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Apr 8, 1492
New Land
When Columbus reached The Americas, he met several very sucessful tribes living on islands. He open trade with them. This was the first time there was any interactions with Europeans in America and this would lead to drastic change in community structure. -
Apr 7, 1500
Early Native American Family Life
Native Americans were mostly bound together at the time from kinship. Ties among biological relatives created complex patterns of social Obligation and interdependecy. They were known to have nuclear families (a husband, wife, and biological child) who would then live with one of thier parents relatives in multigenerational extended families. Between different trides were different marriage customs. Some would have a male leader with multiple wives, and could both termiate the marrige. -
Apr 8, 1500
Native American Family Life Continued
Also, in most Natives would marry in their teens usually after engaging in many different relationships. The Iroquois would usually have the male after marrying move in with his wifes extended family and the primary male adult in a childs life would be the mother's olderst brother, not the father -
Apr 8, 1520
Columbian Echange
The Columbian Exchange was an exhange of cultural and religious beliefs, technology, crops, animals, and diseases between the New and Old Worlds. It completely transformed European and Native American ways of life and also introduced African slaves to the colonies. -
Puritans
Puritans lived a very strict family life. Women were not supposed to be alone with men that weren't in their family and married for the reason of reproducing. Also that love will come after marriage. They also didn't show very much affection and for the time period they lived longer than thier British counter parts. -
Jamestown
An early European settlement in James town Virginia that was mostly comprised of men. Any children who were born there had a very slim chance of survivual due to harsh conditions. -
The U.S.
The U.S detached from the British rule and many more immigrants and communities settle in surrounding areas looking for political, religious, or economic freedom. This would lead to the creation of many more states. -
Post Revolutionary War Family Life
It was common during the time to have a patriarchal nuclear family (the male head and his wife and children), and additional people. The people would include realatives, boarders, apprentices, journeymen in artisan shopes, servants and slaves in well off urban house holds, and tenant farmers. Though most families lived on small farms consisting of only an owner and his family. Farm families typically included seven children to help work on the farm -
Western Expansion
After Jefferson purchased Louisiana and ordered the Lewis and Clark Expedition, many families started mirgrating westward for economic opportunities. -
Indian Removal Act
Many Native American Tribes, under Jackson's Presidency, were forced to sign treaties and give up their tribal land to move to new western territories. This caused tremendous amounts of problems for these tribes as they had to completely reorganise their communities. -
Homestead Act
After the Civil War, westward expansion became more popular as it offered many new economic opportunities such as gold mining, cattle transportation, and farming.The Homestead Act, which's goal was to populate and farm in the western frontier, offered 160 acres of land for free to applicatants. In return, the applicants had to improve the land for farming. Although this act was created to help poor people receive new farming and job opportunities, many monopolies ilegaly filed for the free land. -
Westward expansion
More people started moving out to the western fronier, populizing it and starting the closing of the frontier and the expansion of industrialism. Industrialism made life at home more manageable and organized, mainly for the middle and upper class. So, moving the West became more popular. Most families believed this was also a new economic opportunity away from the oppressing monopolies. -
Living in the industrial era
Most families started moving to large cities to work in factories, because industrialization offered jobs and stable incomes for unskilled workers. Many of the families living in the cities would live in tenements due to lack of income. They couldn't compete with large bonanza farms and monopolies who drew other business out of business. -
Living in The Industrial Era
Upper and middle class families started growing bigger families, because of their economic properity. They also keep living in a Victorian lifestyle. The lower class, which was usely immigrants, also grew larger families but simply to sustain the family with a stable income (child labor was very popular at the time). -
Settlement House Movement
Charity workers led by Jane addams created a new weapon against poverty during the Industrialism Era. They recognized that the people living in the slums usually had no control over it. So, they created settlement houses, which turned a mansion into a social center for immigrants. They held English, civics, cooking, and sowing classes and sponsored art and athletic programms. The settlemnt houses' goal was also to take the children of the streets and offer them a clean and fun nurseries. -
New York Charity Organization Society
Along with many reform movements that delat withe the evereyday life of women and poor laborers, a new approach to poor relief was taken. The New York Charity Organization Society was founded in 1882 by Josephine Shaw Lowell. It offered compiled files and information to make the poor people more efficient. Trained, salarie dwomen often visited tenements and help the families improve their lives. -
New Women
Women started to participate in recreational ativies and were no longer only house wives. Also, women now had the opportunity to get more jobs allowing for women to get married later in their life. Some colleges also allowed women to apply, so they could now get and education. More women also applied for white-collar jobs. -
New Women
New Women brought along a new lifestyle for young women. A sexual revolution took place in America, around this time. Women started dating and having mid-sex relationships, imstead of getting married straight away. Young women usually got married later than their parents did at this time, but also filed for divorce much more frequently. -
Life During Progressivism
Many immirants, who came to the United States to start their lives anew, lived amongst the poorest class in the slums. Many lives were lost due to the unhelathy lifestyle these people led (work hours, dirty houses). This led to the organization of many progressive movements, such as the Social Gospel Movement. -
Women at Work
When the U.S entered the Great War, many housewives were focred to get a job to support their lifestyle and family. Women were now the source of income for a family and often took over the "fatherly" role in the family. -
Great Migration
This was a movement of African Americans from rural Southern towns to urban Northern cities that started in the 1920s and doesn't end until the 70s. -
Birth Control
During the 1920s, birth control became an inexpensive way to prevent pregnancies. The use of this would now create smaller familie because women could now control how many kids they had. Birth control was available before this time but it was expensive and only available to the upperclass. -
Divorce
During the Progressivism Era and and 1920's, divorce rates spiked up as it was no longer as expensive to bring up a family as a single parent. Also, moral values started loosening up, so it wasn't as big as a deal if someone had been previously married. -
Dates and Travels
During the Second Industrial Revolution, it was very common for people to own automobiles, as these had become quite inexpensive with the Model T by Ford. This revlutionize the roads and family life. Midde class workers could now take their dates out for a ride. Dating before marriage became very popular at this time, as it was no longer seen as sinful but fun and smart way to find the best suiting partner. Also, people could now travel longer distances and visit more relatives or cities. -
Hooverville
When the Great Depression hit, many working and middle class families lost all their money and jobs and were too poor to afford a house. They were forced to move out of their homes and leave many things behind and settle outside of cities in a shantytown. They lived in terrible conditions, sometimes with no fresh water sources. -
Birthrate
During the great depression the birthrate fell as married couples postponed a family and birth control devices became more readily avalible. The 1930s population only grew 7% while in years prior it grew 20%. -
WWII
During WWII, thousands of young men had to go fight abroad, leaving some of their job posiions open. Many wwomen took over their jobs, which shifed heir role in the family structure. They experienced a financial and social freedom like never before ,and in some cases many women went on to live independently even after the war had ended. -
Japanese Internment
At the time of the Pearl Habor attack, most of Japanese and Japanese-American families living on the west coast were stripped from their basic civil rights and moved further in land, to avoid Japanese espionnage in America, Some families were moved to internment camps, wehere they led miserable lives until the war ended. -
Family Life
War caused stress on realationships. As a result there was high rates of divorce and family violence dring this time. -
Suburbs
During the 1950s, most white families moved out of big cities to settle into calmer areas like Levittowns and so on. In a stereotypical 1950s family the father would usually a white colloraded worker commuting to a larger city, the mother a housewife and three children with a fairly permissive upbringing based on Dr. Spock's book This was also a very materialistic time period where families could acquirea lot of objects. -
Baby Boom
After WWII birth rates in America had risen. Many women now started marrying younger than their parents. About 1/3 of women married by the age of 19. The Amount of children in the families were also rising from 2.4 kids per family (1945) to 3.2 kids per family. Also with new tecnology, once deady childhood sicknesses could now be treated.
