypes of immigrants.

Literature
 * Novels also sold at dimes and nickels each, and were becoming more popular with the new literate community.
 * Some readers favored adventure stories, others liked realistic books about city life.
 * The most successful books were ones that focused on Christian principals.

Leisure Time In Urban Parks
 * People often relied on leisure activities for relief from city life.
 * Central Park provided a rural landscape for city dwellers who enjoyed the scenic nature.
 * The City Beautiful movement took a number of ideas from Garden City in Great Britain, and many thought it would be an attraction for city-dwellers.
 * Americans took this new opportunity to spend as much time outdoors as possible.

Leisure And Sports
 * During leisure time many Americans played and watched newly invented sports.

Baseball
 * The rules and regulations for baseball were invented prior to the civil war, and many teams were organized prior to the civil war.
 * In 1869 Aaron Champion organized the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and baseball became a full time paid job for talented people.
 * William Hulbert organized the National League in 1876, which created a governing body for the sport.
 * Baseball's popularity continued to rise, and the first World Series was held in 1903 with the Pittsburg Pirates vs. the Boston Pilgrams.
 * African Americans were excluded from playing the sport for 60 years.

Football
 * Similar to soccer and rugby, football developed in the late 1800s on college campuses.
 * Although football was a popular sport, many people disliked the fact that it was so violent, and rules had to be made about making it less violent when Congress discussed outlawing the sport.

Basketball
 * Basketball was invented in 1891, and by the mid 1890s there were both male and female teams.

Entertainment
 * While some liked sports others enjoyed theatre and music.

Theatre
 * The stage was such a popular place for entertainment that tickets were sometimes very expensive.
 * Many audiences preferred more melodramatic plays, where emotions and stereotypes were exaggerated, making it easier to identify with the characters.
 * Vaudeville was also popular and included animal acts, comics, signers, and skits.

Ragtime
 * Ragtime was performed at vaudeville shows near the end of the century and proved to be very popular with audiences.
 * Scott Joplin learned to play piano at a young age, by his teens was performing in bars, and was experimenting with new musical arrangements by the time he was an adult.
 * John Stillwell Stark published Joplin's creation the "Maple Leaf Rag", which sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
 * After the success of the "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin no longer played for audiences, and instead worked on teaching music and composing.
 * Many new dances emerged from ragtime songs.