US Department of State
America.gov: Foundations of Human Activity
An excellent overview of the immigration activity and subsequent settlement patterns of the United States. Discusses major reasons for population shifts and growth of population centers.
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 5: A New Order
This extensive learning module examines the impact of the Gilded Age upon new cultural and intellectual movements, expansion of foreign trade, and political debates over economic and social policies, as well as the impact of the rise of...
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: 1900 1940s: Growing Ethnic Diversity
Primary source images highlighting the diverse immigrants who came to California in the early 20th century and some of the challenges they faced.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation 1919 1929: Transformation and Backlash
Examines the role nativism played in 1920s America, the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, the disconnect between urban and rural lifestyles and values, and the fractious debate over evolution that was highlighted in the Scopes trial.
The White House
The White House: Issues
Official page from the White House provides information on the Presidential agenda regarding major topics such as Immigration, Civil Rights, Defense, Economy, Education, Health Care, Taxes, and more.
Other
Paul Yee: 'What Happened This Summer' Teaching Guide [Pdf]
This teaching guide provided by Paul Yee for his book of short stories, "What Happened This Summer", provides a summary of the book, discussion questions and classroom activities. The book explores the issues faced by Chinese-Canadian...
Other
Nccp: Who Are America's Poor Children? [Pdf]
Learn the basic facts regarding children in American who are living at poverty levels or below. The numbers of children in poverty appear to be increasing to almost 13 million. The sheet identifies which ethnic groups have the most...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: From the Countryside to the City
The growth of cities was rapid in the last half of the 19th century. Read about the good things and bad things that were a result of this urbanization.
Other
On the Lower East Side: Observations of Life in Lower Manhattan
Links to contemporary essays about life on the Lower East Side of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These essays cover a range of topics and are well worth exploring to find out what problems writers were exposing...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Maya Lin
This video segment from New York Voices features Chinese American architect Maya Lin.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era, 1848 1865: Growth of Cities
Primary source images depicting the rapid growth of small settlements into big cities as people continued to come to California from all over the world during the Gold Rush.
Other
Tenement Museum: New York Tenement Museum
From the online home of the museum, take a virtual tour of the restored apartments in a tenement building located at 97 Orchard Street in New York's Lower East Side. Learn about the lives of actual past residents and experience what life...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Women in the Gilded Age
The roles available to women increased during the urbanization of America. Find out how the women's sphere of the home expanded into the community. See what new jobs were availabe to single, middle-class women, and read about how...
Schools of California Online Resources for Education
Score: Nativism in 19th C. America
In this lesson, students explore the reasons people immigrated to America in the nineteenth century, the urban growth that resulted, the development of public education, the contributions of immigrants, the wave of nativism, and the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City: Reading Guide: Two Stories
An excerpt from Abraham Cahan's novel, "Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto," and Charles Chesnutt's short story, "The Wife of His Youth," that describe challenges of assimilation into American culture for both European immigrants and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City: Reading Guide to Yerzierska
Two short stories from Polish immigrant, Anzia Yerzierska, about the challenges of Americanization that immigrants faced in the early-twentieth century. Includes questions for discussion.
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Agrarian Movements and Populism
While the explosion of industry had its positive marks on the economy, it also took its toll on some aspects of the nation. This slideshow will illustrate the problems and societal changes many farmers, immigrants, labor unions, and the...
Other
U.s. History Timeline: 1865 1900
A thumbnail look at the many things occurring in the United States in the last half half of the 19th century. The topics covered are Gilded Age Politics, the "New Imperialism," Industrial America, Growth of Labor, Urbanization,...
Other
Place in History: The Bowery Hall of Fame
Stroll through the Bowery in New York City and see what the tenements looked like in the late 19th century. This mini museum shows the life of the Bowery. Information about tenement areas in other cities is included.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Eighteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the industrial, racial, and technological progress of the late-nineteenth century.
University of California
The Bancroft Library: San Francisco Chinatown
Website explores the uniqueness of the oldest and largest urban Chinese American enclave, San Francisco's Chinatown.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The West, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Four nineteenth-century landscape paintings that suggest the meaning of the West in American life.
Other
Tenant Net: How the Other Half Lives
Find a hypertext reproduction of the full text (with illustrations) of the original 1890 edition of Jacob Riis's classic work on the living conditions of New York's poor immigrants, "How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Settlement Houses in the Progressive Era
This collection uses primary sources to explore settlement houses during the Progressive Era.