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"The Public Be Damned" A Thematic and Multiple Intelligences Approach to Teaching the Gilded Age

Nina Mjagkij and D. Antonio Cantu

Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
13 (Summer 1999)
Copyright (c) 1999, Organization of American Historians

The Gilded Age often fails to generate much enthusiasm among students as well as teachers. Several years ago a teacher of American history confessed that she covered the late nineteenth century in a twenty-minute lecture because "not much happened during that period." Scholars of the Gilded Age would certainly disagree with that assessment. Indeed, the late nineteenth century was a period of intense change, which transformed the United States from a predominantly rural nation into a modern industrial society.

Technological innovations led to the growing mechanization of the production process, generating a need for large numbers of unskilled workers. While industrial mass production created new jobs, it also transformed the nature of work, destroying traditional crafts and subordinating workers to repetitive and monotonous tasks. In an attempt to better their lot, some workers joined labor unions. The efforts of organized labor, however, were hampered by exclusionary policies that barred most immigrant, black, and women workers from union membership, as well as the fierce and often violent opposition of factory owners.

While the machine age contributed to the emergence of the working class, it also gave birth to corporate empires. Many entrepreneurs and skilled craftsmen, increasingly unable to compete with large-scale industrial production, were forced out of business, and a few industrialists accumulated the nation's capital.

The unprecedented growth of industrial production during the Gilded Age also sparked demographic changes. Attracted by factory jobs, large numbers of rural migrants and immigrants flocked to the industrial centers of the Northeast. The resulting urbanization led to an increase in the number and size of American cities. The urban centers of the Gilded Age were larger, more densely populated, and ethnically more diverse than any previous urban settlements.

While many urban residents migrated to the cities from rural areas in the United States, the majority of the newcomers were immigrants. The concentration of these new arrivals in select urban areas led to the emergence of distinct ethnic neighborhoods and fueled nativist fears. Many native-born white Americans, fearing job competition and race suicide, demanded immigration restriction in an attempt to limit the influx of non-Protestant immigrants. Their efforts culminated in the 1924 National Origins Quota Act, which severely limited the number of immigrants who were allowed to enter the country each year.

As urban populations grew, rural populations declined. Many farmers were driven from their land by the steady drop in crop prices caused by increased land cultivation, mechanized farm machinery, and global competition. The financial plight of farmers was exacerbated by a sense of social isolation. Farmers tried to alleviate the loneliness of farm life by establishing a network of social organizations called granges. To address their economic concerns, they launched farmers' alliances, which initially functioned as cooperatives but soon moved into the political arena. Attacking unfair business practices of merchants and railroads, the farmers elected a number of officeholders sympathetic to their cause. In 1890, farmers formed the People's Party (whose members were called Populists) and called for government ownership of railroad and telegraph lines as well as unlimited coinage of silver. The Populists, however, failed to attract many voters, perhaps because a growing segment of the American population had moved to the cities and had no interest in supporting an agricultural platform.

In addition to American cities, the trans-Mississippi West attracted large numbers of new settlers in the late nineteenth century. Westward expansion was triggered by the 1862 Homestead Act, which granted free land to those willing to live on and cultivate it for five years, as well as the 1869 completion of the first transcontinental railroad, which made travel to the west safer, faster, and cheaper. The arrival of large numbers of settlers in the West led to conflicts with Native Americans who were driven from the land and forced onto reservations. While Native Americans tried to retain their culture, white land greed and racism succeeded in weakening the tribal system.

White racism also played a crucial role in the lives of African Americans. In the late nineteenth century the vast majority of African Americans lived in the South, where they worked in agriculture. While they had gained their freedom as a result of the Civil War, they remained economically dependent on whites who maintained control of the plantation lands. During the post-war Reconstruction years, African Americans exercised their political rights under the protection of Union troops.

Following the 1877 withdrawal of the last Union troops, however, southern whites regained power and systematically deprived African Americans of the gains they had made during Reconstruction. White southerners introduced poll taxes, the grandfather clause, and literacy tests in an attempt to disfranchise African Americans. When legal means failed, they resorted to lynchings and other forms of violence to intimidate African Americans. In an effort to keep African Americans in a position of inferiority, white southerners devised numerous laws, popularly known as Jim Crow laws, which provided for the complete segregation of the races. As race relations reached a nadir, many African Americans did not openly challenge segregation but instead advocated racial solidarity, self-help, and accommodation.

The following lesson plan is designed to address these themes, summarized in Table One. In addition to a thematic approach, the lesson incorporates a multiple intelligences curricular and instructional framework, which will be further discussed in the Background section.

Time Frame

The entire unit may be taught over a span of five fifty-minute class periods or, under the block schedule, three ninety-minute periods. There is, however, great flexibility incorporated into this type of thematic curricular approach that allows teachers to choose the themes, activities, and order through which they wish to introduce the material to their classes. Activities may also be incorporated into the existing curriculum to enhance current lesson plans.

Objectives

This unit encompasses many of the elements outlined in Era 6 of the National Standards for History. The following student objectives/standards are addressed in this lesson:

Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
Standard 1B: The student understands the rapid growth of cities and how urban life changed.
Standard 1C: The student understands how agriculture, mining, and ranching were transformed.
Standard 1D: The student understands the effects of rapid industrialization on the environment and the emergence of the first conservation movement.
Standard 2A: The student understands the sources and experiences of the new immigrants.
Standard 2B: The student understands "scientific racism," race relations, and the struggle for equal rights.
Standard 3A: The student understands how the "second industrial revolution" changed the nature and conditions of work.
Standard 3C: The student understands how Americans grappled with social, economic, and political issues.
Standard 4B: The student understands the roots and development of American expansionism and the causes and outcomes of the Spanish-American War.

Background

This unit adopts as its framework Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) paradigm. By delineating eight distinct forms of intelligence, Gardner's theory attempts to address the different ways students learn (see Table Two). What follows is but one example of how Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences might be applied to a secondary-level American history course.

This lesson combines the MI model with the eight themes discussed in the introduction. This provides a Gilded-Age unit that not only addresses these vital themes, but allows multiple types of learning activities to take place. The result is the reinforcement of key concepts that form the foundation for understanding this complex and critical period in our nation's history.

Procedure

I. Urbanization--Logical/Mathematical Intelligence. The first activity allows students to compare the rents charged to white and black tenants during the Gilded Age.

A. Students should analyze the chart (Handout 1) depicting the various monthly rental charges for tenants, according to location, floor, and race of the occupant.

B. They should then respond to the following questions:

1. What role did one's floor of residence play in rent charges? Explain.
2. What role did location (i.e. front, rear) play in the cost of rent? Explain.
3. What role did race play in monthly rental charges? Explain how landlords attempted to justify this.
4. If you were living in one of these tenements during this period, what would you have done to protest these discriminatory rent schedules?

II. Rise of Jim Crow--Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence. Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry provides an ideal vehicle for students to analyze the various perspectives taken by African Americans toward Jim Crow laws and civil rights. Lyrics of Lowly Life (1895) illustrates one perspective, the accomodationist paradigm adopted by Dunbar and others during this period.

A. Students should read Dunbar's poem "Keep A-Pluggin' Away" (Handout 2), which suggests how African Americans should deal with their status in American society.

B. After reading the poem, students should respond to the following questions:

1. What message was Dunbar attempting to convey?
2. Who was his target audience? What would your reaction have been if you were a member of his target audience?
3. What do you believe was Dunbar's rationale for promulgating this perspective?
4. How do you think the white community viewed Dunbar's position? Explain.
5. What were some alternative African-American perspectives on Jim Crow laws and civil rights?

III. Populism--Visual/Spatial Intelligence. Political cartoons have always been a popular and powerful means for critiquing society's ills. During the Gilded Age there were many who felt the wrath of the cartoonist's pen; from politicians to tycoons, no one was safe. In an 1873 cartoon, farmers took on the premier big business in America, railroads.

A. Prepare a transparency, PowerPoint slide, or handout of the New York Graphic political cartoon (Handout 3) and allow students time to view the image.

B. After viewing the cartoon, have students respond to the following questions:

1. What are the various symbols and characters depicted in the cartoon supposed to represent?
2. What message is the cartoonist attempting to convey?
3. Who is the cartoonist's target audience?
4. What could you have done, were you moved to action by this political cartoon, to address or remedy this problem?

C. Students should then develop their own political cartoon depicting another conflict or problem that plagued Gilded-Age society.

IV. Politics--Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence. One of the most effective instruments at the disposal of politicians has always been the campaign song. The Populists, perhaps more than any other political party or movement in the late nineteenth century, were prolific songwriters. The Populists were often quite critical of monopolies, railroads, and old party bosses in their songs. The 1890s campaign song My Party Led Me, by S. T. Johnson, provided voters with a rationale for leaving their old political party and joining the Populist cause.

A. Distribute copies of the song (Handout 4) to students.

B. As they read the lyrics, students should respond to the following questions:

1. Who are the Populists targeting in their critique of society?
2. What are the problems they identify or associate with these groups?
3. Is this a fair evaluation of Gilded-Age society? Explain.

C. Students should then develop another set of lyrics critiquing an aspect of Gilded-Age politics not addressed by the Populists in this song.

V. Immigration--Body/Kinesthetic Intelligence. In his 1890 landmark book, How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis discussed the dismal conditions in which thousands of New York immigrants lived. Most of the residential tenements were "unventilated, fever-breeding structures" that housed multiple families. Riis's floor plan of a twelve-family tenement provides an ideal prompt for an activity that illustrates the dark, cramped living quarters germane to these Gilded-Age dwellings.

A. Distribute copies of the tenement floor plan (Handout 5) to students.

B. Students should respond to the following questions:

1. Based on this diagram, how would you characterize the living arrangement found in these tenements?
2. What problems might have developed as a result of the floor plans of these structures?
3. How could the tenements have been architecturally altered to better serve the occupants?

C. In groups, students should complete one of the following activities:

1. Use a computer to scan the diagram of the tenement. Use a photo-editing program to create a healthier living environment by altering the floor plan.
2. Use materials to construct a table-sized model of the tenement. Create scale models of occupants to see how difficult it was to live in these types of dwellings. Discuss the problems identified from the simulation, with one individual per group recording observations and findings.
3. Use cardboard appliance boxes to convert your classroom into a replica of the tenement flat. Have students simulate a typical day's movement patterns in an attempt to determine how difficult it was for the residents to survive in this type of environment. Discuss your observations and findings as a class.

VI. Westward Expansion--Naturalist. Like many Americans during this period, John Wesley Powell was lured by the majestic beauty of the West. Following his service as a Union army soldier (in which he lost his arm at the Battle of Shiloh), Powell ventured westward. In 1869, he initiated the Powell Geographic Expedition, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. Powell recorded his experiences in a diary, which today serves as an outstanding resource for students to better understand the transformation the West went through during the Gilded Age.

A. Distribute copies of Powell's 13 August 1869 diary entry (Handout 6), recounting the expedition's trip down the Colorado River.

B. As they read the diary entry, students should respond to the following question:

1. How would you characterize the conditions Powell and his crew had to endure on this expedition?
2. What types of obstacles did the environment present to Powell's expedition?
3. What motivated Powell and his crew to launch this expedition and overcome the environmental hurdles?

C. Have students assume the role of one of the crew members of Powell's expedition. They should write a diary entry describing the environment they are encountering and the role it plays in their decision to continue the expedition, despite its hardships.

VII. Industrialization--Interpersonal. During the Gilded Age, technological innovations provided an impetus for unprecedented industrial growth and urbanization. While laborers fueled this growth, they certainly did not reap the rewards. Instead, they found themselves economic victims of industrialization and urbanization. In an 1884 study, the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed the economic status and living environment of numerous laborers in Chicago, Illinois.

A. Prepare copies of the family profiles contained in the 1884 Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics study (Handout 7).

B. Divide the class into ten groups, assigning each a family profile.

C. Allow each group time to discuss their family's situation with the other groups, addressing the following elements:

1. Occupation
2. Ethnicity
3. Family Composition
4. Income
5. Expenses
6. Living Conditions

D. Within each group, have students compare their economic status with that of other families. One student from each group should record their findings.

E. As a class, discuss which variables students feel were the primary determinants of economic success and which played the greatest role in the economic hardships families faced.

VIII. Imperialism--Intrapersonal. Numerous Americans witnessed firsthand the impact of imperialism on indigenous people, through their military service during the Spanish-American War. One particular American soldier, James Miller, discussed what he witnessed during his exposure to the war in Puerto Rico. In an 6 August 1898 letter, this young African-American soldier penned his impression of the people, country, and evidence of oppression he witnessed.

A. Students should read copies of Miller's eyewitness account of the Spanish-American War (Handout 8).

B. After reading the letter, students should respond to the following questions:

1. How does Miller characterize the Puerto Rican people he came in contact with?
2. How does he portray the Spanish?
3. What role does Miller believe he was playing in Puerto Rico?
4. Why do you believe Miller found this to be "the first place in my life that I have been and found no distinction in color?"

C. Ask students to assume the role of James Miller, one year later, and have them write a letter about their current situation and status.

Selected Bibliography

Print:

Beisner, Robert. From the Old Diplomacy to the New, 1865-1900. 2nd edition. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1986.

Cherney, Robert W. American Politics in the Gilded Age, 1868-1900. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1997.

Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Harper Collins, 1990.

Degler, Carl N. The Age of the Economic Revolution, 1876-1900. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1977.

Dubofsky, Melvyn. Industrialism and the American Worker, 1865-1920. 3rd edition. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1996.

Fite, Gilbert C. The Farmers's Frontier, 1865-1890. New York: Holt, Rinehard, and Winston, 1966.

Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, 1983.

Ginger, Ray. Age of Excess: The United States from 1877 to 1914. New York: Macmillan, 1965.

Goodwyn, Lawrence. The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Hays, Samuel. The Response to Industrialism, 1877-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.

Higham, John. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925. 2nd edition. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988.

Hoxie, Frederick E. A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880-1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.

Licht, Walter. Industrializing America: The Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

Logan, Rayford W. The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877-1901. New York: Dial Press, 1954.

McMath, Robert C., Jr. American Populism: A Social History, 1877-1898. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.

National Center for History in Schools. National Standards for History. Basic edition. Los Angeles: National Center for History in Schools, 1996.

Nugent, Walter. Crossings: The Great Transatlantic Migrations, 1870-1914. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Schlereth, Thomas J. Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Trachtenberg, Alan. The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.

Woodward, C. Vann. Origins of the New South, 1877-1913. Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1951.

Video:

Berg, Kristian and Robbie Robertson. Dakota Exile. Saint Paul: Twin Cities Public Television, 1996. Video recording, 60 minutes.

Erskine, Lewis. The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords. San Francisco: Half Nelson Productions, 1998. Video recording, 86 minutes.

Farrell, Michael. Plowing Up a Storm: The History of Midwestern Farm Activism. Lincoln: Nebraska Educational Television Network, 1984. Video recording, 89 minutes.

Kurtz, John Henry, with William B. Styple and Brian C. Pohanka. The Splendid Little War. Kearny, NJ: Belle Grove Publishing, 1992. Video recording, 55 minutes.

Paine, Tim. W. E. B. DuBois of Great Barrington. Alexandria, VA: PBS Video, 1995. Video recording, 57 minutes.

Nina Mjagkij is an associate professor of history at Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. She is the author of Light in the Darkness: African Americans and the YMCA, 1852-1946 (1994); co-editor of Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City (1997); and editor of the Encyclopedia of African American Associations (forthcoming).

D. Antonio Cantu is an assistant professor of history at Ball State University, where he teaches American history and secondary social studies methods. A former high school history teacher, he was named Missouri Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year in 1994.