America, from 1870-1920, was the land of opportunity for most, but not for some. With industrialization came more jobs; however, at the same time those jobs were hardly enough money to raise a family. There was land to move into to farm thanks to the homestead act of 1862. However, due to the commercialization of agriculture such as cattle, the government held control over these farmers, which resulted in lost land and debt. There were strikes and protests, where workers could fight for fair working conditions, something that in other places of the world was maybe not a thing. However, sometimes these strikes were suppressed; an example of this being the police shooting down protesters at the Haymarket Strike. The sheer numbers of immigrants moving to America demonstrated how the US was the land of opportunity – at least compared to the country they were immigrating from. These immigrants sought to move to America thanks in part to the idea of the American dream. At the same time, however, there no doubt were less opportunities for non-white protestant men. Women couldn’t vote, the south was riddled with Jim Crow laws, Native American lands were settled into. Overall, America was the land of opportunity for many, but not for certain groups of people. However, as the US was such a young country at this time, there definitely was a clear improvement as time went by, for offering opportunities to most people in the country.
Month: February 2024
Visiting the mills was a fun, interesting learning experience that helped me see what working conditions may have been like in the past. Understanding history that happened so long ago is a lot easier when you’re able to put a picture to it and recognize a little bit better what it was like then. If I understood correctly, the two men said that they worked in a mill many years ago, which is nice that we were able to learn from men that worked in those conditions in the past. Although I never worked there, I can imagine how difficult the working conditions may have been back then. For example, there were limited windows, and when there were windows they were small, in an attempt to control the amount of sun that got in the room. It was also interesting what our tour guide was mentioning about the fire door. I believe he told us that they had an aluminum block weighing the door open, but if it melted due to a fire then the door would be able to shut, thereby containing the fire. Also, it struck me when our guide mentioned how many eels would block the waterflow, and they would pay men to kill eels because of this. While the working conditions may have not been the best, I was able to get the sense of just how important these mills are, and how many jobs they bring into the community.
