Critical Thinking 15-5!

What effects did the migration from rural areas to the cities in the late 19th century have on urban society?

In the late 19 century the migration from rural country areas effected the urban cities. Many cities were already very crowed. There was whole over crowded sections of cities that housed people of certain cultures or religions. Then the crowding of cities greatly increased with the arrival of many people migrating from the country. With the invention of new technology including the McCormick reaper and the steel plow, farm labor became much easier(p.469). This meant that farm labor called for fewer workers. With less and less jobs many people had to leave the country and head to cities.

Many African-American workers were also coming in from the south and moving north and west to escape from racial violence, economic hardship, and political oppression(p.469). The conditions in the cities though were not much better. There was much segregation and discrimination in the northern cities and racial tension was also increased by the job competition found between the races, including black and white immigrants.

The overpopulation of these cities also lead to many problems(p.470).Because there was so many more people in the cities now, there was problems concerning housing and were everybody was going to find a place to live, transportation and how the large masses of people were going to be transported around, water and the lack of supply there was for people, sanitation and the accumulated trash of so many, the increase in crime and fire that large populations brought.