Group items tagged

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

III. Populism--Visual/Spatial Intelligence. Political cartoons have always been a popular and powerful means for critiquing society's ills.