Key Ideas
- Women contributed to the reimagining of what it meant to be American in the wake of the Civil War and during widespread immigration and migration.
- Industrialization changed the daily lives of women from many different backgrounds.
- Westward expansion and imperialism affected women across the country and beyond.
- The experiences of women in this period varied widely based on race, class, age, identity, and geographic region.
Unit Overview
The United States experienced major changes in the latter half of the 19th century as the country struggled with its identity after the Civil War. Industrialization, immigration, and westward expansion contributed to reshaping American society. Americans grappled with many questions. What does it mean to be an American, and who should be one? What rights should the U.S. government guarantee for its citizens? How should the United States establish itself on the global stage?
Women were central to answering these questions. They actively participated in the debates surrounding the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship. It is no coincidence, for example, that the women’s suffrage movement gained significant momentum during this time. However, amid these battles over equality and citizenship, women of different backgrounds faced increasing inequalities. The end of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow led to growing racial discrimination. Meanwhile, industrialization and immigration expanded the disparity between classes. While American expansion and imperialism provided opportunities for some, they had devastating effects on the lives of others, including Indigenous women.
Industry and Empire, 1866–1904 is divided into three sections that allow you to consider the many ways in which women contributed to and were influenced by societal changes during this time. Labor and Industry explores how women of different races, classes, and national origins were influenced by industrialization and urbanization. Expansion and Empire considers the effects of westward expansion and American imperialism on Indigenous women and settlers. Fighting for Equality focuses on the contributions of women to end inequalities in American society.
The resources in this unit can be explored by section or by theme. Background information and vocabulary lists provide context for each resource. Resources also include suggested activities on how to combine different resources on a certain topic. You can easily integrate these materials into current lesson plans or structure new lessons around them.
José Maria Mora, Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt (Alva Murray Smith) as a Venetian Princess at the Vanderbilt Ball, 1883. New-York Historical Society Library.
Teaching Materials
Resources in this Unit
Waged Industrial Work
Two images that show women at work in two different settings: at home in an urban tenement and in a factory in the rural South. The images also point to the challenges of working motherhood.
Vanderbilt Costume Ball
Photographs of the Vanderbilt Costume Ball showing the lavish lifestyles of the Gilded Age elite.
Temperance Movement
An image of an allegorical female figure representing the temperance movement.
Suffrage and the Fifteenth Amendment
An opinion article written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in opposition to the 15th Amendment.
Shop Girls
An image that shows the benefits and challenges of working in department stores at the turn of the century.
School Segregation
A letter written by a Chinese immigrant mother who fought against school segregation.
Puerto Rican Citizenship
The opinion of the court in the case of Isabel González that determined that Puerto Ricans were not immigrants.
Page Act
Excerpt from the Page Act, which almost completely banned Chinese women immigrants.
Get Deeper into Relevant Topics
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Expansion and Empire
Women’s lives were shaped both by American expansion westward and by the country’s expansion beyond the continental United States.
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Fighting for Equality
Women continued to pursue equality in the decades following Reconstruction, organizing for suffrage and against regressive Jim Crow policies, while navigating continuing conversations about their role in American society .
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Labor and Industry
The industrialization of the United States moved the country from an agricultural to an industrial economy.
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