this page last updated 7 december, 2011.
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1.
booker t. washington: african-american
educator who believed the best way for african-americans to get
ahead was to get a vocational education and achieve economic
success without demanding immediate social change. his ideas are
sometimes called the atlanta compromise after a speech he gave
in
2.
andrew carnegie: steel manufacturer whose
workers struck in the homestead strike and were opposed by his
business partner henry clay frick.
carnegie believed that the rich had earned their wealth,
but had an obligation to use it to help society, an idea known
as the gospel of wealth, after his essay, 'wealth.' he gave away 90% of
his vast fortune.
3.
sojourner truth: african-american woman
who opposed slavery and demanded women's rights. she gave a famous
speech entitled 'ain't i a woman,' connecting the ideas of
slavery and women's inequality, and calling on victorian ideas
of protecting women to do so.
4.
jane addams:
woman
who managed hull house, a settlement house in
5.
jacob riis: author of how the other half lives
and other works of photo-journalism, exposing the misery and
filth of
6.
cornelius vanderbilt: made a fortune in
transportation--steamboats and railroads. he was the richest man
in the world when he died in 1885.
he gave money to a university in
7.
george westinghouse: developed the air
brake, making trains easier and safer to stop, thus letting
railroads run longer trains and run them at higher speeds. he also created one of
the first and most influential electric companies in competition
with thomas edison.
8.
george pullman: developed the sleeper car
so that people could sleep in beds during long trips. he made other
improvements to railroad cars as well. in 1894 there was a major
strike at the company town of
9.
milton hershey: developed shelf-stable
chocolate that could keep a long time and be transported long
distances. he
treated his workers well and left much of his fortune to a
charitable trust that, among other things, takes care of the
welfare of hershey company town residents today.
10.eleuthère irénée du
pont and the du pont family: founded
and ran a major gunpowder company that later produced many other
chemicals.
11.alexander graham bell: invented the telephone
while trying to find a way to help the deaf; founded the bell
telephone company, which later merged to form the american
telephone & telegraph company.
12.thomas edison: patented the first
useful electric light and over a thousand other things, largely
through the use of the first research company at
13.john d. rockefeller: founded standard oil
company and became the richest man in the world at the time
through horizontal integration (monopolisation) of the oil
industry.
14.philip armour: founded a meat-packing
company based on assembly lines.
15.gustavus swift: founded a meat-packing
company and developed refrigerated railroad cars.
16.the dawes act (1887): law passed to give
american indian lands to individual indians, allowing the extra
reservation lands to be sold off.
the idea was to force indians to give up tribal lands,
government, and culture.
17.black friday (1869): scandal during the
grant administration when jay gould and jim fisk tried to corner
the gold market (with the help of members of grant's
government), nearly destabilising the economy.