Ragtime
The birth of the 20th century brought forth many industrial and social innovations. With these innovations came many racial and economical inequalities. Race has always been an issue throughout the history of our nation, but it was enlarged with the huge wave of European immigrants. Wealth was not an issue because it was usually passed through families, but with the rise of the Industrial Age, it was now possible for the average man to accumulate wealth on his own. In Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow accurately depicted life in the early 20th century by emphasizing first that entrepreneurs believed it they were part of an elite class that were to provide the tools for mankind to progress and secondly the racial inequalities that existed in society. The accumulation of wealth was always thought to be impossible. Wealthy people usually inherited their fortune through family members. Prior to the Industrial Age, it was nearly impossible to build your own fortune especially if you were a regular worker. There were many famous entrepreneurs in the 20th century like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Stanford White, and J.P. Morgan. Andrew Carnegie, although not mentioned in Ragtime, represented
The South was still trying to recover from its economic depression that occurred after the Civil War. Doctorow illustrates this point in Ragtime by showing how Coalhouse Walker was victimized. Immigrants were given jobs that were once reserved for skilled craftsmen. Many immigrants and African Americans were part of this class, but they !were still treated unjustly. According the map African American Immigration, many African Americans moved to the North because of better economic opportunity. New York: Longman Publishers USA, 1999. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**Doctorow, E. Many former tenant farmers tried to move by writing letters to Northern newspapers, such as The Chicago Defender. Although these new European immigrants were Caucasian, they were still treated like second-class citizens. Late 19th century America was full of social and technological innovations that propelled society into the 20th century full of promise and disaster. The elite class did not fully take advantage of the working class because they provided jobs and a steady income to the average man. The average man of the 20th century had luxuries that only the wealthy could afford a few generations before. Scott, one man wrote, "We (his family) are Negroes and try to show ourselves worthy of all we may get from any friendly source". Carnegie believed that the law of competition ensured that the human race would progress. Many African American sought for new opportunities in the Northeast.
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