Themes in American History

Hey professor Harbison. I was looking through IMDB and I came upon a very interesting note regarding a movie about P.T. Barnum and I thought you might be interested. This is the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1485796/.

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Located in the heart of Harlem New York the Apollo theatre stands tall with immense symbolic representation and historical power.  In 1914 the doors of the theatre opened up as a Burlesque theatre by Benjamin Hurtig and Harry Seamon called the Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theatre.  Similar to other theaters at this time it was opened to whites and a sprinkle of blacks as patrons or performers.   In 1933 mayor Fiorello La Guardia began his campaign against burlesque nforcing Hurting and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theatre to close down.

Sidney Cohen, who previously owned the theatre before Hurtig and Seamon regained ownership and opened the theatre once again in 1934 with a new idea in mind.  In efforts to appeal to the growing African-American population in Harlem, the theatre now focused on shows geared towards an African American audience.

Harlem was a bustling place where African-American fluctuated to in order to join their counterparts in this cultural movement.  The time of the Apollo theaters reopen was also recognized in history as the time of the Harlem Renaissance or the “New Negro Movement”.  The movement was centered in Harlem and housed a growing number of talented and influential blacks who would help inspire the black community nationwide.   The Apollo theatre was the first place where talented black musicians and singers such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn began their musical career.  The Harlem Renaissance also worked to lessen the divide between blacks and whites during this time.  With this new style of music unique to the black movement in Harlem, whites began to admire and become interested in it, some black and white musicians began to come together just to create music.

The Harlem Renaissance was extremely important in shaping American History.  It represented a time where blacks began to show their pride and talent to the world.   The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance reshaped the idea of Black Americans to a positive one and also reshaped the historic and cultural value of Harlem itself, which still holds true to today.

Immediately when we hear the name Harlem, people automatically remember its rich black culture and the countless acts of innovation that took place there, unique to the black community.  I wanted to explore the history of the Apollo theatre and give a brief synopsis of the Harlem Renaissance because I feel passionately about the damaging effects that recent gentrification is causing to Harlem.  Harlem holds with it the essence of the “Old Harlem” and although it may not be the safest area, it is not fair that its sentiment is being wiped out with the building of luxury condos and restaurants that most of the black families living there now cannot afford to experience.  The new buildings and facilities do not cater to the black community who are forced to watch everything they remembered and loved about Harlem be erased faster than it was built.  Many black residents are forced to move out of Harlem, unable to afford increasing rent prices and are being replaced with people who are able to afford these luxury apartments but have no recollection or consideration towards the pride established in Harlem.  There is even an attack on the physical name “Harlem” with this new gentrification.  When showing housing to clients, realtors refer to Spanish Harlem as “SpaHa”, East Harlem as “EHa” and West Harlem “WeHa”.  This new trend is bound to remove all remembrance and affiliation people once had with the name Harlem, the feeling and memories that accompany it.  Although I am not a Harlem resident I sympathize whole heartedly in this robbery of the historic value and in a sense the people of Harlem.

**I tried to upload some photos but the site told me i reached the maximum storage capacity and would not let me upload any**

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After work this Friday, I decided to go to the MCNY, which is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue. I was accompanied by my girlfriend, who I had decided to impress with my (extensive, yes I said extensive) knowledge of NYC history. When we were approaching the building, from a distance of about 100 yards, I noticed a statue outside the museum, and excitedly and confidently declared that it was the statue of Alexander Hamilton. To her surprise (and to be honest, mine as well) I was absolutely right. After such an auspicious start, I was looking forward to entering the museum.

When we paid and went in ad looked around, I felt like a historian watching “Gangs of New York”. I was terribly disappointed. Maybe we just chose the wrong time to go but half the museum was closed for renovations. There were some beautiful pictures on the first floor on one side and The American Style: Colonial Revival and the Modern Metropolis exhibition on the other. The pictures were modern and so its placement in this museum was lost on me.

At the other end, The American Style exhibition was a lot more fascinating and interesting. There were many interesting exhibits – and what I liked most about it was trying to figure out which era it belonged to and what historical significance it had. Unfortunately, most of my guesses ranged from way off to pathetically way off. But as they say, alls well that ends well. Just as we were about to leave the room, the last exhibit was depicting George Washington’s inauguration. At this my girlfriend said, “Ohh I didnt know this happened in NY”. I realized it was another opportunity to show off – I went into a lengthy narration starting with the British coming thru NYC and George Washington’s army fighting well but having to retreat in the night to the French assisting America win the revolutionary war and George Washington declaring independence in NYC. How I would love to say at this moment that my girlfriend was very impressed with my knowledge – all I got was “Good for him! Is this enough for your extra credit?”

We then moved to the second floor which was filled with an exhibition about the life of Joel Gray. Joel Gray was a performer and photographer of whom I had never heard. They had some fascinating information, pictures and other exhibits from his life. All I can say is that I wish it was from either Alexander Hamilton, Robert Moses or someone we had studied about. Around the corner, was a room which showed the interior decoration of the nineteenth century, which was really amazing!! Right between Joel Gray and the old but amazing furniture was the  Timescapes!! Timescapes is a 22 minute documentary on NYC by PBS!! For those of you, who cannot understand all the exclamations and the excitement, PBS also made the documentary which we watch in class. I thought it would serve 3 purposes – (1) give me enough material to write in this blog, (2) be like a quick recap of everything we learned just before the exam, and (3) give me another opportunity to show off and impress my girlfriend with my knowledge about NYC history (Yes some guys never quit).

Timescapes left me happy but even unsatisfied. As you can imagine, getting the history right from Hudson landing in Manhattan in the early 1600s to 9/11, 2001 within 22 minutes is an impossible task. When they skimmed over the revolutionary war and Alexander Hamilton, it was saddening but to not mention the Draft Riots, Tweed, or Amsterdam Vallon (kidding) did make me feel like I was being robbed. Overall, in the limited time available they did do a pretty good job – I can attest to that as my girlfriend with a nice big smile said, “now that was interesting”.

Overall, it was a very fascinating trip, which reiterated the fact that I do have a passion and liking for history – something that I did not realize before this class. Just as we stepped out of the museum into the pouring rain (I swear I am not making this up) and took a left to go towards the subway on 103rd st, we realized that we were standing at the statue of DeWitt Jackson. I felt like this was the perfect ending for a trip to the NYC Museum, as I strongly believe that DeWitt Jackson played the most important role, with the grid and the Erie Canal, in the modernization of NYC.

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Governors Island, in the heart of New York Harbor, is only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. It is one of the longest continuously active military posts in the United States. Since the late 1700s the island has served as a major Army headquarters and later as the largest Coast Guard base in the nation. Its military role ended n 1996 after over 200 years of service.

The island was the first place settled by the Dutch West India Company in New York Harbor in 1624. The British officially acquired the Island in 1698 and named it “Governors Island,” for the benefit and accommodation of His Majesty’s Governors. In 1776 Gen. George Washington’s colonial army made a valiant attempt to fend off the British siege of New York. Patriot cannons on Governors Island fired some of the first shots of the Battle of Brooklyn. The British prevailed and held New York for the duration of the Revolutionary War, but the experience steeled the resolve of the young nation to protect its harbors. In one of its first initiatives that was truly national in scope, the United States began in the 1790s to fortify important harbors with a series of coastal defenses. Fort Jay and Castle Williams represent this early national effort. Castle Williams was one of a series of fortifications built in the early 19th century to defend New York Harbor. The circular red sandstone fort was built between 1807 and 1811 and named after its designer, Jonathan Williams.  Fort Jay was completed in 1798 and deterred the British from attacking the city during the War of 1812. The Army established a major arsenal on the island in 1833 and although advances in naval armaments reduced its tactical importance, the island remained an important military base through the second World War. In 1966 the Army left the island and the U.S. the base was transferred to the Coast Guard.

As time pass, the role of Governors Island has changed. Today, the island is open for public, it is not only a good place for people to have fun and relax, but also it is a valuable resource for people to learn about the American history. Whatever the past or the present, the Governors Island is always important for the city development.

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One of the major difference between NYC and the rest of the cities in America has always been the population, but this difference expanded in the 1900s. All throughout American History, NYC has been the land of opportunity for the “hard workers” as well as the “dreamers” – but none more so during the 1900s. In the 1920s, musicians and artists from all over the country came to NYC, to try and be successful. With the radio reaching into every American’s house, NYC was the right place to be. America was introduced to the jazz and the blues. NYC was already home to Broadway theater, but it was only in the early 1900s, that the rest of America started taking notice of it.

Music was only one reason a lot of people were driven to NYC.  Industrialization, the growth in Transportation, and the opportunities available due to the New York Stock Exchange are some of the other reasons, that a lot of people were attracted to NYC. According to the census, the population in NYC grew by more than 2 million from 1900 to 1920, and by almost 2 million from 1920 to 1940, while the second most populous city at that time – Chicago, grew by a little over 1 million from 1900 to 1920 and by merely 700,000 from 1920 to 1940. Immigration is another big reason why NYC has always had a higher population growth than the other countries. During this period, millions of immigrants entered the city from Ellis Islands, although most of them did not live in NYC.

P.S: This video was shot in July 1903 by Edison Studios

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found via Google Images Search.

At the start of the twentieth century there were great innovation in transportation that changed the way in which people lived across the US. This was especially clear in major cities like New York City and Boston. Both cities were able to adapt the latest changes in transportation very quickly, which allowed each city to grow its population and size.

In New York new bridges and automobiles allowed people from outside of Manhattan to commute to the city very easily. While in Boston, there were 6 neighboring communities to Boston that were combined to make Greater Boston. In New York City many people enjoyed taking trains and other various forms of public transportation from the outer boroughs into the city. While in Boston people preferred to drive. In both cases many new houses were built as developers scrambled to meet demand. Many of these houses are still in existence today and can be seen all over the outer city areas.
Today, these changes have had profound effects on each city and have allowed them both to thrive and prosper.

NYC's 5 Boroughs

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This is an early 20th century postcard.

In the 1900s, Paris was full of wealthy people traveling in and out, artistic innovations, and jazzy music. Reflective of this freedom and movement of the city, architects built buildings with angular shapes that resembled new cruise ships. This movement was given the name, Art Deco. After World War II hit, the city adopted less flamboyant  styles with a mixture of the old and new styles. Paris experienced a housing boom where empty spaces were filled with government sponsored housing projects built of brick. The new housing was influenced by Art Deco with decorative brickworks. Paris mostly brought it’s bricks from its own limestone bedrock which is why most of their building carried the same color tone.
Similarly,  there was a residential boom in NYC in the early 1900s. The beautiful residential buildings on central park east and central park west were built then. The city also provided public housing which dramatically changed the city’s appearance. New high rise buildings were built in an effort for urban renewal. In many cases they were considered as failures due to the poor maintenance and high crime rates. One of the distinctive features of NYC that can still be seen today are the roof mounted water towers. These were built during the early 1900s with the high rise buildings that were over six floors because these buildings needed too much of a high water pressure to deliver water to the upper levels. Lastly, unlike Paris, NYC drew its stones from different quarries which allowed a variety of textures and hues of stone in the buildings.

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As result of the great depression, many factories in New York were forced to closed, and half of New York’s manufacturing plants were canceled.  New York City was one of cities in the united state which was hit in seriously.  People began to lose their jobs and their houses; they lived in streets as wanderers who had nothing to do.  In order to exist, they started to steal and rob from others. Criminal Rate had increased quickly. Some of them waited for the aids from government to help them overcome the hardest time.

At the same time, Agriculture in the Midwest also suffered. Most of the Great Plains, from Texas to North Dakota, had been turned into a “Dust Bowl.” This name referred to the stripped landscape that was a result of windstorms that blew away millions of tons of topsoil. The reason the windstorms made such an impact can be contributed to the over-planting and stripping of lands to plant wheat after World War I. Many farms were abandoned and many families relocated in California.

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In the early 1930s, the United States and much of the rest of the world faced severe economic problems. Many factories and stores closed, and people were out of work. Many families had little money to buy food. These years are remembered as the “Great Depression.”New York and Chicago were both one of the hardest hit areas of the country during the Great Depression. By 1932, about a quarter of Americans were jobless. The figures were astronomical in big cities: one million unemployed in New York, 600000 in Chicago.

By 1932, half of New York’s manufacturing plants were closed, one in every three New Yorkers was unemployed, and roughly 1.6 million were on some form of relief. The city was unprepared to deal with this crisis. Abandonment of women and children by husbands and fathers increased 134 % during the first few years of the crisis. Vacancy rates nearly doubled as the number of people with money to pay rent plummeted. Privately funded mutual aid societies, the first defense for most Lower East Sliders, collapsed under the stress. The number of mutual aid societies on the Lower East Side dropped from 6,000 in 1920 to 2,000 in 1938, in part because of out migration.

Chicago at that time was also seriously hit by the Great Depression because of the city’s reliance on manufacturing. Only 50 percent of the Chicagoans who had worked in the manufacturing sector in 1927 were still working there in 1933. Aferica American and Mexicans were particularly hurt. By 1932, 40 to 50 percent of black workers in Chicago were unemployed.  Many Mexicans returned, responding to incentives like the free transportation offered from Chicago, or to the more coercive measures in Gary, Indiana Harbor, and South Chicago. Nor were white-collar employees necessarily safe. By February 1933, public school teachers were owed eight and a half months’ back pay. Many unemployed and frustrated workers took matters into their own hands. The Great Depression saw some of the most volatile strikes and protest movements in the city’s history. Unions were often supported by the newly organized Congress of Industrial Organizations . Organizing efforts were facilitated by mass culture, which provided a common ground to a disparate workforce. Workers united across race, ethnicity, and even across different industries. By 1940 one-third of the workers in Chicago’s manufacturing sector were unionezed. Active social protest movements extended outside of the workplace too. Unemployed workers, relief recipients, even the unpaid schoolteachers held huge demonstrations during the early years of the Great Depression.

Both New York and Chicago were suffered economy crisis during the depression, however in Chicago, the depression also involved with the strikes and protest movements, which represented the voice of the worker class people and the minority. It also made the Chicago’s manufacturing sector was unionied.

the unemployed worker:  Picture from the FDR Library, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Woman and children in a camp during the Great Depression, 1936. Photograph: Dorothea Lange/Corbis

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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ml2Ae2SIXac" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

“There Will Be Blood”

The film ‘There Will Be Blood’ directed by Paul Thomas Anderson was released on 2007. Two of the main actors in this movie were Daniel day lewis and Paul Dano. This movie reflects upon the industrial aspects of New York City during the early 20th century. The film itself explores the world of oil mills and it’s effects on in the world. Similarly, the construction of buildings and new industries and new businesses in New York City parallels this idea.

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The 1920s represented a time of cultural and social advancements among the people of NYC especially for women.  This was a time when women (usually white middle/upperclass women) were seeking independence and wanted to step out of the shadows of their male counterparts.  The term flapper was used to describe a style/fad for  woman who would challenge the traditional norms of women during that era.  Flappers wore their hair in a bob, smoke and drank, drove automobiles, sought employment outside of domestic work and spoke about sex in a casual manor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGdN9cG0Ybw

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The race to the sky

New York City is known as the  city of massive skyscrapers that can be recognized by anyone all around the world. But which city in the U.S was competing against NYC for the race towards the sky? Chicago is one city that was late to compete against the Chrysler Building and the Empire State building but now holds the Sears Towers as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The first skyscraper was built in NYC (1873) called the Equitable Life Building which stood at a total of 8 stories high. Chicago then took the lead in 1889 with the Auditorium Building which was 17floors high. The early twentieth century officially marked the start of the Race to the Skies with the construction of the Chrysler Building on 42nd St. The building was built in an architectural style known as Art Deco and is still profoundly recognized today for its artistic design both portrayed in its interior and exterior parts of the building. The building was completed in 1930 as the worlds tallest building beating New York’s very own 40 Wall Street building as well as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Chicago at this time had no competition whatsoever against New York City in the Race to the Skies. New York was competing themselves for the world’s tallest building and exactly a year later after the completion of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building was completed as the Worlds Tallest building. Chicago finally caught up in the race by racing forward to complete the Sears Towers in 1973 as the World’s Tallest building surpassing the World Trade Center. It took Chicago 40 years to finally surpass NYC. The Sears towers is no longer called the same name but now called the Willis Towers. Although Willis Tower is the world’s tallest building, NYC still has proclaimed as the world’s champion in the Race to the Skies because of the amount of buildings that was built in the early 1900’s with the title of “skyscrapers”. The Empire State building as well as the Chrysler building as well as the fallen WTC building were masterpieces of NYC as well as an internationally recognized piece of history.

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Although cities such as New York and Cleveland could boast of hundreds of miles of sewer pipe as early as the 1890s, most cities simply dumped their collected sewage into downstream waterways. In the first decade of the twentieth century many cities still provided unfiltered water that was unfit to drink. Between 1900 and 1910 many cities added sand filters and chlorination devices to their water systems resulting in a marked reduction in disease. The extensive water systems of American cities permitted widespread installation of flush toilets and bathtubs in American homes at the beginning of the twentieth century. Provision of such admirable municipal systems led outlying areas to seek annexation by central cities to obtain these services.

original source: Sylmar, Los Angeles, 29 September 2008

For example, New York City and Los Angeles began the water supply system around the same period of time in the 20^th century. The first Los Angeles aqueduct system was under construction in 1908. The Catskill Aqueduct, part of the New York City water supply system began in 1907. Also, Later improvements in sewer and water systems during the Great Depression and after the Second World War, combined with the application of effective filtration and chemical treatment systems, led to America’s reputation for having the safest public water supply systems in the world.

Courtesy of New York Public

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqz3lpUBp0&feature=grec_index

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Starting from the mid nineteenth century, the populations of New York and Chicago were growing exponentially. Consistent with such urban development there has been a widespread increase in wealth and the desire to improve living conditions. It had become obvious that the formless growth of the city is neither economical or desirable, and that overcrowding and traffic congestion had paralyzed the every day functions of both cities. Chicago, in common with New York, realized that it was time to bring order out of the chaotic growth that its diversified populations brought. As a result, in 1906 the Commercial Club of Chicago along with Daniel Burnham, a gifted architect and an American planner, came up with the Plan of Chicago. The plan included the building of the park system, lakes, beaches, gardens and public squares as well as expanding transportation and areas available for public recreation.

The video attached shows that Burnham has also designed some of the most famous buildings in New York city. Among them is the flatiron building, located on 23rd street and Broadway, which is only a few blocks away from Baruch college. However, the biggest project in his career was the Chicago’s world fair.

Thus, one of the similarities of urban development in 20th century between New York and Chicago was the city planning and architecture; which sometimes involved the same people working on the projects of each city. Perhaps no other metropolis was more immediately affected by the influence of New York regional planning efforts than Chicago, where civic leaders initiated designs of the best plans for architectural and infrastructural improvement, of which Daniel Burnham was a leading example.

Source: The film is produced by The Archimedia Workshop in consultation with Kartemquin Educational Films, 2007

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CREDIT: Gottscho, Samuel H., photographer. "The Empire State Building. From south," 1934.

Courtesy of "Chicago and Its Makers" (Chicago: Felix Mendelsohn, 1929).

Skyscrapers offered visual proof of progress in twentieth-centuries cities, skyscrapers. Corporate offices, along with banks, law offices, and advertising agencies that served them, now towered over downtown streets. Chicago’s 36-story Tribune Tower, and New York’s 102-story Empire State Building represented the reorientation of downtown space in the transition from industrial to corporate city. Chicago tribune tower construction started in 1923 and completed in 1925 is 462 feet tall.  When the Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, it was the tallest building in the world – standing at 1,250 feet tall. This building not only became an icon of New York City, it became a symbol of twentieth century man’s attempts to achieve the impossible.

Source: New York Documentary directed by Ric Burns

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During the 1920s, Moses sparred with Franklin D.Roosevelt  then head of the Taconic State Park Commission, who favored the prompt construction of a Parkway through the Hudson Vally. Moses succeeded in diverting funds to his Long Island parkway projects (the Northern State Parkway , the Southern State Parkway and the Wantagh State Parkway although the Taconic State Parkway was later completed as well. Moses is frequently given credit as the father of the New York State Parkway System from these projects.

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Life in the 1920\’s – Transport and Fashion

By the late 1920s, the automobile had firmly    establishes itself as the newest and most popular method of road transport. The rapidly growing automible industry led by Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company produced new and better models every year for the insatiable public demand. Roads that had been designed for horse transport began to change. In 1927, all the State governments, the Federal Government, and the local governments contribute the money for roads redesigned as well as new road rules introduced.

Women’s fashions  experienced dramatic changes in the early 1920’s following the end of the First World War in a period often referred to as the “roaring 20’s”. The passing of bustles and corsets gave clothing designers much greater freedom of expression. New and colorful fabrics echoed the joy felt by a war weary population following the end of hostilities. Beautiful coordinated and accessorized outfits were a feature of 1920’s ladies fashions.

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During the 1920s, digital technology became to influence people’s life. Radio brought the new world of entertainment and advertising directly into urban homes in the 1920sThe first commercial radio station began broadcasting in 1919, and during the 1920s, the nation’s airwaves were filled with musical variety shows and comedies.

Radio drew the nation together by bringing news, entertainment, and advertisements to the households. In 1926, a network of stations was formed by the national broadcasting corporation and in 1927, the federal government created the federal radio commission which distributed broadcasting licenses and frequencies among 412 cities. National radio broadcasting linked people living distant from one another in new ways, making listeners to share a common experience with each other, and radio advertising brought the message of consumption into every listening household.

Also radio disseminated racial and cultural caricatures and derogatory stereotypes. The nation’s most popular radio show, “Amos ‘n Andy,” which first aired in 1926 on Chicago’s WMAQ, spread vicious racial stereotypes into homes whose white occupants knew little about African Americans. Other minorities fared no better. The Italian gangster and the tightfisted Jew became stock characters in radio programming.

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     The 1920s was a time for the American people to change the ways they lived and it was a time where culture took a dramatic change for the etter. This time also brought along heros like Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. Henry Ford provided the assembly line where it revolutionized the way automobiles were built thus causing them to be cheeper and providing a boost in the economy. It altered the American landscape and American’s society, and it was only one of the several factors in the country’s business boom in the 1920’s. The automobile changed the way people lived their lives, the way the city was run, and how the economy was dealt with.
       Charles Lindbergh also was a hero by revolutionizing the way of proving that so called the aerial flights could be accomplished. He proved that humans can travel by air for a long period of time which set a new bar and new standards in the world of flying. These two men set new standards in two industries that made many things in modern day life possible to achieve. They were the source of all the heroes of that time period and with them they made many other industries boom and made dreams a bit more achieveable. They were greatly admired in this time period because of all these achievements that they did and even until this day.

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