Throughout American history, evolution as a scientific and cultural idea of human improvement played an important role in the United States between the years 1880 and 1930. This essay will explore and analyze the ways in which evolution coincided with different ideas of human progress in the U.S. throughout this time period and how it affected the way people understood border-crossing and boundary marking in regards to race, class, and gender.
Early ideas of evolution essentially paved the way for biased suggestions and theories. With the theory of evolution playing an important role in the late 19th century, subjects such as “social Darwinism” and Hubert Spencer’s coined term “survival of the fittest” also became pressing topics. Spencer, an English philosopher, firmly …show more content…
Examples of these various segregations being exerted throughout this technological revolution include the “Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882” which evidently resulted in the replacement of their aging workforce by Finnish and Norwegian women and when “many whites regarded Indians and treaties as archaic nuisances”, which lead to the narrowing of the Indians’ living space. So while the evolving of technology throughout the late 19th century set forth a significant landmark in human progress, the racism, sexism, and classism associated with it cannot be ignored.
With the evolution of social Darwinism, the concept of eugenics, photography, and technology coinciding with different scientific and cultural human progress made forth within the late 19th and early 20th century, it’s clear that many significant historical landmarks were made. But while the influence of these progressions is strongly regarded as a positive force from a United States historical context, it’s impossible to disregard the impact it had on the U.S. from a racial and gender
Early ideas of evolution essentially paved the way for biased suggestions and theories. With the theory of evolution playing an important role in the late 19th century, subjects such as “social Darwinism” and Hubert Spencer’s coined term “survival of the fittest” also became pressing topics. Spencer, an English philosopher, firmly …show more content…
Examples of these various segregations being exerted throughout this technological revolution include the “Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882” which evidently resulted in the replacement of their aging workforce by Finnish and Norwegian women and when “many whites regarded Indians and treaties as archaic nuisances”, which lead to the narrowing of the Indians’ living space. So while the evolving of technology throughout the late 19th century set forth a significant landmark in human progress, the racism, sexism, and classism associated with it cannot be ignored.
With the evolution of social Darwinism, the concept of eugenics, photography, and technology coinciding with different scientific and cultural human progress made forth within the late 19th and early 20th century, it’s clear that many significant historical landmarks were made. But while the influence of these progressions is strongly regarded as a positive force from a United States historical context, it’s impossible to disregard the impact it had on the U.S. from a racial and gender