|
Urbanization is a major theme in modern
American history and it is intimately connected to such
events as the revolutions in transportation and manufacturing
and the expansion of our borders to the Pacific Ocean
and the Rio Grande. In the colonial era, America’s
cities were primarily Atlantic seaboard ports, but canals
and railroads created major metropolises in the center
of the country, and westward expansion added cities like
San Francisco, San Antonio, and Denver. Today, America
is an urban society. Yet each city and each town in our
country has its own character, and each carries its own
special history. In this issue of History
Now, our historians focus on the character and
history of six American cities: New York, Philadelphia,
San Francisco, San Antonio, Detroit, and New Orleans.
Woven into their unique histories are key elements of
our nation’s political, social and economic history.
But the stories of these cities do not exhaust the possibilities.
It is our belief that students across the country can
use the study of their own towns and cities to illuminate
important developments in our national past.
In “Revolutionary Philadelphia,” Ray Raphael
brings eighteenth-century Philadelphia to life. Philadelphia
was a thriving seaport with artisans and merchants,
slaves and servants, but it is remembered today as the
political center of the revolution and the early republic.
Thousands of Americans and foreign visitors still flock
to Independence Hall to see where patriots like Benjamin
Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander
Hamilton labored to create a republic. Char Miller’s
essay, “Remembering the Alamo,” focuses
on a different revolution: the struggle for Texas independence.
Miller shows us how the Alamo remains a contested symbol,
claimed sometimes as a triumph of white over Hispanic
culture and of Protestantism over Catholicism, but is
recognized today as a struggle by men and women of many
cultures and religions for self-determination. In his
essay, “Coming to America: Ellis Island and New
York City,” Vincent Cannato chooses the point
of entry for thousands of immigrants as the symbol of
New York’s -- and America’s -- multiculturalism.
From its inception in 1891, the immigration facility
on Ellis Island was the first stop for those eager to
make their homes and their fortunes in the United States.
Robert Cherny turns our attention to San Francisco in
his essay “San Francisco and the Great Earthquake
of 1906.” While many of us who live in other parts
of the country associate the city with the Gold Rush,
trolley cars, and the Golden Gate Bridge, Cherny argues
that its defining moment was a natural disaster. The
earthquake that destroyed lives and property—
and almost destroyed the morale of the city’s
residents — forcefully reminds us that the built
environment is always affected by the natural environment.
In “Detroit: America’s Motor City,”
Thomas Sugrue traces the rise and decline of “Motown,”
showing us the impact of the automobile industry on
the lives of generations of Detroit residents. In Detroit’s
history, we can see the role of industrialization, unionization,
and globalization in American life. Finally, in “New
Orleans and the History of Jazz,” Loren Schoenberg
traces the rise of a distinctly American musical genre
in the south’s most effervescent city. Schoenberg
points to the irony in the fact that the music that
began in “Nawlins” was used by musicians
from around the world to raise funds for the rebuilding
of the city after the destruction by the hurricane Katrina.
For our interactive feature, Karina Gaige has designed
a map of urban expansion which looks at the most populous
cities in the US over the past 200 years. Look to Mary-Jo
Kline’s column for multiple sources, both online
and in the libraries, that can be used to build lessons
on these cities. This issue’s master teachers
have provided you with their lesson choices, each of
them readily adapted to your classroom. We hope that
these character studies of six cities will inspire you
to create a lesson on your own town or city.
Carol Berkin
Editor, History Now
Carol Berkin is Professor of History at Baruch
College and The Graduate Center, City University of
New York. She is the author of several books including
Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of an American Conservative,
First Generations: Women in Colonial America, A Brilliant
Solution: Inventing the American Constitution,
and Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle
for America's Independence.
|
