Chapter 21

During the progressive era, luxuries for citizens began to flourish. Department stores, vaudeville, music halls, and amusement parks flourished during this era. Amusement parks allowed families to escape their day to day life at home and an opportunity to socialize with friends and for women to show off their new outfits. Soon Henry Ford came out with the model t car which allowed average income families own a car as we'll allowing them to travel easier. Reformers feared that these luxuries would cause immorality and social disorder so they campaigned to regulate these pleasures. One big problem during the progressive era was prostitution. Males would take women and take part of their income. Some women saw this as an easy money maker while others were kidnapped and forced into it. The Federal Mann Act was passed in 1910 which made women trafficking illegal causing the red light districts to shut down. I didn't even know there was ever red light districts in places other than Amsterdam.

Another problem during this area was abuse of drugs and alcohol. Drug companies could freely prescribe or sell opium drugs as well as morphine and heroin. In 1914 the Harrison act was passed making those drugs only accessible with a doctors prescription. Also coca-cola contained cocaine in until 1900. I found this interesting because I had no idea that drug abuse was around for over 100 years.

Chapter 12

The first thing I think when I think old south is slavery but slavery was not the only problem in the old south. I found it really interesting that white men were very violent with one another and fought over power. They called it dueling and sometimes it was so violent that men fought until death. I found this really interesting because I think that when one has a lot of power over people it goes to their head and they become out of control. I think that because plantation owners had such a power over their slaves that it completely went to their head and effected them outside the plantation.

Chapter 11

In this chapter we read about how theatrical performances became a popular form of entertainment. I thought that it was interesting that the audience was very diverse and was not for just high class citizens but low class citizens could go. Their were prostitutes in the crowd and rowdy men who often threw things at the stage that they did not like. The most popular theatrical show was called minstrel shows which were shows that reinforced racial stereotypes. In these shows they depicted African Americans as clumsy and stupid and made fun of their roots and called their shows african related names such as "Nubian Jungle Dance". Another Popular kind of show were the shows by P.T. Barnum who introduced fantasy and weird wonders to people. His goal was to interest people and not educate them so he purchased a museum where he had all sorts of wonders of the world, almost like a freak show.

Chapter 10

In this chapter it talked about public schools and how they started. I thought that this part was really interesting. Schools used to be really small and students ranging from 4 to 20 years old we're jammed into one small class room. In 1837 Horace Mann tried to better education. He goals were to shift financial support for schools to state, making the school year longer, having standardized text books, and dividing students into different grades depending on their age and education level. All these things that Mann had instituted into schools is still in effect today. Also even back then majority of teachers were women and I think today as well their are more women teachers than men. The schools wanted to integrate all people living in America and create a more diverse society but schools still excluded African Americans and if an African American entered the school people often acted violent towards them.