History 143 Assignment Guide, February 3-5, 2009

Reading: America: A Concise History, 545-559; Discovering the American Past, 57-101

Background information: By class, you should know the following:

1. How and why U.S. cities developed so rapidly during the late 1800s.

2. What urban and suburban life was like for the upper and middle classes.

3. How industrialization and urbanization affected how Americans lived and thought.

Discussion: In class, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Why did advertising become so widespread during the late 19^th century?

2. Why must we be careful when examining advertisements to learn how people lived in another time?

3. What strategies do the ads on pp. 66-91 use to sell their products?

4. What assumptions do the ads make about their target audience (women, children, men), and what stereotypes are evident?

5. Judging from these ads, what was the American middle class people like in the late 19^th century?

Personal connection: In class, be ready to answer the following question:

• What are the major differences between today’s advertisements and these historical ads?