Intellectual+and+cultural+movements+and+popular+entertainment+pp.+550–560,+589–590 



- Family ties loosened. - Illiteracy declined. - Cash register that was newly invented rang up record sales. - Public and private educational systems burgeoned. - Life expectancy increased. - Population increased from **47** million to **76** million. - People started to move into __cities__, however, most people still lived on __farms__ or in __small towns.__ - **Medical science** was in the process of a major revolution. Dress Code - Victorian Fashion ideal for women emphasized __elaborate__, confining dress styles with a **tiny waistline** and full skirts that reached to the floor. - Women wore __tight corsets__, __long dark dresses__, and __black shoes__ reaching well above the ankles. - By the **1890s**, a middle-class women wore a __tailored suit__ or a __dark skirt__ and a blouse, called a s__hirtwaist__, modeled after men’s shirts Women’s Role - Throughout 1890s, women began to participate in some of the new __sports__ or go to **work** in factories, stores, or business offices. - Therefore styles became __less restrictive__. Religious - The church often set the tenor for family and social relationships. - In the 1880s, eight out of ten church members were Protestants. **Mugwumps** : This was a group worked to end corruption in politics. George William Curtis and E.L.Godkin were members of the group. Leisure and Entertainment - Popular games include cards, dominoes, backgammon, chess, and checkers. - Many homes had a packet of “author cards” that required knowledge of books, authors, and noted quotations. - The newest outdoor game was **croquet**, so popular that candles were mounted on the wickets to allow play at night. - In the hamlets and small towns of America, traveling **circuses** were enormously popular. - Fairs, horse races, balloon ascensions, bicycle tournaments, ad football and baseball contests were parts of circuses at that time. Changes in Family life - On the farm, parents and children worked more or __less together__, and the family was a producing unit. In factories and offices, family member **rarely** worked together. - In working-class families, mothers, fathers, and children **separated** at dawn and returned. - The middle class wife and children became increasingly isolated from the world of work. - Fewer middle class wives participated directly in their husband’s work. Growing Assertiveness Among Women - The common law doctrine of **__femme couverte__** changed. - Wives were chattel of their husbands; they could **not** legally control their own earnings, property, or children unless they had drawn up a specific contract before marriage. - In the **1870s** and **1880s**, women __started to assert their own humanness__. Educating the Masses - Children were to grow and learn and be nurtured rather than rushed into adulthood and as a result, schooling became more important. - School began early; **boy** attended all day, but **girls** often stayed home after lunch, since it was thought they needed less in the way of learning. - The South lagged far behind in education. The average family size there was about twice as large in the North, and a greater proportion of the population lived in isolated rural areas. - Southern school laws often implied that the school would be “separate but equal,” however; they were __often separate__ but __rarely equal__. Black schools were usually dilapidated, and black teachers were paid considerably less than white teachers. Higher Education - Nearly 150 new colleges and universities opened in the twenty years between 1880 and 1900. The Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 gave large grants of land to the states for the establishment of colleges to teach “agriculture and the mechanic arts.” The act fostered land grant institutions. - As colleges expanded, they no longer did exist primarily to train young ment for the ministry. - They started focusing on science and engineering. Changing Themes in Literature - The Great Depression gave point to a growing movement in literature toward **realism** and **naturalism**. - After the Civil War, literature often reflected the mood of romanticism- **sentimental** and **unrealistic**. - After the 1870s, a number of talented authors began to reject romanticism and escapism, turning instead to **realism**. - As an example, __Mark Twain’s__ //Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// was published in 1885. - However, other writers, the naturalists, became impatient with the realism. They wrote of a world in which a **cruel** and **merciless** environment determined human fate. - The naturalists, often focusing on economic hardship, naturalist writers studied the **poor**.
 * With Slavery abolished, reformers turned their attention to new moral and political issues.
 * In 1874, women who advocated total abstinence from alcoholic beverages formed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).