How Did American Culture Develop

American cultural developments have not always promoted diversity, but instead isolation and separation. During the last half of the 1800’s to the start of the 20th century, segregation, racism, and poverty became inherent to many individual communities and neighborhoods. In addition at the beginning of this era, slavery was in full swing and boosted much of America’s economy. Frederick Douglas, an American slave, once quoted “The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery”. (Douglas) This meant that even though America was profiting in the agriculture sector, it was coming at the expense of someone else’s life as a slave. On December 6, 1865 the 13th amendment was uplifted and slavery was abolished. (USA Today) …show more content…
The stock market worth at that time, 87 billion in value, collapsed. (PowerPoint) The next 10 years would be one of the lowest points in American history and one that will always be known as the Great Depression. The American markets value fell to 15 billion in just a few days. One out of every four men became jobless. Banks and businesses closed. Bitterness, sadness, hatred and poverty soon followed. Once the market showed signs of collapse, panic set in and millions of people rushed to their banks in an attempt to get their money out. Many never got their money as vaults were emptied. The collapse of the banking industry left little for investments, loans and assistance of any kind for millions of desperate Americans. The progress and momentum seen during this Industrialization revolution came to a virtual standstill and factories and business went bankrupt. Many poor citizens blamed President Herbert Hoover for his hands off approach to the Depression. There are many chapters in American history, and during the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. All the good can easily be overshadowed by all of the many chaotic times driven by its people through racism, hatred, greed, bitterness, poverty and