Sin in the Second City

What does Karen Abbott’s Sin in the Second City tell us about gender in turn-of-the20th-Century Chicago

 

              In the forefront of the 20^th century, women’s roles were governed by the status of their men; women did not have the same career opportunities.  If a woman was married to someone with status she didn’t need to work and the family could usually afford to educate their children; including their daughter(s).  If a woman married a man from the lower working class she usually worked as well.  There were exceptions to the rules; some women owned their own businesses or were heirs to fortunes; like the Everleigh sisters.  Women worked primarily in the mills and factories and were paid far less than men.  Women also had fewer legal rights and were at times at the mercy of their husbands.  At times women still gave up any property she owned and was expected to be obedient.

                One profession where women could make a better living was in prostitution.  Not all prostitutes were in the profession on their own accord.  Some women were kidnapped and raped repeatedly before being sold by their captors to brothels.  Some women were promised marriage just to find themselves raped and sold by the man.  Some women had just run out of options; they were supporting children and families and had to make ends meet and this was the only work they could do that gave them the money they needed.  Of course there were those who were supporting their drug habits or were kicked out of homes for being promiscuous.  Men that sought out prostitutes were from different walks of life; Princes Henry of Prussia had visited the Everleigh house; the girls put on a grand play for him, they dressed in animal skins and ate raw meat.  Visitors of brothel were:  businessmen, husbands, ranchers, gamblers, bankers, cattlemen, actors, and politicians.  The amount the men were charged for services varied from place to place. 

Two sisters, Minna and Ada Simms (Lester), bought a Chicago brothel.  They used the pseudonym Everleigh from the grandmother who signed her letters “Everly Yours”.  The Everleigh sisters brought a sense of dignity to prostitution; they fired all of the prostitutes who had worked for the previous owner and hired new girls they referred to as “butterflies”.  Butterflies could not be druggies and had to be at least eighteen years of age.  Butterflies had to have good teeth, a nice face, and a good figure.  They were educated in Balzac literature and were expected to carry themselves with elegance and grace.  The Everleigh sisters then redecorated the club with the finest furnishings, including a $15,000 piano.  They hired a piano player, Vanderpool Vanderpool, and hired multiple maids and cooks.  They ordered the finest foods and the best champagne.  The Everleigh club brought a sense of dignity to the business and attracted men who were of high status.  The entrance fee to the club was $10, this got one in the door, dinner was another $50, and if the man wanted time “upstairs” that was another $50.  It was not uncommon for men to spend much more than that at the Everleigh club.  State legislators and journalists were not charged in exchange for favors.  Men bragged about being “leighed” (laid) and knew their names would remain confidential.

There were houses of ill repute that charged much less.  The women that worked in these houses envied the butterflies at the Everleigh house.  They were sometimes abused and held against their will.  Prostitutes in these lower houses usually turned more tricks and saw cliental from lower classes and didn’t make the kind of money a butterfly made.  There were brothels that tried their best to compete with the Everleigh sisters, but none quite measured up. 

                Men made fortunes from prostitution as well; directly and indirectly.  The Levee leaders or alderman collected payments from the houses for legal protection.  One famous Levee leader was Ike Bloom who collected protection payments from the houses, the true levee leaders however, were Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna and “Bathhouse John” Coughlin; they had police, newspapers, and legislators on the payroll.  Prostitution was illegal, but until the moral issue was truly challenged it was allowed to exist and was seen as a necessary evil.  Areas of Chicago were established for the illegal activity. 

Progressive Era reformers and evangelists began to draw attention to the illegal and immoral actions of prostitution in the Levee.  There were reports of young girls being kidnapped, raped and then sold to brothels were they were held against their will.  The government got involved in trying to control the traffic of white immigrant women into prostitution and President Taft set up the Bureau of Investigation to investigate “the white slave trade”.  The White Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act, went into law in 1910; eventually enough pressure was put on Chicago to close the Levee and the mayor ordered the Everleigh Club to close after seeing a brochure advertising the club.  The club had existed for eleven years and had become part of Chicago.  Soon after brothel after brothel were closed.  The Everleigh sister testified against the Levee leaders, they took their Lester names and moved to New York.  Men and women may have had differing roles at this time but they had similar goals; to gain any profit they could.  

              

 

 

 

 

Did Lincoln Own Slaves?

What does Gerald Prokopowicz’s book, Did Lincoln Own Slaves?,  tell us about Lincoln’s politics, character and personality?

 

Abraham Lincoln’s personality and character were influenced during his youth.  He was born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln on February 12, 1809.  Lincoln was only seven years old when his mother passed away from milk sickness and his father married Sarah Johnston who loved Lincoln like one of her own.  Lincoln’s father was a farmer; Lincoln did farm for awhile, but it was not a career goal for him.  He was tough; he was kicked in the head by a horse and nearly drowned several times, and he could hold an axe extended straight out.   He was a hard worker and held many additional jobs; postmaster, rail splitter, store keeper, surveyor, and sheriff.  As a storekeeper he experienced what it was like to be insolvent; his partner had betrayed the business.  People liked Lincoln so well that they bought Lincoln’s surveying equipment back for him when he was suffering financially, and he was so honest that he walked three miles to return change to a customer.  Lincoln faithfully and reluctantly turned over his paycheck to his father, a common practice at that time, at age twenty-one Lincoln ventured out on his own.

Lincoln had some early exposure to slavery.  His father was a Baptist and bitterly opposed slavery and moved his family from Kentucky, a slave state, to Indiana.  While ferrying passengers on a flatboat, which Lincoln built himself, to New Orleans, he saw slaves being sold; this bothered Lincoln.  Lincoln opposed one human being able to own another.  He believed all people had natural rights, liberty being one of them.  Lincoln did not believe in total equality however, he believed that there needed to be one race that was politically superior, and that Blacks would not be equal socially.  While married, he borrowed a black indentured servant to help Mary out at home; regardless Lincoln must not have seen this as a form of slavery.  These experiences would have an impact on decisions he made in his political career.

Lincoln, for the most part, taught himself to read.  Lincoln’s mother taught him his ABCs, and others helped him get started with his reading.  He would read just about any book he could get his hands on.  As a postmaster he borrowed subscriber’s newspapers and read about current events.  Lincoln’s diligence in educating himself earned him law degrees from several colleges.  These law degrees led Lincoln to the political figure he later became.

Lincoln was a very private individual.  He was reserved but not unfriendly and was known for his story telling. He was not much of a lady’s man according to the book, but he was engaged three times! The first engagement broke off actually to Lincoln’s relief, the second woman, Ann Rutledge died; he suffered from depression after her death.  Lincoln was twenty-two when he married Mary Todd, their relationship was a bit rocky at first, but the courtship was short and they married.  They had four children; Robert, Eddie (who died at age three), Willie (who died at age eight in 1862 while Lincoln was in office), and Thomas (who died at the age of seventeen).  The only child to live to adulthood was Robert who served in the Civil War.   Lincoln lost his father when he was forty-two; he did not attend the funeral but did pay for his father’s burial.  Lincoln was not a professed Christian, but believed in God; his beliefs were strengthened due to all of these losses.  Lincoln suffered from depression on a couple of occasions; one was after the death of Ann Rutledge and another shortly after his friend Joshua Speed left Springfield.  Speed and Lincoln became close friends when Lincoln moved to Springfield as state legislator.  Lincoln was known to have taken “blue mass”, or mercury, during the 1850s; this may have caused his depression and rare rage.  Very rarely would Lincoln lose his temper, but would apologize if he felt he acted unfairly. 

Lincoln used his law degrees to support his family; he was not interested in becoming wealthy, but felt it was his duty to provide for his family.  He was known for his honesty and wittiness and refused cases he felt were unethical.  His brilliance when defending his clients made him very sought after as an attorney.  He believed there was great power in words and he knew how to manipulate them; he used sarcasm and rhetoric in his defenses.  He would display these same characteristics in his political career. 

Lincoln was a senator before becoming President 1861.  He was a common-man and was not the most mannered president; even after taking advice from Mary on etiquette.  He had great vision and wanted to accomplish great things in his lifetime.  The staff he hired was men of different political parties; he didn’t hold grudges and had put people in selective offices if he felt they could do a good job.  He even defied the Senate on who he hired; he was not afraid to stand up for decisions he felt were right.  He relied on these people for their abilities and their opinions.  Lincoln stuck to his beliefs as president; he wanted the North and the South to remain joined even if it meant keeping slavery in states where it already existed.  He did not think government should interfere with slavery in these states, but opposed slavery in new states.  He didn’t want to go to war, but felt the issue of “nation” was important enough to fight for.  One-hundred and eighty thousand African American soldiers served in the Civil War and freedom was given to slaves who escaped the Confederacy.  Lincoln was a great politician with a great vision.  He was careful not to isolate southern states wanting to stay in the Union.  Even in his Gettysburg Address he claimed there was no North or South, no Yankee or Rebel.  Lincoln’s personality and characteristics were held to an even higher level after his death.  He was seen as a great leader and as honorably honest; “Honest Abe”.

Death in the Haymarket

What does James Green’s Death in the Haymarket tell you about the history of Chicago that separates it from other American cities of the era?

          

Chicago was a major industry hub in the late 1800s.  It was a major shipping area and every major railroad east of the Mississippi River went through the city.  Chicago was a link to other major cities all the way to the Pacific.  Industries grew rapidly in Chicago; meat packing, furniture making, lumber, and clothing to name a few. 

The people in the city were of varying cultures and skills.  People had come to Chicago from around the world.  Its population grew quickly and doubled in the 1860’s.  Immigrants came to Chicago for work; skilled and unskilled.  Some came to get wealthy, but most remained poor.  Low cost housing sprung up in the poorer southern section of the city, Pilsen.  Immigrants traveled throughout other parts of the US, but it was magnified in Chicago.

                Workers across the country felt they were no better than slaves to the ten hour day and formed unions.  They asked for an eight hour workday and better wages; workers believed the eight hour day would give them a chance to get out of poverty.  Unions grew in number and size during the 1860s, especially in Chicago.  A new eight hour workday law went into effect on May 1, 1867, in Illinois, but employers disliked the law and ignored it.  Workers in Chicago went on strike and for a short time (one week); the strikes closed the railroads, the lumberyards, and the packing plants. 

Unemployment increased, and in 1870 a reported 20,000 were homeless in
Chicago.   A depression hit the entire country, but hit Chicago harder.  With the depression wages decreased and unions grew in numbers even further.  One Chicago man that took up the labor cause was Albert Parsons from Texas.  Parsons led many huge marches through the city of Chicago.  

Many strikes resulted in deaths.  In 1877 the engineers of the B&O Railroad went on strike over wage cuts; a soldier and striker died.  Then ten were killed when trainman went on strike in Baltimore.  Twenty died in Pennsylvania when militia fired on protestors, the crowd turned and several soldiers were killed and the Union depot was burned.  Militia was on call to squash any further developments, and unions felt the need to organize.  But the poor workers could not hold out long enough to make a lasting impact.  Skilled workers did make some gains, but the unskilled were easily replaced.

Chicago’s population more than doubled in the 1880s with the flood of immigrants to the area.  Parson and August Spies created a new organization, International Working People’s Association (IWPA), in 1883. 

In 1884 there were 40,000 workers unemployed in Chicago, wages were cut again and workers went on strike.  Businessmen used lockouts and hired scabs at lower wages that were willing to cross the picket lines.  Chicago businessmen hired Pinkerton guards and asked the police and the National Guard to protect the strikebreakers.    Conflicts arose.  Strike after strike resulted in injury and death.  Memberships in unions continued to increase.  Workers were asked to take up arms to protect themselves if fired upon by guards or police.  Some saw dynamite as the answer.   

Workers across the country coordinated a mass strike for the eight hour day to occur on May 1, 1886, and Chicago was central station.  Marches on May 1, and May 2, 1886, passed without violence.  On May 3, 1886 there was a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works in Chicago; the police and the Pinkerton security guards had killed four striking workers.  The strikers dispersed that day without any retaliation toward the police.  The following day a rally of disgruntled workers was called to order at Haymarket Square.  Louis Lingg and William Seliger made bombs; Adolph Fischer added words to rally flyers – “…arm yourselves…” (p. 180).  The rally was not well organized but was held with about 1500 in attendance.  Parsons, August Spies, and others spoke at the rally.  The crowd thinned due to rain.  The rally was peaceful until the remaining crowd prepared to disperse.  Police Inspector John Bonfield ordered more than 150 police to march toward the remaining people (about 500).  That’s when the unexpected happened; a bomb was thrown into the police force.  The police began firing their guns, people ran in every direct ion.  One police officer was killed and six were critically injured; many onlookers were wounded and several were killed in the riot, mainly from the gunfire of police.  Radical immigrants (anarchists/socialists) were hunted down for the trial.  A red scare raced across the country.  Chicago police closed anarchist and socialist newspapers and confiscated flyers without warrants.  They searched homes of anarchists without warrants.  Many men were arrested.  In the end eight were accused of the crime.  A trial was held; eight anarchists were convicted of murder, or at least of being accessories to the crime.  Seven of the eight were sentenced to death by hanging (four were hanged).  Some of these men were not even present at the Haymarket bombing, but because they were members of groups who advocated the use of violence they were found as guilty as it they had shot or bombed the officers themselves.  The event shocked the entire country.  Fears of similar occurrences swept the country.  The Haymarket event killed the drive for the eight hour workday across the nation. 

The workers felt that the wealthy capitalists had won the battle.  This caused fear amongst immigrant workers who felt they did not have civil rights.  The strikes and similar events that happened in Chicago highlighted the labor struggles for the rest of the country.  Chicago became a divided city due to the conflicts between labor, the government, and the capitalists.  Newspapers began to report on these conflicts.  Much of the country began to see immigrants as a threat and feared them.   In 1903, President Roosevelt, issued an order not to allow anarchists into the country.   

     

The Jungle

 

Does the fact that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a work of fiction render it more or less effective as a work of propaganda? 

                In an attempt to improve conditions for workers in Chicago, Sinclair explains the abuses immigrant families faced when they came to the US by telling a story about a young man named Jurgis.  Jurgis came from Lithuania to the United States looking for a better way of life for him and his family; including his fiancée, Ona.  They desired the American dream only to find out it was their fate instead.   “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair, expresses how bad life was for the working force and all the wrongs committed against them by the capitalists.  It expresses the struggles of one family and how they alone could not defeat the capitalists.  Jurgis’s family is just one example of the hardships immigrant families faced when they came to the US.  In the end, the only hope for the workers was to join together.  Sinclair also pointed out the types of grotesque jobs the workers were asked to do.  Workers became hostages of work; they worked long hours, did manual labor in poor conditions, and gave their jobs everything they had in them, never to gain the dream they dreamt.

                The sad situations Jurgis and his family members experienced time after time made it hard to believe it was the norm for all immigrant families.  Jurgis and his family believed if they worked hard and honestly they could achieve the American dream; make a good living, raise a family, and own a house of their own.  Jurgis found work fairly quickly when he was strong and healthy, but the moment he injured himself he was out of work without pay.  This type of event didn’t happen just once, it happened again and again.  When the family bought a home; they were told it was new, it wasn’t, it had been previously owned.  They were not aware they were required to purchase insurance and pay taxes on the home and found it a struggle to keep up on their bills.  Jurgis and Ona were thrilled when they finally saved enough money to get married, they under budgeted and found themselves in debt again.  After having their first child, Ona had to return to work before she felt strong and healthy; she never regained her strength.  To keep up with the expenses the children hit the streets; they begged and sold newspapers.  Grandpa Antanas went to work; he worked in a damp area, breathed in chemicals, and his feet were constantly wet; he died as a result.  Jurgis found it harder and harder to find work until the only place he could find employment was at the fertilizer plant.  This was the lowest of jobs, where all remnants of the animals were ground into fertilizer.  Stories were told of how people had fallen into the grinders and parts of them ended up in the final product.  The stench didn’t wash off and it followed Jurgis everywhere.  Ona’s boss, Connor, made a pass at Ona; she was forced to give in when Connor threatened her family’s finances.  Jurgis had a scuffle with Connor and ended up in jail. The family lost the house because they couldn’t make the payments.  While Jurgis was in jail Ona went into premature labor with the second child and they couldn’t afford a doctor.  Jurgis got out of jail in time to gather money and paid for a mid-wife.  Ona and the baby died, and Jurgis had to take a job far from the home.  Jurgis returned home on one weekend to find out his only heir had drowned.  Jurgis had lost the American dream; his home, a good job, and his family.

                Jurgis experienced some other sides of Chicago as well.  He saw how the other half lived when he ran into drunken Freddie Jones, the son of the wealthy packer.  Jones took Jurgis to his mansion and Jurgis found himself booted from the home with a $100 in his pocket.  A bartender short changes Jurgis and his wealth is short lived.  Jurgis also made a living on the dark side, when he turned thief robbing others with a past cellmate.  Jurgis worked for Scully, a powerfully rich political boss; Jurgis helped immigrants get their citizenship and then paid them to vote for a particular candidate (some voted more than once).  Jurgis most likely would not have worked for Scully if he had known the full truth about the man.  Jurgis worked as a scab at Durham’s; his first insight to the power of unions.  He attended a couple of political meetings were men talked about the wrongs and abuses workers suffered under capitalism.  He believed these men held the answer to a brighter future.

                Sinclair was able to use his book to bring attention to the unsanitary conditions of the meat packing plants and got the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act passed.  I was even considering becoming a vegetarian.  I believe his book talked to people differently depending on the person’s social class.  Hopefully the worker felt some satisfaction having their story told and I’m sure it encouraged some toward the socialist movement.  As a form of propaganda toward socialism the book didn’t have as much power as the money of the capitalists.  At the time the book was written there was great fear towards socialism and I think people could see the exaggerations Sinclair used in his book.  His book apparently gained the attention of those who promoted the products produced at the plants.