IHSS B 2021-22

 The article discussed a lot of major industrial era inventions but the one I have decided to discuss today is the lightbulb. Invented in 1879 the lightbulb developed quickly and became commonplace throughout the urban landscape changing even middle and lower class lives. Three years later the next major development aided lightbulbs in its expansion into the countryside and more rural areas. This was the combination of the AC system by Nikola Tesla and the creation of the first commercial power plants.  Since its invention the majority of concrete technological improvements to the lightbulb technology have just come down to efficiency and brightness. As well as lightbulbs continuing to get smaller and smaller. The surface level effect of the lightbulb is obvious to anyone living in 21st century America. But it takes having experienced life without the lightbulb in order to truly understand the effects of its invention. Because not only did it have benefits like making nighttim...

 Sienna Kissack Mr. Roddy IHSS April 28, 2022 The Invention of the Telephone in the 1800’s In the late 1800’s Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. He had been making this since the 1600’s and they were able to send out voice data mechanically. While this could be fantastic, the drawback to this was that there could only be one message transferred at a time. Alexander Graham Bell had noticed this and wanted to improve it to where you can speak to anyone from a distance. Alexander Graham Bell got the help from Thomas A. Watson to make a prototype phone to test and see if you can talk from a distance and make the transmitting faster. In the first telephone, Bell noticed that there were sound waves, causing the telephone to vibrate when someone is talking. When the phone would vibrate, it would cause the phone to replicate in the persons ear as a receiving instrument. A couple days later after making this telephone, it had carried out its first message. That message being, “Mr...

  How the Other Half Lives Sabrina Gubbels-Wingo IHSS Blog I was very interested in the section about the book and photo series  How the Other Half Lives . I found an e-book version of the book and read the chapter called "The Working Girls of New York". In this chapter, Riis covers the double standard that is applied to working women's wages and job opportunities. He makes a compelling argument with facts about wages, stating that whilst men's wages have an unspoken minimum requirement, the desperation of working mothers was being taken advantage of. For this reason, there was a massive wage gap between working women and men of the same class. Men were being paid over double the women resulting in even more unlivable wages. Riis states that many women turned to the streets, selling their bodies to make ends meet for their families. From here he tells an emotional story about the women that take their own lives rather than resort to walking the streets. This combinati...

  Jayla Balderas  Mr. Roddy  IHSS  27 April 2022                                                          City Life-Streetcar 1800s The streetcar or otherwise known as the trolley started being built around the 1880, and 1890s. Before this invention, cities were often walking cities. It was invented by Frank Sprague in January the eclectic trolley followed a similar design to the omnibus but they weren’t the same.  Everything from your job to the shops was all closely knit together. As cities started to expand, better transportation was needed to efficiently move from one place to another with further distances. Transportation with horses wasn’t cutting it anymore, and...

Alexander McGill  IHSS B  Intra City Transportation     With cities growing at a massive rate, and jobs in cities becoming more and more popular, people needed a public transportation system. Before the 19th century, the only transportation was a horse drawn carriage, or some kind of horse drawn vehicle. Now, there could be things like steam railroads, and electric streetcars. The Omnibus was an invention that was implemented in the 1820s and 1830s, and was around for several decades. There was also the common horsecar that began in the 1850s and transported millions of people. The steam railroad was an important invention to transport people from far distances, like from state to state. Unfortunately, it was hard to implement these trains into cities. They were extremely loud and had tons of steam and smoke that the residents could not stand. The steam trains were replaced with the electric ones, but those were not very useful as well, with the only time it was used...

  Cape Echols Mr. Roddy IHSS 25 April 2022 City Transportation in the 1800s  The late 1800s was a time of rapid urbanization and industrial growth. People from rural areas flooded into cities, giving up farm life for industrial jobs. This time period also saw mass immigration to America during that time, contributing to the sky-rocketing city growth. The growing population led to cities expanding outwards as well. This created the need for efficient and widespread transportation. The solution came in 1887 when Frank Sprague invented the electric trolley. Previously, transportation came in the form of the omnibus. The omnibus had a similar concept to trolleys, with large carriages placed on tracks; however, instead of being powered electrically like the trolleys, they were run by horses. While the worked quite well in smaller, less populated areas, the omnibus had trouble with the new and crowded city environment. The longer distances the horses had to travel as the city expa...

Everest Leo Mr. Roddy IHSS 25 April 2022 Development of Communication in the United States Between the 19th and 20th Centuries     Something that we take for granted nowadays is instant communication. It seems so easy to just call, text, or even facetime someone that it's hard to think how the world could function without it. And it can't function, at least not in the way we're used to now. Obviously, we still have a mailing system for physical packages and other things of the sort, but we don't often use letters to communicate anymore. Back during the 19th century, lots of things that we would just call to handle had to be handled through snail mail or telegraph. This is why the invention of the telephone in the late 19th century was so crucial to urban life. As a hub for commerce, culture, art, food, entertainment, and so much more, having fast and efficient communication was becoming a must-have, especially as cities expanded. The telephone, along with other factors,...

       In New York City the first form of public transportation was a 12-seated bus, made in the late 1820s.  The next year John Mason made railroad tracks, which carriages pulled by horses would travel across, and by the end of that year, nearly 600 active carts were being used. In the late 1800s electricity was invented, so horses were replaced by electric powered carts. The tracks were also replaced by overhead power lines, making expansion much easier. Soon after in the 1930-1950s motor buses replaced the trollies. This way more passengers could fit, making the rides more cost-effective, and efficient for the businessmen. In 1900 the population of New York was 3.5 million, but 4 years later the population expanded to near 8 million. This massive influx of people forced the public transportation system to expand. So in 1904, the first subway was opened.      After the civil war ended in 1865 the need for more public transportation was expr...

 In the article, it talked about a handful of really important inventions that were huge reasons for so many people moving into cities. One that I found particularly interesting was electric lighting. The reason this stood out was because at first, it didn't strike me as something that would have such a big impact. It seemed small in comparison to transportation and communication. But then I tried to imagine the city I live in now and what it would be like with the absence of the electric lighting that we have and I realized how such a thing has a subtle but huge impact in our everyday lives. In 1897, Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. The invention was very quick to spread and was soon a commonality within the majority of buildings. What this new lighting system allowed for was businesses and stores to continue running after dark. The previous limitation of the sun going down didn't apply anymore, because electric lighting was also spreading to the outdoors. The o...

 Alexandre Maciel Mr. Roddy IHSS 25 April 2022 The Creation of the Elevator      Elisha Otis was an American industrialist how was born on August 3, 1811. He had a crazy life and almost died of pneumonia at the age of 23. He struggled to sell his ideas and spent a lot of time on the verge of poverty. In 1835, he moved to Albany, New York, because his wife died in order to get a fresh start. There, he started working as a craftsman on ideas such as building an automatic braking system for trains in case of emergencies. He became successful there, and able to afford a good living, but in 1851, while he was cleaning up his factory, he learned about an invention called hoister factories which were used to carry people and down amongst buildings. However, these machines were rather fragile and often broke. He set out to make his own improved version of it, while creating his own company in the process. Otis Brothers & Co had lots of success, as their first model ran a...

 Sabrina Gubbels-Wingo Mr. Roddy IHSS 18 April 2022 Gilded Age Leaders        I’m not so sure that we are in the “gilded age 2.0”. Rather, I think we are still in the gilded age. These factors and issues that are being used to define a “gilded age” such as: the further impoverishing of the lower classes, generational wealth, and discrimination against people of color via governmental systems are all things that have been ingrained in our nation. These aren’t things that just suddenly popped up again, they are things that never went away. While we have been making small steps towards breaking down the walls that are these issues that keep the gilded age ideal intact, they still remain. I think the appeal to the idea of the gilded age is the prospect of fortune, but more than ever is this fortune being maintained in most of the same families, further separating lower and working class from the ability of growing new wealth. In itself, this is contradictory to the ...

 in late 1800,s many people across the globe decided to immigrate to America. there were many reasons for people to immigrate to America. like crop failure, job shortages, rising taxes, and famine. and many come to America for new opportunities in a new country. there were 12 million immigrants that arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. the majority of people that immigrated to the US during the 1800s were from Ireland, England, and Germany. there were also a lot of Chinese immigrants that came to America during the gold rush. but later federal law restricted Chinese immigration into the US. and with the increase of the US population Americans and Europeans started to compete for jobs that Chinese immigrants usually had. as there was more competition for jobs there became many racial biases between different races and a big racial divide. there became many riots against the Chinese and other races. 

  Thus far in my journey to better educate others on addiction, and directly help those struggling my most important step has been to educate myself. Other than that I have talked to a connection at the lavender lounge to better understand the conditions they live in. They also informed me that talking to the kids directly might be overwhelming, so they offered a different approach. I will do a drive and collect donations and then give them the connection who would bring it to the kids. I didn't send an email to my expert, instead, I had a more casual conversation with him. He said he wanted to stay anonymous, but he spent the beginning of his recovery at this recovery center. He expressed the sorrow he would feel for the kids when others would be sent packages, and they would all huddle around to see what the others got. They usually had no detergent and would ask the other residents to borrow some, so this will be the thing I ask the most for. 

  Jayla Balderas  Mr. Roddy IHSS  April 11, 2022                                                               Gilded Age Blog  The Gilded age was filled with a lot of greed and scheming for the most wealth and power, with little care for what was destroyed in its path. The main three names during the gilded age were Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Each of these men played roles in the business that formed the Gilded Age. The oil industry, the steel business, the railroad industry, and the steamship industry. It was interesting how each of them had different backgrounds and upbringings but in the end, they were all makin...

I read the biographies of all three of the leaders of the gilded age on the powerschool page. In general the common theme in all of them especially in John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie was that they would monopolize there business not only by buying up competitors but more importantly what they would both do is invest in the entire supply line. From transportation to production to refining. In addition to this they all came from what where described as modest origins and were all either first or second generation immigrants. As for how they used their money to grow their business specifically through acquisition of political power. In one of the articles there is a New York times except describing what Rockefeller was accused of: “He was accused of crushing out competition, getting rich on rebates from railroads, bribing men to spy on competing companies, of making secret agreements, of coercing rivals to join the Standard Oil Company under threat of being forced out of business,...

          Of the several Gilded Age multi-millionaires, John D Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest, biggest names. Like others in his time and before him (Cornelius Vanderbilt for example), Rockefeller was born into modest conditions in New York. As he got older, he ended up building a huge empire mostly revolving around oil industry. This earned him over 500 million dollars, a lot of which he ended up donating to various causes. While on the outside, it might look as if Rockefeller started humbly and built this way to the top, it's debatable if this is actually the case. Along his career and life, he had no shortage of accusations questioning his ethical choices on his path to fortune. People said that he benefitted off other companies failures, bribed people, and had people spy on other companies. This is a common thread seen in other Gilded Age entrepreneurs as well. They are notorious for putting others down to make money and build their businesses. O...

 Alexandre Maciel Mr. Roddy IHSS 20 April 2022 John D. Rockefeller      John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York. His father was a salesman constantly travelling but taught John about hard work. Even as a child John already earned money by raising turkeys, selling candy, and helping neighbors with jobs. When he was 14 his family moved to Ohio where John attended high school. There he got a job with the Cleveland Commision Firm that sold, bought, and shipped materials such as coal. Throughout his time there, he learned about trade and business while establishing with the company. However, after just 4 years, he left the business and founded his own commission firm with some friends. It was that same year that the first oil was pumped from Pennsylvania. He and his friends began investing in this newly founded industry. In 1865 Rockefeller bought out the oil refinery in Cleveland with the help of some partners. Standard Oil Company of Ohio was...

Everest Leo Mr. Roddy IHSS 11 April 2022 Andrew Carnegie and Giants of the Gilded Age     Just like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are household billionaire names today, there were similar people in the Gilded age who amasses insane amounts of wealth and become very famous for it. One of these businessmen is Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate, and well-known philanthropist. Like many of the other multi-multi-millionaires of the time, Carnegie started from relatively modest beginnings, but not poverty. However, unlike the other giants, he was born outside of the US and moved to the US for financial opportunities like most other immigrants. Carnegie invested in many booming industries such as coal and oil and made some money that way before pouring a lot of time into the steel industry and making a huge profit that way. Something that caught my eye, however, was the Homestead Strike that happened while Andrew Carnegie was vacationing in Scotland, his home country. It was a ...

Andrew Carnegie was actually a Scottish immigrant who immigrated to America. He had very little wealth when he was younger, but he was ambitious and hard-working, and went on to hold a series of jobs, including messenger in a telegraph office and secretary and telegraph operator for the superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie became railroad division superintendent In 1859. While he was superintendent, he made profitable investments in a variety of businesses, including coal, iron and oil companies and a manufacturer of railroad sleeping cars. After leaving his job in the railroad in 1865, Carnegie continued his journey in the business world. The U.S railroad industry was growing at a rapid rate, so Carnegie decided to invest in more businesses related to railroads and founded things like Keystone Bridge Company, and a telegraph firm. Since he had connections in the business, it made it much easier to get contracts. By the 1860s, Carnegie was ex...

Rachel Baker IHSS 4/11/22 Gilded Age Titans The turn of the 19th century in America was led by the rise of business giants unlike the country had ever seen before. Who were these big names of the Gilded Age? John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie dominated the American industrial economy. They each came from humble backgrounds and built their businesses from the ground up. Rockefeller became one of, if not the most, influential people in oil at the time. Vanderbilt conquered the shipping business before moving on to revolutionize the railroad industry. Carnegie was America’s leading steel industrialist and, along with Rockefeller, a major philanthropist.    

During the gilded age, the most powerful influences obtained their success through schemes, bribes, abuse of power, and illegal activity. John D Rockefeller, for example, exploited his workers and paid unreasonable wages. In many ways we can see this in today's politicians, many of them using tax loopholes to pay less to the government, hoarding their own money. In politics, money is the most important aspect of success. This was demonstrated during the gilded age as well. Politicians like Donald Trump and companies like siemens would right off their money and get it tax-exempt. Abuse of power is also seen through bribes, whether it's hiring someone to get inside-word, or illegally digging up emails, this is apparent in the gilded and present age.  There are many similarities between now and the gilded age leading people to believe we have entered another  ‘golden age’, and maybe even another progressive era. The political polarization during the 1870s-1900s, was so strong i...

 Sienna Kissack Mr. Roddy IHSS April 11, 2022 Leaders of the Gilded Age     The leaders of the Gilded Age we not that great of people. The would abuse their power and there would be increased poverty, more inequity, and anxiety over the influence in politics. In the original Gilded Age, it was known to be one of the best and worst times, and there was a lot of anxiety fixated on this era. John D Rockefeller was one of the "leaders" of this age. He was known to be greedy and to criticize methods. People also believed that his labor practices were unfair. Rockefeller got accused for being unfair, bribing men to spy on competitors, crushing out competition, and more.  He was a pretty bad person, but he also gave donations to many organizations.     In the Gilded Age, many wealthy people believed that with great wealth, you can have power to change democracy to your will. There were a lot of cartoons fixated on this. One includes a cartoon that shows U.S. ...

John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York. And In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia. Laura Celestia was an Ohio native and had a very successful father. Her father was active in helping the underground railroad and was an abolitionist. together Rockefeller and Celestia went on to have five children, 4 of them girls and one boy. however one of the girls, Alice Rockefeller died when she was only 13 months old. Later, In 1865 Rockefeller took out a loan to buy out his partner's oil refineries. He quickly formed more partners and expanded his oil business. he soon made the standard oil company of Ohio along with his younger brother and other young men. John Rockefeller became the president and biggest shareholder of the company. He began to make a monopoly in the Oil industry by buying out his competitors. he started selling his oil globally and eventually made up 90 percent of the nation's oil.  the gilded age is an era where we see a gr...

 John D. Rockefeller was one of the most influential men of his time. He was the leader of one of the biggest oil companies, the Standard oil company. Rockefeller helped this company come to power through a lot of spying, stealing, and making other companies go out of business for a monopoly of 90% of all the oil in the US. He was seen as a symbol of richness and greed throughout his time as a businessman but then when he retired, he donated 500m dollars to charity. He was born in 1839 and died 97 years later in 1937. He was accused of predatory pricing and also paying railroads to prioritize himself. To grow his company he would buy many other companies to become part of his own. And when just standard oil in the state of new jersey fell, 30 new companies were created from the ashes. In retirement, Rockefeller helped found the University of Chicago as well as Rockefeller University.  Currently, we are in what is starting to be classified as "The gilded age 2.0" this is becau...