-
Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans. Without this purchase New Orleans and the creole culture would have never been introduced to Kate Chopin. The creole culture was a heavy influence to Chopin's work. -
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period during which rural areas in America became industrial and urban. The introduction of machinery and factories were exploited and everyone began to get jobs in the factories. This influence characters and storylines in many novels like, "Sister Carrie" and "Maggie." Their characters were traveling to the city or were looking for work in the city. -
Annexation of Hawaii
The U.S treats Hawaii like a colony. Removes the natives and their leader and replaces it with an alternative government. They treat the natives of Hawaii the same as they treated the Natives in America. This influences many Native American writers in their own experience of being overthrown and elminated as a race. -
The Gold Rush
The discovery of gold caused many people to head out west. It made small settlements like San Fransisco grow into large cities. This also meant the involuntary removal of Native Americans who previously inhabited the land. -
Walt Whitman - Songs of Myself (Leaves of Grass)
"Songs of Myself" is about the celebration of Individualism. Whitman uses flowery language to create a sense of the universe, nature and spiritualism. -
Hysteria
A physician claimed that a quarter of all women suffered from hysteria.Physicians thought that the stresses associated with modern life caused civilized women to be both more susceptible to nervous disorders. This misdiagnosis was extremely common during the 19th century. Gilman was one of the authors who fought back with a literary piece, "The Yellow Wall-Paper," mocking the defective diagnosis. -
Emily Dickinson
Emily was born in Massachusetts. She came from a wealthy family and was well educated. Emily lived a life in practical isolation. She had a calvanist religious backround, which is evident in her works. Many of her poems reflect her lonlieness and the desire to be wanted. She died alone. Mr. Young claims some critics went as far as to dub her a lesbian, although it was never confirmed. -
Westward Expansion 1803- 1861
The westward expansion of the United States is one of the defining themes of 19th-century American history. The culture of the mid-west heavily impacted authors like Mark Twain, who wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn whose setting takes place in the mid west. -
The Civil War
The American civil war had an impact on literature like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. The setting is pre civil war, even though it had been written after. But the Huck and Jim are trying to make their way up the Mississippi River to a free slave state. Twain gives accurate interpretations of people's racism towards Blacks for the time. The issues of slavery are the main driven plots in this novel. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamtion was an executive order issued by President Lincoln that freed all the slaves. This affected literature because the integration of the slaves into society was harsh. Also this stimulated segregation and continued rascism, all of which are evident in the works during this time. For example, the problamatic burden in "Desiree's Baby" is that the child she births is laced with slave blood. -
Mark Twain - The Celebrated Frog of Calvaras County
A friend has asked the narrator to find Simon Wheeler and to ask him about the Reverend Leonidas W. Smiley. Simon Wheeler doesn’t remember a Reverend Smiley but he does start to tell a tale about Jim Smiley, a man who loved to make bets. Smiley then begins to train a frog to jump higher than any frog. He then meets a stranger and bets him forty bucks that his frog, Dan'l Webster can jump higher than any other frog. -
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age (1865- 1918) was a term coined by Mark Twain to represent the enormous growth of the North and West but it was underlined by social issues. Many immigrants were coming to America and many famers were moving to the city in hopes of a better life, however that wasn't the case for most. Many authors write about this age, or some aspect of it. This would include, "Maggie: A Girl Of the Streets" who lives in the slums of the city and "Sister Carrie." -
Mark Twain - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry is a young boy who runs away from his drunk abusive father. During his runaway journey he meets up with Jim, who is a runaway slave. Together they travel down the Mississipi river, on a raft, encountering unforgetable characters and regretable situations. -
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws were laws enchanced in the south to promote a segregational way of life between the blacks and the whites. This had a huge impact on society and writing as a whole. Racist beliefs and acts were represented in "Huckleberry Finn, Desiree's baby and Up from Slavery." -
Henry James- Daisy Miller
Winterbourne is visiting his Aunt in Geneva when he meets Daisy Miller. He becomes quite fond of her and begins to genuinely care for her despiste her unpopularity with Europe's elite. But while her time in Italy she meets a young handsome fortune hunter, despite the ill advisement from Winterbourne. She falls ill and dies, and it isn't until then that Winterbourne discovers Daisy truly did care what he thought of her. -
Publication of Emily Dickinson's Poems
Some of Dickinson's works, hand written and bound up, were discovered in her home after her death and were published four years later. She was a great American poet, who influenced many writers. -
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. This was the dance that the Sioux tribe was dancing when it intimidated their white counter parts into attacking them. -
The Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre was the incident involving the Sioux tribe when they were slaughtered and attacked by the white settlers, even though they were unarmed. Woman, the elderly and children were all victims of this incident. They were dancing the infamous ghost dance when it scared the Whites into attacking them. This is the incident written in the literary piece "The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee." -
Ellis Island Opens
Ellis Island in New York opens up to receive immigrants. The population of immigrants flooding into the United States was massive and overwhelming. This population of immigrant urban living is described in "Maggie." These immigrants were often underpaid working in the factories and living in slums. -
Stephen Crane- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Maggie is a poor girl born into a horrible family. She has drunks for parents and lives impoverished. She meets a man who she believes will take care of her. However, ultimately he proves her wrong by engaging with another woman. Maggie then dies. -
Kate Chopin- Desiree's Baby
The story begins with Desiree's being dropped off to a family as a baby. The novel then resumes with her as an adult, she marries and has a baby. Her marriage is first described as loving and happy but after the child is born her husband begins to spend less time at home and acts distant towards her. She realizes that her child has "yellow" skin, concluding he has african american blood running through his veins. Her husband encourages her to leave, which she does, but she is never seen again. -
The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee
Memoirs of the massacre of Wounded Knee and the history of the Ghost dance and how it is still recognized today. -
Ragtime Music
Ragtime was introduced in New Orleans. This was a cumulation of African rhythyms and the march. This music was popular with African American's and thrived in their culture and it caught on to the white population. This was the music of the time and it influenced the culture around it, especially in New Orleans. -
Theodore Drieser - From Sister Carrie
Sister Carrie is about a farm girl who moves to Chicago and eventually becomes an actress. She becomes too involved with material things and even in the end when she has fame she is not happy. -
Yellow Journalism
Yellow journalism is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate proper researched news and instead uses eye catching headlines to sell more newspapers. The reference to the color "yellow" is commonly used in literature such as, "The Yellow Wall-Paper and it is the color of Desiree's home in "Desiree's Baby." It is used to present something false and unwelcoming. -
Booker T. Washington- Up From Slavery
Up from Slavery is Washington's perspective on how the black community needs to learn how to adapt to white society in order to be accepted by them. -
Charlotte Perkins Gillman- The Yellow Wall-Paper
The story begins with the Narrator traveling to a different house to stay in while she is sick with "hysteria," diagnosed by her Doctor husband. She stays in the upstairs bedroom with bars on the window and hideous yellow wall-paper. During her time spent in the room, she begins to see a woman behind bars in the yellow wall-paper and sees it as her duty to help this woman escape. -
19th Amendment
In 1920 woman were finally granted the right to vote. Their abuse and maltreatment prior precedes itself in works such as "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and "Maggie." Even in works like "Desiree's Baby" the woman's role didn't wander too far from the home, suggesting the limited expectations of women. -
Women's Suffrage
During the era of women's suffrage, women were treated as second class citizens. Woman, were denied the right to vote, oppressed and were conditioned to believe their place was in the home. In particular, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is riddled with metaphors of the oppression of woman. -
Indian Citizenship Act
This act finally granted indigenous people (Indians) the right to citizenship in America. This influenced authors like Mourning Dove, who wrote of their experienced discrimination.
