The Gilded Age
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Vestavia Hills Civic Center 1975 Merryvale Rd., Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35216
Olli of Greater Birmingham presents Instructor: James Day, Professor of History, University of Montevallo
We will study the Gilded Age in United States history, from the 1870s to about 1900. The term for this period came into use in the 1920s and 1930s and was derived from writer Mark Twain’s 1873 novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized an era of serious problems masked by a thin gold gilding. Its beginning overlaps the Reconstruction Era (which
ended in 1877), and it is generally thought to be followed by the Progressive Era in the 1890s. It was an era of rapid economic growth, and railroads were the major growth industry. The dominant issues were cultural (especially prohibition, education, and ethnic or racial groups) and economic (tariffs and money supply). With the rapid growth of cities, political machines increasingly took control of urban politics. Dr. Day will guide us through the period and any comparisons to events today. Cost: Free