Age of the City, The: Ethnic City, The
Some cities are marked by clearly-defined ethnic neighborhoods, others are more diverse. Among immigrant families, men are usually the first to arrive, hoping to earn enough money to take back home. Historians call these immigrants "birds of passage...
Voices of Reform: Women's Efforts to Gain Equal Rights
The response to early feminist efforts ranges from silence to outrage. Some working-class and African American women express skepticism that this movement has anything to do with them. There are prominent exceptions like Sojourner Truth, a former sl...
Voices of Reform: Women's Role in the Abolitionist Movement
Violating conventional mores, women in the North take the abolitionists' cause to their neighborhoods, asking people to join them in signing anti-slavery petitions. Because of slavery's impact on family life and personal dignity, a few women begin s...
Voices of Reform: Temperance Movement, The
One of the most influential reform movements of the era is the crusade against drunkenness. Among the working class, people sign pledges not to drink alcohol. Some social elites push temperance as a kind of social control, a way to cut down on socia...
Worlds Apart: Changes in Education
Many girls as well as boys are receiving basic instruction in the first part of the 19th century with the growth of the common-school movement. The course of study for boys tends to be more academic than it is for girls. It is the "maternalistic wed...
Coming to America: Portrait of Colonial Life: Indentured Servants
The United States has been a magnet for immigrants throughout its history. In the colonial period, many who embarked on the journey found it necessary to indenture themselves just to pay for the passage. As we hear a first-hand account of the diffic...