Divine: pp. 5–16, 34–47, 54–60, 63–79, 96–105, 128–129, 163–168, 224–227, 252–267, 304–328, 337–341, 376–385, 398–400, 430–431, 444–447, 460–466, 481–496, 524–533, 539–548, 553–565, 587–588, 633–642, 645–647, 668–669, 723–726, 749–753, 839–846, 876–877, 905–909, 938–943, 959–962

Writers: Sara Elster (SE), Beata Luczywek (BL),Bizzy Mellado (BM), Aravind Jagadeesan (AJ),Alex Paul (AP), Nick Tresnowski (NT), Claire Lee [CL.5]
Editors: Rohan Shah, Nathan Shumway, Beata Luczywek, (add name)


What are demographics? (shahrk per 2)
-Population's characteristics, various living, ownership, employment, education, income, age, race/ethnicity, and other descriptive factors of a certain population at any given point in time.
-A demographic change therefore represents a transformation in the aspects of life or a new flow into the United States.

Colonial America:
General: During the eighteenth century, the population of Colonial America went from 250,000 to 2,500,000. Population increase was due to high number of immigrants and the high birthrate of the families in the colonies. The family was the base of economic and social center of colonial life. Over ninety percent of these families live on farms. The New England Colonies were composed of small, independent farm families as well as industrial trades such as logging, shipbuilding, fishing, trading, and rum-distilling. The Middle Colonies were made of larger farms, and often included indentured servants. Various small manufacturing efforts developed as well, and trading help the development of big cities such as New York and Philadelphia. The Southern farmers had small farms, and large plantations. Cash crops were mainly tobacco, rice and indigo. A shortage of indentured servants caused a demand for slaves, which were common in the Chesapeake areas.
A great majority of the colonists were English, but African and more European immigrants created a diverse population. But social mobility without the hereditary aristocracy proved the colonies different. Each colony had their own individual government, and most were ruled by a an appointed official by the English crown. Each colony had a different level of religious tolerance, but all in all religious backgrounds varied greatly. (BM)

Women: As compared to the Chesapeake colonies, the New England colonies were better off. Men and women moved to the colonies as already nuclear families (with a mother, father, and children). Therefore, New England's sex ratio was more balanced than in the Chesapeake colonies, where men outnumbered women 6:1. Paired with the close to perfect conditions for survival, the population in New England quickly grew. As both men and women began to live longer many parents got to see their own children have children.
In New England, most women, living under the pressure of a highly religious society, got married. They were expected to contribute at least half the dowry that the man made and bring money and household goods to the marriage. Women worked on their family farms; cooking, cleaning, gardening, and making clothes. They also joined churches more than men. In legal matter, however, women had limited freedom. Women in the New England colonies could not divorce and had no control over their property. Letters from the time period, however, show that women and men usually accommodated to their "God-given" gender roles. The creation of roles later played out in Industrial and Rural America, through the Cult of Domesticity and therefore the idea of True Womanhood.
(Mostly: BL; little:shahrk per. 2)

African Americans: Although they did not arrive until about the 1680s, African Americans became victims of slavery as Barbados immigrants flooded into the Carolinas. When the Barbados citizens presented the use of manual labor, American immigrants saw indentured servitude as a useful fact. Later, as the rate of servitude declined despite the promotion of the Headright System (Giving one to one hundred acres in exchange for indentured servitude/ pay the cost), colonists began to develop the idea of trapping African Americans and bringing them to the United States to complete all the labor. The largest single group of non-English immigrants would have to be the African Americans. They made up 20% of the colonies population, with 90% of them living and working in the southern colonies- where they were the majority of the population in South Carolina and Georgia. (shahrk per. 2 and some BL, per.3)

Men: Men traveled to the New World as 17-year olds as indentured servants. They often remained servants for an extended amount of time, about four to seven years, as they found that they could make a living as indentured servants, while they spent working as laborers for elite and advanced families. (shahrk per. 2)
SEE ABOVE " WOMEN" FOR MEN'S REFERENCE WITH CHESAPEAKE AND NEW ENGLAND

Other minorities: Native Americans were the main minority to face extreme difficulties. As many tribes had assisted England, such as the Iroquois, American citizens increased their hatred towards Native Americans for assisting the enemy, in both the French and Indian war and the Revolutionary war. The second new conflict occurred due to the Columbian Exchange as 90% of Native Americans died due to diseases such as Small Pox . The "massacre" of native Americans by Small Pox occurred due to a Massachusetts break out. The third major dilemma was the way that England ceded the land of western Native Americans in the Treaty of Paris, without informing them, causing major confusion.
(shahrk per. 2).
The results of the general colonial hatred of the natives were displayed throughout the nation's history from the Massacre at Mystic to the "Battle" at Sand Creek to the Massacre at Wounded Knee. NS per. 1

Pre-Revolution America:
General:This population of about 2.5 million people included different races and ethnic groups. Nearly 60% of the population were under the age of twenty-one, no wonder historians call this America's "coming of age" (most people were really that young!). The living standard for a typical white family was not far off from the English and was rising and comfortable. Over 90 percent of people lived on farms. However, wealth was not fairly distributed across all thirteen colonies. The southern colonies enjoyed high personal wealth due to the growing trend of slaves, while the middle colonies also did well economically... unlike the New England Colonies that lacked the materials to produce large quantities of exports or the world market. (BM)

Women: Some wives of both Patriots and Loyalists worked within the army camps as cooks and nurses or fought alongside their husbands. Those who stayed home maintained the colonial economy by running the family farms and businesses while their husbands and sons were off fighting. New opportunities to partake in volunteer organizations to help support the war arose. Although women property owners in New Jersey gained the right to vote, social equality and Abigail Adams' "Remember the Ladies" proved ineffective during the war effort. (SE)

African Americans: The population increase from 1701 to 1775 was nearly 28,000 to 500,000. They only made up twenty percent of the population in America. Any Africans in the Colonies during this era were most likely slaves and lived in the South. More than 90 percent of America's salves lived in the South, and as a economic capitol investment, began to build the American economy. Even if some escape bondage, they were universally discriminated racially, and limited to their rights. (BM)

Men: Most men did physical labor; landowning was primarily popular and fell into the role of men, who also dominated politically within the family since they were the only eligible voters.English law gave husbands also unlimited rights within the family, even to abuse their own wife. Most white men had the opportunity to improve their social status and standard of living by hard work. Impressment drafted over 10,000 American sailors into the British Navy. (BM)

Other minorities: In the 18th century, the population grew 10 times larger leading up to the Revolution. The cause of this huge population change would have to be the high immigration rate and the high birthrate. Many minorities immigrated, including a significant amount of Germans, who settled in the farmlands of Philadelphia, but also the Scotch-Irish, who settled also in Pennsylvania and the southern colonies.

Post-Revolution America:
General: The population after the Revolutionary War commonly denounced any English traces, or aristocratic presence while gaining a new sense of American Nationalism. This population, however, had even more of an unbalanced distribution of wealth, then before the war.At this time, a great number of people migrated west, some because of the Northwest Ordinance, gaining full political representation. States dominantly ruled and passed several laws including the separation between church and state. (BM)

(BM)

Women: After the war, women retained their second-class status regardless of the pleas of such women as Abigail Adams and Lucy Knox. Regardless of educational reform for women, she returned home to the familiar Cult of Domesticity. Women appealed for divorce in greater numbers eventually reaching those of men. (SE) Most of this reform can be seen in the popular novels of this time, such as Pamela and Clarissa; most were stories of young victims of being wives to horrible husbands. An intellectual movement occurred with the women of this area, which led to higher divorce rates and a changing family roles in society. Women began to strive for education, as the key for any political or social power. (BM)

African Americans: African Americans in bondage began to appeal for their freedom in response to the double standard of the American Revolution. They appealed to state legislatures and petitioned to the white majority. Yet African Americans did gain recognition for their scientific accomplishments in the fields of mathematics and astronomy making the white man's justification of African American inferiority harder to defend. Free blacks faced racial discrimination in the workforce, churches, and were excluded from juries, voting, and militia duty. (SE)

Men: New laws prevented old colonial traditions that allowed men to be able to pass their law to their eldest son or declare that his property could never be sold, divided, or given away. A new sense of individual work ethics, rather than the tradition aristocracy, began to motivate the men, bread winners, to strive for a better social status. Jefferson claimed it to finally be "a government truly republican." Land requirements were lowered as well, opening the voting to a wider margin, but till exclusive to white men. (BM)


Other minorities:Although America was now a free country, minorities, especially religious minorities such as Jewish people and other non-Christian religions faced unfair treatment from the traditional white, Christian native English pilgrims who still held supreme power over the country. (NT)

Important Events: Shay's Rebellion was an armed uprising in western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebels, led by Daniel Shay, were mostly small farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay these debts often resulted in prison. When the rebellion began on August 29, 1786, a militia that had been raised privately attacked the federal Springfield armory. There was a lack of institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation. (AP)

Jacksonian America:
General: Known as the "Age of the Common Man," the Jacksonian era introduced modern, popular politics and a rise of Democratic Society. Educational reforms took place, provided public schools for young children, and a Second Great Awakening swept across the country. Temperance and public asylums began to rise. Jackson's Indian Removal Act removed thousands of Indians across the Mississippi into the future Kansas and Texas. (BM)

African Americans: African Americans were completely ignored in this age of the "common man". As all white men gained the right to vote, it seems like African Americans had less and less rights. (BL) The reason that African Americans not only did not receive any positive change, but actually saw a decrease in rights is because the celebration of the common man (a white man) further strengthened the view of African Americans as outcasts in the United States. (NT)

Men: Since during the Age of Jackson there was a widespread belief in equality of opportunity for all white males- it was known as the age of the "self-made man." As Western states were added into the Union, state constitutions allowed all white men to vote and hold office. There were no property or religious requirement, and eastern states soon followed. Now, all men, regardless of wealth or power, could hold public office. Politics moved form the hands of rich plantation owners and northern merchants to white males of the lower and middle class who began to vote in large numbers. (BL)

Women: The Jacksonian Era is also known as the Age of the Common Man. Since it is the common man, women did not progress very much during the Jacksonian presidency. (NT) The Peggy Eaton affair which occurred during the Jackson presidency actually tarnished the view of women even further. Other women were so disgusted that they refused to socialize with Eaton. (NT)
Since Andrew Jackson experienced something close to this situation regarding his wife, he demanded that the other cabinet member's wives speak with Peggy Eaton. The other cabinet members soon relinquished their positions. (AP)

Other minorities: In 1857 the Supreme court decides the Dred Scott case and legalizes slaver in all territories. (AP) Whiskey Rebellion showed strong force of farmers living in the west. (Even though Washington crushed the rebellion with an overwhelming force to show the strong government power). (BM)

Jackson's Indian Removal Act traded the tribal lands in the east for the vast western territories, and also provided money for the land transfer. Ended in the harsh treatment in the Native Americans, and included the famous Trail of Tears. Where nearly 25 percent of the people died on the journey. (BM)

Compromise of 1850: A series of laws that attempted to resolve the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American war. There were 5 laws which balanced the interests of both the north and the south. Missouri was a slave state and California was admitted as a free state. Tezas recieved financial compensation for relinquishing claim to lands west of the Rio Grande. The Slave trade (but not slavery tiself) was terminated in the District of columbia, and the stringent Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring all U.S. citizens to assist in teh return of fugitive slaves. (AP)

Demographic Progression/Agricultural change:
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the typical farming household consumed most of what it porduced and sold only a small surplus at the nearby market. Most manufactured articles were produced at home. Easier and cheaper access to distant markets caused a decisive change in this pattern. Between 1800 and 1840, agricultural output increased at an annual rate of about 3 percent, and a rapidly growing portion of this production consisted of commodities grown for sale rather than consumed at home. The building of the many canal systems helped to revolutionize the transportation of goods to markets far away. At first their was no economic way to ship farm produce from the midwest to the eastern ports and markets. The canal system that connected the Great lakes and eventually the Mississippi river allowed for the movement of many good for cheaper prices. (AP)

Civil War and Post Civil War America:
General: Lincoln engaged the south in the countries first civil war for the purpose of keeping the union together. However once the war got going it became a battle over the question of slavery. The Civil war was a momentous turning point in our nation's history because it brought forth the thirteenth through fifthteenth amendments that granted African Americans equal rights as citizens and the ability though these rights were granted by congress, the civil rights battle for equality would carry over into the next century for both blacks and women. (AP)


Women: During the war, northern women pushed the boundries of their traditional roles by participating on the home front as fund-raisers and in the rear lines as army nurses and members of the Sanitary Commission. This commission promoted health in the northern amries camps through attention to cleanliness, nutrition and medical care. However, women were not limited to the roles of nurses. Throughout the war they also filled key positions in the administration of patriotic organizations. (AP)


African Americans: Very few African Americans fought in the civil war even in the north. The pro-slave sentiment in the south caused thousands of former slaves to attempt to escape up north in the hope of starting a new life for themselves. However much blacks wanted to fight against their former oppressors in the south, very few regiments allowed blacks to actually engage in combat in the beginning of the war. Later in the war almost 200,000 blacks were enlisted to fight for the union. Their involvment was vital to the success of the war and the south's defeat. The movie ''Glory" is a great example of how the african american minority were treated during the civil war. As shown in the movie, blacks were enlisted in segregated units that were controlled by white officers. Blacks were also paid less than that of an equal white soldier.. (AP)


Men: Thousands of men joined in the effort to defeat the south. Hundreds of thousands would sacrifice their lives for their country in the end. The civil war would come to represent the greatest loss of life and produce. (AP) Men were basically forced to join in one side of the war or else their fellow countrymen looked on them as cowards, and my times reacted violently towards the pacifists. (NT)

Other minorities:

Urban Areas during the Industrial Revolution:
General: The shift from rural to urban living was becoming very evident during this time. By 1900, almost 40% of Americans lived in cities. By 1920, for the first time ever, more people lived in cities than in the rural areas of America.
By the 1890s, the 10% of the richest people in America owned 9/10 of the nation's wealth. (BL)
Urban life brought along many negative impacts onto families. Parents and children became isolated from their extended families as well as village support. Cities saw an increase in divorce rates to one in twelve marriages in 1900 resulting from the expansion of the grounds for divorce which now included desertion and cruelty. The shift from rural to urban life caused a reduction in family size. Children were now seen as an economic burden on the families instead of as an extra set of hands to work on the farm. (SE)

Women: In 1900, one out of every 5 women were working in the labor force for wages. Most of them were young and single- only about 5% of married women held jobs. If it was economically possible, the right place for women in the society was still in the home. Women mostly dominated factory jobs that were like an extension of jobs that they would do at home, like the textile, garment, and food-processing industries. (BL)
Post civil war women worked mostly in low-income and long hour jobs. Children as well were forced to work up to sixteen hours a day in manual labor factories and textile mills to help bring income to the family. (AP)

African Americans: In the South, white capitalists debated whether to use black slaves or poor white workers for factory jobs. Some factories ended up employing slaves, along with other white workers. These integrated workforces offered black slaves a chance to show how they match up to the white men. Slaves were also given the opportunity to prove themselves in the real world with real factory jobs. (NT)

Men: This was a huge time for men. The sudden opportunities in jobs goes unmatched in any other era.This helped many men to fulfill their duties to support their families. (NT) Men also reinforced their title as head and supporter of the family during this time period due they their ability to make a very livable amount of money. (NT)


Other minorities: Approximately 10 million immigrants came to the United States (AJ). Up to this point, most immigrants came from northern and western Europe. During the Progressive Era, "new" immigrants began to arrive from southern and eastern Europe. These new immigrants were mostly poor and illiterate peasants. They were also mostly Roman Catholic, Greek or Russian Orthodox, or Jewish. They also mostly came to the poor ethnic neighborhoods in New York, Chicago, and other big cities. (BL) The surge in population in major American cities attracted power-hungry politicians and entrepreneurs. Few immigrants settled in the poverty-stricken south. Chinese laborers made major contributions to the Central Pacific railroad in California and Nevada. Their ability to work for lower wages caused tension for Americans. Labor Unions such as the American Federation of Labor strongly opposed Chinese labor, by reason of economic competition and race. The Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress banned Chinese immigration for ten years. (AJ) In the 1840s and 50s many German immigrants ventured to large cities in the hopes of finding work in their trades and created large German-American communities within metropolises like New York, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati. [CL.5]
Children: Although child labor had existed before the Industrial Revolution, this era increased its prevalence tremendously. (NT) Children could handle about the same workload as adult workers, while settling for less pay than adults. Employers noticed this and exploited it in industrial plants. (NT)
The industrial revolution led to a population increase, but the chance of surviving childhood did not improve throughout the industrila revolution. There was still limited opportunity for for education and children were expected to work. Child labor had existed befor the industrial revolution, but with the increase in population it became more visable. Before the passing of laws protecting children, many were forced to work in terrible conditions for much lower pay than their elders. (AP)

Rural Areas during the Industrial Revolution:
General: Rural areas saw a rapid, and large decrease in population as former country inhabitants raced to the cities in order to take advantage of the many new job opportunities offered there. (NT) Although the Industrial Revolution had begun to make way by 1860, agriculture still employed the largest fraction of America's workforce. [CL.5]

Women:For the women whose husbands decided to stay in the rural areas, there workloads were increased greatly. In addition to having the responsibilities of taking care of the household and the children, many women were needed to work in the fields and assist in the farming due to the loss of help. (NT)

African Americans:

Men: Most men migrated to the cities because of the job opportunities. For those who did not, the pressure was one to be able to be as successful as those who had moved into urban settings. Rural men were sometimes forced to close down small farms if they no longer had enough help due to the mass migrations into cities. (NT)

Children: Similar to women during this era, children whose families stayed in the rural areas were often needed to help in the farming because the help prior to the Industrial Revolution was rushing towards the cities to take advantage of the new job opportunities. (NT)

Other minorities: German immigrants generally came to the US with some money; this bit of capital helped many Germans with agricultural skill sets find success as farmers in the Midwest. [CL.5]
The Progressive Era:
General: Medical advances and better living conditions accounted for a drop in the death rate at the beginning of the twentieth century. The average life span increased, and life expectancy rose to 56 years for white women and 54 years for white men. Nonetheless, infant mortality remained high; fewer babies reached adolescence and fewer people survived beyond middle age. (SE)

Women: This was a time for increased activism and optimism for women. Most of their male supporters were young, who were generally more liberal then their elders. (Women were finally given the right to vote during World War I- see women below). (BL)
Women worked in much larger numbers in the early years of the twentieth century. Single women outnumbered married women in regards to employment, yet more than one-third of married women worked. Women were mostly employed in service jobs as more men began to takeover the medical field and teaching jobs in colleges and universities.
Instead, women turned to the new "business schools" which offered training in stenography, typing, and bookkeeping once medicine and science became closed to them. As a result of the dropping birthrate and increased divorce rate, many women began to take pride in homemaking and motherhood. This resulted in the creation of Mother's Day. Yet other women preferred smaller numbers of children and turned instead to birth control. Margaret Sanger campaigned for the prescription of the contraceptive device. (SE)

African Americans: African Americans were in general ignored by progressive presidents. Since Reconstruction, the status of African Americans has steadily declined. In v. Ferguson, the rule that had been unofficial in the South was now followed in the North as well. Never-the-less, the situation was still better in the North. By the end of the 19th century, 9 out of 10 African Americans lived in the South. During the Progressive Era, millions of people came North to seek jobs in big cities. Even though many improved their economic conditions, they still faced harsh racism and segregation. (BL)

Men: During this time period women saw oppurtunity for increased civil rights and a change in mindset towards women by the American public (See Women reference above). Because of this, men were split by their opinions about the women's movement. Men found themselves having to share career and education oppurtunities with women more than ever before. (NT)

Other minorities: Muckrakers developed in during the this era to point out the flaws in American society. Many of these flaws had to do with immigrants and how unbearable their living and working conditions were. (NT)

WWI and the 1920s:
General: The focal point of American life in the 1920s turned towards the cities as more than half of the population lived there. People of all nationalities flocked towards the metropolitan areas seeking jobs in new consumer industries. The Second Industrial Revolution benefited the middle- and upper-class Americans the most. Although the former ideological benefits of living in rural America prior to the 1920s were no longer obtainable in the cities (community ties of home, church, and school), they were replaced by new ideas which thrived in the city environment and the Jazz Age. (SE)

Women: More women began to come into the work force as men were drafted in to the army. Their contributions to the war effort convinced President Wilson to pass the 19th amendment in 1920- giving women the right to vote. The amendment didn't change politics as expected. They did not vote separately as a group but adopted the voting preferences of the men in their families. The Cult of Domesticity continued into the 1920s. Women were expected to stay at home while the men went to work. The amount of women in the work force stayed about the same as before the war. The most important change in the lives of women was probably their revolt against sexual taboos. Many more turned to premarital sex and used contraceptives, even though their use was against the law in most states. Young women wore knee length skirts and cut their hair short. More and more started to smoke and drive cars. But as women got married, they were encouraged to settle down and fulfill their role as mother and wife. Feminists pushed for legalized divorce laws. By 1930, 1:6 marriages ended in divorce as compared to the 1:8 ratio a decade earlier. (BL)


Children: Because their fathers and older brothers were off in Europe fighting the war, children were asked to mature quicker than in other eras. (NT) The war effort needed as much help as it could get, so children joined in any way they could. Children participated in the war effort in ways ranging from acting as if they would fighting in the war to working in war production factories. (NT)

(NT)
African Americans: At the turn of the century, 8 out of 10 African Americans stil lived in rural areas, mainly in the south. Most were poor sharecroppers. Jim Crow laws continued to segregate schools, hotels and railroad cars. Poll taxes disfranchised many blacks from voting. Most of the black workers that still remained in the south labored in sawmills or cotton farms. (AP)

Families: The era of the twenties brought forth not only many new inventions but many new customers to purchase them: enter the middle class. During the age of progressivism and the 1920's more and more middle class families were able to afford the niceties that were previously reserve for the upperclass due to greater income. The majority percentage of families purchased an automobile during the twenties because of large scale industry that kept the prices to a minimum. (AP)

Men: Most of the healthy and able American men were off in Europe fighting WWI. That left boys and and older men to handle all of the men's duties on the homefront. These men usually felt disheartened because they felt like were not fulfulling their duties to defend their country. Because of the guilt, many of the men on the homefront worked feveriously to do as much as the could to support the war effort. (NT)

Other minorities: New opportunities in the workforce created by the absence of many male workers were taken by migrant Mexicans as well as African Americans. Thousands of Mexicans crossed the border into Mexico as a result of numerous upheavals brought along by Mexico's revolution and the promise of agriculture and mining jobs. Although most of the Mexicans were employed in the Southwest, many migrated into the Midwest and took jobs within the factories. (SE)
Immigration soared in the early first quarter of the nineteenth century. For many, life was harsh, spent in slums and crowded areas. Although the hours were long, the mass unemployment of the 1890's was over and many trade jobs were available, such as cigar making. The economic recovery helped almost everyone, but the unskilled migrant workers were still far less fortunate. Under these circumstances, some fought to make a living and continued to push
for greater success. (AP)

The Great Depression:
General: The unemployment rate hit an all time high in 1933. Millions lost their jobs, which was nearly one forth of the work. The middle class was hit the hardest, due to their higher dependency in the stock market as well as savings in the bank, most lost everything. (BM)
The Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929 was due in part to the huge amount of stock speculation. This speculative stock market bubble was caused by to many middle class Americans buying stock On Margin. Once the prices started to fall total panic occured and as soon as people stared to sell stocks and their prices dropped to low, the people that had purchased stock on marin could not pay the money that they owed. This significant event is marked by Black Thursday when the market started to drop at an increasing amount. (AP)

Women: No significant gains in the status of the American woman. Women worked for "pin money," unless circumstances forced them otherwise. During the thirties, the only women in the work force were singles or single-parents. Wages consistently remained lower than men's. One area of growth, however, remains in the government. Eleanor Roosevelt set a true example to encourage women in American and Frances Perkins became the first women appointed as ambassadors. (BM)

African Americans: First target of people to be laid off during the depression. BY 1933, 50% of urban blacks were unemployed. "Last hired, first fired." FDR's New Deal helped African Americans survive the depression, but in no way did it improve their racial injustice. (BM)

Men: During the Great Depression market prices were so low that farmers could barely afford to harvest their crops.Many resorted to destroying produce in an attempt to force prices higher. The massive stock market crash was caused by investors purchasing stock "on margin" and then not being able to actually pay it back when the time came. The depression hit families hardest of all because so many of the working men in the family were laid off. The men stood in an unemployment lines for hours in hopes of obtaining some meager rations for their families. (AP)

Other minorities: Mexican immigrants found surprisingly, competition for the manual labor they were accustom to (such as laying railroad tracks and working in the fields) The New Deal did less for Mexican immigrants, or any other minorities, other than African Americans.
The poor, regardless of color, survived the easiest because they knew better than most Americans on how to live in poverty.
The Election of 1936 introduced a force of all the minorities, forming the new democratic party. (BM)


WWII until Reagan:

General: During WWII, increase in factory jobs caused millions of people to leave rural areas for industrial jobs in the Midwest or on the Pacific Coast. New Communities arose around certain factories and military bases as families moved to be closer to their loved ones who were out at war. (BL)

Another increasingly trend began to develop in the 1960s, suburbs. Houses covering acres of land, all looking close to identical introduced the new American way. Although some protested that these "bedroom communities" would ruin the American tradition, but it contrast it helped illustrate it. One famous song, "Little Boxes," talks about the likeness of all the houses all in rows, and crammed into such a limited amount of space. Here's a picture of the new suburbia. (BM)


Women: During the war, over 200,000 women served in the military in non-combat roles. Like during WWI, men vacated jobs for women as they went to go serve in the military. Almost 5 million women entered the workforce. The amount of pay they received, however, was much worse than of a male worker, although . Unlike during WWII however, after it ended, most women remained in the workforce and the rate was slowly increasing. As men arrived after the war, women were slowly forced into an inner, confined spectrum and were once again open to tougher stereotypes than during the war. (BL, and BARELY shahrk)

African Americans: During the war, around a million African Americans left to serve in the armed forces. Attracted by jobs in the North , over 1.5 million African Americans migrated. They continued to face discrimination and segregation. Whites were frustrated that African Americans were taking their jobs led to some being killed in riots, like in New York and Detroit in the summer of 1943. Membership in the NAACP increased during the war. They gained a Supreme Court victory when Smith v. Allwright ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny membership in political parties to African Americans so that they can't vote in the primary elections. After WWII, African Americans were inspired to start fighting for racial equality. (BL)

Men: As a preparation for war, Roosevelt passed the Selective Training and Service Act of September 1940 which required the registration of all American men from ages 21 to 35. It provided for the training of 1.2 million troops in just one year. As men were at war in Europe, they worried about if women would step aside to let them regain their jobs that they held before the war. As seen in "women" (above), men had to come and find jobs in addition to the jobs women held since most women kept working. (BL)

Other minorities: During WWII, about 300,000 Mexican Americans served in the war. In 1942, and agreement allowed Mexican farmers to come into the United States and farm without going through the immigration procedure. Also, about 25,000 Native Americans served in the war and thousands more worked in defense industries. Having left their reservations, more than half never returned. The minority most effected by WWII were the Japanese Americans. Almost 20,000 native born Japanese Americans served loyally in the military. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Americans were suspected of being spies. Citizens were warned to "watch those Japs". The Japanese Americans were forced to leave the west coast and in 1942, the US government, fueled by irrational fears and racism, relocated over 100,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps, located in desolute areas. In 1988, the government apologized for this injustice and gave financial compensation to those still alive. (BL)



Students: During WWII, students were supporting the war effort. After school and on weekends, they would engage in activities such as collecting tin, taking grease, and scrap collecting. (AJ) Students openly presented their opinion against the government and the policies to later active organizations such as Student for a Democratic Society Joined by other middle-aged members, they presented active anti-war protests against LBJ's war decisions.
(Claim: )

Post-Reagan to Present: General: By the end of the century, a majority of Americans had moved to the Sunbelt region of the South and West, the horizontal band of land running from California to the Carolinas. Data from 2000 showed that the populations of all regions of the US had increased in the 90s but that the South and West had increased by almost 20% while the Midwest and Northeast only expanded by about 6%. [CL.5]