Coney Island Impact on Urban Life

Daniel Salehinasab

U.S. History

December 16, 2014

Mr. Ward

Thesis: Coney Island impacted urban life by bringing the different social classes together.

Coney Island

Towards the beginning of the nineteenth century, the separation in social classes began to grow. In order for a successful society, the gap between social classes should not be too large. And even if they are, they should be prevented from growing or be suppressed. Millions of urban Americans began to turn to poverty and failed in partaking in the American dream. poor living conditions and hardships were the few problems of many Americans at the time. With population on the rise, problems began to increase. Due to the massive overcrowding, lots of diseases were spread. Sanitation was also a huge problem. Big cities faced more and more problems with their increasing populations. The increase of population also resulted in an increasing crime rate. Coney Island is where all these social classes came together. At first it was only the wealthy and the poor that came to Coney Island. But soon the middle class took interest in Coney island as well.

Times grew harder and people needed a place to relax and enjoy. This is where Coney island came in. Coney Island began as a long strip of beach but soon transformed over time. Coney Island was a stepping stone in transforming the social norms at the time. The elements of Coney Island "constituted the counterculture of Victorian America; their activities, and an inversion of genteel cultural norms" (Kasson 29). Coney Island was where people came to forget about their troubles and relax. With all the hard times, it was nice to have a place where they could just come and relax. Coney Island was seen as a mixing place, where people came to for one purpose; to take a break from their lives. Coney island was a popular area where people of all social classes came and were unified for one sole purpose. This did eventually lead to the downfall of Coney island.

As social groups began to mix in Coney island, the groups were separated by the different amusement parks and hotels. The two luxury hotels are where the high class and sometimes the middle class were; the Brighton beach hotel and the Manhattan beach hotel. The enclosed amusement park was specifically designed to lure in the middle class. The sea lion hotel was where the lower class began to refuge. As the amount of the lower class increased in Coney Island, so did the amount of criminals. This did impact peoples opinions of Coney Island. But, the higher and middle class were always protected by the guards that patrolled the island. Coney Island effectively gave way to all social classes to participate. A class divide did exist in Coney Island. The different social groups were scattered across the island in different parts.

Luna Park

At first Coney Island was mostly intended for the higher and lower class. The social classes were separated geographically by the east and west end. The increasing population of the lower class lead to crime and corruption. Without the help of private enterprise, the middle class would not have a place at Coney island. The creation of the amusement park is what really brought all the social classes together. The creators knew that they needed all the social classes to be active in Coney island to insure the survival of the island. Therefore, they decided to appeal to the desires of the middle class in order to lure them in. With luring the middle class into Coney island they successfully brought all three social classes together.

Coney island transformed peoples views not only on their free time but themselves. Coney Island was a key factor in urban life at the time. Bringing all three social classes together for one sole purpose; leisure. This was genius, and it unified  the classes making them realize that even with the difficulties of their daily lives and the separation in classes they are all still the same. And they all have the same needs.

Works Cited

McBeath, Carter John. "Coney Island ." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
I used this source to get information about Coney Island in general

See J. Kasson, Amusing the Million (1970), and W. Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements(2001).
This source gave me a brief description about Coney Island in general

Devitt, Nora. "Coney Island: Early History." Coney Island: Early History. Creative Commons, 2006. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
This source gave me a lot of information about early Coney Island

American Experience. "Coney Island." PBS. PBS, 2000. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

This source had a timeline about COney Island

Ushistory.org. "The Underside of Urban Life." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
This source gave me a really good view on the impact of Coney Island on urban life

Lethem, Jonathan. "CONEY ISLAND VISIONS." NYCfuture. Center for an Urban Future, Nov. 2008. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
This source demonstrated the passion and visions people still have about Coney Island today

entertainment 1880-1920

William Monroe

            Entertainment is the key to having a happy life. This is because if you are being entertained, then you are enjoying yourself. Everyone is intrigued by different things, but there are endless sources of entertainment regardless of the time era you were born in. obviously there is more to do now than in the late eighteen-hundreds to early nineteenth-hundreds, but people make do with what is around them. Two sources of entertainment that people enjoyed, that interested me, were horse racing and car racing.

            Horse racing has been around for hundreds of years. Throughout the hundreds of years, horse racing has had its peaks and valleys. Horse racing is a sport that can be enjoyed by all, but is more directed at the upper class gentlemen. This is because part of the excitement of horse racing is due to the betting aspect. In this process, you would bet on the horse that you believed was going to win, and if the horse you betted on won then you would get win money. This is what is known as gambling. Some say that gambling is an addiction, and that is why so many enjoy the races. They enjoy them because racing becomes their addiction. Some that go to the races don’t really care about the race itself, but they just care about gambling on a certain horse. All of the horse racing and gambling was going great up until the early nineteen-hundreds when gambling became heavily frowned upon. The bookmaking was banned and sent the popularity of horse racing into a downward spiral. In 1908 a compromise for the betting was come to. This compromise was called the “Pari-Mutuel betting”. This allowed people to bet in a more fair way. The money from the betting pool was distributed equally by which horse won. For example if you there were ten people that bet on the same horse and then that horse won the race, everyone who bet for that horse received the same amount of pay off. This compromise changed everyone’s attitude towards the horse races because the main draw to the races had been revived. Once the car racing began, it became just as popular as the car racing.

            Once the development of car racing started, it became just as popular as the horse racing. There were multiple different forms of the car racing. Indianapolis style racing was rather popular during this time era. This is because it was an oval track that was around a mile long. The track was paved and had a famous race performed on it called the Indianapolis five-hundred. This race was a five-hundred mile long race where participants would race around the oval track as fast as possible. The winner would get a trophy and some sort of prize. The reason that spectators found the races so entertaining is because this oval track racing was different from a lot of the other forms of car racing. The oval track gave all spectators the opportunity to be able to see the entire track at one time, where the other races that had many different straight-aways and turns. Because of the spectators being able to see the entire track, they rarely missed the viewing of the wrecks during races. The development of the oval track revolutionized the car racing because of all of these things. The sponsors of the races were all about the idea of the track being in an oval shape. This is because then they could monitor the entering and exiting of the race much easier since it was closed off on all sides. With that being said it was much harder for spectators to sneak in without paying. Spectators of the races could also bet on which race car they thought would win. This was another big draw to the idea of the races being considered entertainment because it would bring the picture of being addicted to gambling back into the mix. Also when the gambling was taken away from the horse races, the same spectators that would have normally been at the horse races started going to the car races.

            Horse racing and car racing are clearly two entertaining sports to the spectators. This was the first time leisure was viewed positively and the men used their time to their best advantage. It gave them something to focus on and be competitive with each other, gambling their wealth. To this day horse and car racing are popular sports to view, however the advancement in technology have made the sports much harder to compete in.

This is a picture of one of the cars going around the oval track at the Indianapolis speedway in 1911.

This is a picture of the starting line of a race in NewYork during the year of 1908.

 

This is a picture of a horse race being held in Brooklyn.

Works cited

http://ophelia.sdsu.edu:8080/henryford_org/09-09-2013/education/erb/RacinginAmerica.pdf

"Background Books: Sports in America." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 3.3 (1979): 85-87. Web.

"Timeline: Horse Racing in the U.S." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/seabiscuit/?flavour=mobile>.

N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fcals.arizona.edu%2Fclasses%2Fans142%2Fread%2FModule-01.html>.

02, January. "Plenty of Tragedy and Success for 1900s Horse Racing." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 02 Jan. 2000. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jan/02/sports/sp-49887>.

"America on the Move | Introduction." America on the Move | Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_66_1.html>.

"Southern Brooklyn Was The Mecca Of Horse Racing During The Late 1800s - Sheepshead Bay News Blog." Sheepshead Bites RSS. N.p., 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2014/01/draft-historical-horse-race/>.

Younger, William Lee. Old Brooklyn in Early Photographs, 1865-1929: 157 Prints from the Collection of the Long Island Historical Society. New York: Dover Publications, 1978. Print.

The Rise of the American Film Industry

Before the film industry came about, people usually went to plays, read books, and played games for fun.  Film brought a whole new meaning to life for most people.  Ever since World War I, the United States has dominated the motion picture industry.   Film has been a form of story telling, but the very first films were short, like a magic trick. The film industry influences our nations history and shapes the world’s image of the United States. 

            The first motion picture projector was developed in Thomas Edison’s Black Maria.  The Black Maria was located in New Jersey and was the world’s first production studio. Thomas Edison and William K.L. Dickenson shot films by using the Kinetograph, and through a kinetoscope one person could view the film.   This was how the first public film was shown. 

Thomas Edison's Black Maria

            Charles Francis Jenkins, in Richmond, Indiana, was the first person to project a film on a screen, to an audience.  Not only was this the first film to be shown to an audience, but it was also the first film to have color, which took the industry to a whole new level.  Soon after this, people began to pay to see movies.  The first film that had a paying movie was a black and white silent film, which came as a shock to most people considering color had just been introduced.  Barber Shop and Wrestling were two of the first films that had a paying audience of nearly 500 people. 

            In 1896 The Kiss was the first movie that showed a couple kissing.  This film was considered one of the first extremely “scandalous” films, and not only did it bring about censorship, but also a bigger audience.   The idea of more provocative and risky films drew viewer’s attention because it brought a sense of rebellion to society.

Because technology was advancing, Edison’s small film industry had to pick up and relocate from the east coast to Hollywood, and from this, several film studios emerged and began to dominate production.   Some of the competing industries were Edison Manufacturing Company, American Vitagraph Company, and American Mutoscope Company.  All of these competing industries brought about many new additions to the film world, like the idea to rely completely on artificial light. 

          

Edwin S. Porter

  Finally, the film industry had a breakthrough when Edwin S. Porter created the projector to have a steadier and clearer image.  Although it may seem as if it is not very important, this is that one thins that finally pushed the film industry over the edge and brought in more viewers than almost everything else.  Nobody wanted to sit and watch a blurry movie that was constantly shaking, so thins invention not only changed the entire film industry, but brought a more peaceful perspective to the viewers eyes, making it more comfortable and enjoyable to watch. 

As the industry was accumulating more and more viewers they did not have enough space, so they started creating movie theaters.  Films being shown in movie theaters began as a very short ten to twelve minute clip with anonymous actors. 

One of the first movie theaters

Shortly after, actors began to get noticed and credits started appearing at the beginning of motion pictures.  The idea of being a “film star” helped to boost the industry dramatically.   By 1909 there were about nine thousand movie theaters in the United States, attracting viewers from everywhere to come and watch the films. 

            It is crazy too look back and see where the film industry began and where it is now.  Movie directors were actually hesitant to create longer movies fearing it would bore their audience, but finally worked up the nerve to do so.  Now, we pay ten dollars to sit in move theaters and watch sometimes three-hour movies without even flinching.  Not only did the film industry allow filmmakers to flourish in their creations, but it brought a whole new aspect into American life.  The rise of the American film industry is truly amazing.   

Works Cited

"American Film." ABC-CLIO Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 14.

"Film History Before 1920." Film History Before 1920. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

"Grefrath, Richard W. JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

"Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880–1910." Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880–1910. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

"This Fabulous Century, 1910-1920. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1969. Print.

Social Growth in Sports

Jack Plott

US History      

December 17, 2014

Urban Life Project

Social Growth of Sports

Between 1880 - 1920 Sports as a whole grew more than it has in time period in history. Sports emerged as social events and attendance for these sporting events grew an enormous amount. Sports as a whole during this period grew as well; college football went from 8 teams in 1880 to 96 teams in 1920. Along with Major League Baseball's attendance growing to from having around 3,000 people in attendance to some teams having somewhere between 4,000 - 6,000 in attendance. In the early 1910s Professional Football teams began to form and in 1920 the American Professional Football Association, the APFA (would become NFL), was formed. Every sport that was around in this time period grew in numbers along with its popularity.

 

First Rose Bowl game

College Football played its first game in 1969, in a game between Rutgers and Princeton. Its popularity only grew from there as people began to fall in love with teams and players as they do today. At that game between Rutgers and Princeton around 100 people were in attendance to watch. By 1880, the now eight teams were averaging double that in attendance of their games but some teams only could provide standing room for their games. Every team had great home crowds for that time but at that point in history there was really no such thing as “traveling fans” or fans that got on the road to watch their teams play. In 1892 college football’s popularity made its way to the south as Georgia played Mercer, this games is considered to be the first “deep south” football game. Until the early 1900’s, College football’s growth across the country was somewhat stunted as the sport stayed up north and remained up north. In 1901-1902 the amount of teams grew from 45 to 72, the largest year increase in College Football history. Almost all the teams that joined as Independents were from the South. College Football games were not just events anymore but social events, they were gathering places for friends and family. In 1902 the first Rose Bowl game was played, but in 1904 it was replaced by chariot races. The popularity for football was so great that people called for football to return to this great event. It was not until 1916 that football did return to the Tournament of Roses and is now known as the return as the Rose Bowl. In 1917 the sport had become so popular that the attendance of the game swelled to 25,000, the largest attendance for a college football game at that time.

 

A program from the first World Series

Major League Baseball had been around the longest up to this point compared to other American sports. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were formed and became the first paid team. In 1901, the American League formed to face the National League and in 1903 the first modern World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox (American League) and Pittsburgh Pirates (National League). Over the eight game series attendance averaged over 12,500 people coming to these landmark games. Ten years later in the 1913 World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Giants the average attendance grew like the interest of the sport. The average attendance of 1913 World Series was 30,190 and the series was only fives long unlike the eight from 1903. In 1903 Baseball was already considered America’s Pastime and one of the top interests of Men in America and only continued to grow in interest.

After the year 1900 American Sports grew faster and bigger than at any point in history. Attendance of all different sporting events skyrocketed. Also the importance of sports grew in people’s lives. Sports became a necessity for some people as the importance of gambling, money in sports and the love to fall in love with a team or a certain sport grew. Sports were not just something to go to or an event but a social gathering for everyone. They created another way of socializing and meeting up with someone. They helped grow the social aspect of society in ways that other social events could not do.   

"1901 Major League Baseball Attendance & Miscellaneous | Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-Reference.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Brinkley, Alan. American History. 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.

Dunlap, Thomas R. "Sport Hunting and Conservation." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Fischer, Claude S. "Changes in Leisure Activites." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Advertising and Commercialization at the Turn of the 20th Century

Drew

Hoyt

Advertising and Commercialization at the Turn of the 20th Century

The late 1800’s and early 1900’s were a tumultuous time in the history of the United States. The relatively recent development of many world-changing technologies had paved the way for the movement of many American citizens into larger cities. The time was ideal for many ideas and customs that Americans now consider simple facts of life to develop. Not the least of these is the constant, in-your-face advertising that is now considered industry standard. At the beginning of the 20th century, advertisement began to permeate nearly all aspects of American culture through the use of techniques such as trade cards and inflammatory language, and set its roots  to evolve into the advertising that all Americans are familiar with today.

A typical trade card that would be passed out

During the 19th century,  the majority  of advertisements that could be seen were quite simple. Often written in plain  black text on white background, resembling the newspapers they were printed in, they would matter-of-factly state the name of the product in question, its purpose, price, and the company or organization responsible for its marketing. This practice of simple, matter-of-fact advertising began to fall out of favor, however, as citizens began to move into cities. With the rise of competition, and the presence of a larger, and easier to reach, target audience, advertisers began to shift their tactics to more pervasive techniques. One such technique was the use of trade cards, which could be easily passed out to pedestrians simply walking out on the sidewalk. These advertisers were making highly effective use of the(now well documented) power of suggestion. Being able to easily expand the knowledge of their products through techniques like trade cards helped to exponentially increase the market to which they could sell their goods. This was not the only technique advertisers employed to expand their markets, however.

A perfect example of inflammatory language with its use of "Mutilate"

Advertisers began to realize that, with the growth of competition, they would need to do more than simply state the purpose of their product to get people to purchase them. They needed people who saw their ads to think, “Wow! I need this product!”. The trend that emerged from this is the use of a much more radical and inflammatory style of ad. These new, radical ads would often attempt to tug at the heartstrings of the public. They would use inflammatory language in order to shock people into thinking deeper about the product, or even to make them feel incompetent for not purchasing it. This would help to elevate a product above similar products in the minds of the target audience.

Advertisers’ use of techniques such as trade cards and inflammatory language has helped American advertising become the powerhouse it is today. These new forms of advertising joined an immense time of change in American history, and certainly played a role in shaping the American economy into the powerhouse it is today.


Works Cited

Watkins, Julian Lewis. The 100 Greatest Advertisements: Who Wrote Them and What They Did. New York: Dover Publications, 1959. Print.

O'Barr, William M. Culture and the Ad: Exploring Otherness in the World of Advertising. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994. Print.

Jones, Edgar R. Those Were the Good Old Days; a Happy Look at American Advertising, 1880-1930. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959. Print.

This Fabulous Century: 1910-1920. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1985. Print.

Ellis Island Experience

         

Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island

        The presence of Ellis Island gave immigrants an open gateway to establish a new life full of adventure. Ellis Island was a small island in New York Harbor that served as America’s largest immigration station. The voices of those who had the remarkable experience of going through the process of immigration at Ellis Island are the most meaningful ones yet in present day. 

Immigrants waiting for inspection at Ellis Island

      The Island was too small at first to house around 450,00 immigrants in only the first year of opening up the process of immigration. Soon the station became a disaster because of the catastrophic fire. Every possible arrival records of the immigrants that already had come were burnt to flames. The federal government immediately planned to rebuild a newly constructed station which turned out to look like a train station; however, they strictly  enforced it to be fireproof. The total expese of the new Immigration State costed $1.5 million. Through the new innovations of the federal immigration station built such as rooms for a hospital, baggage claim, and dormitories, Ellis Island guided different ethnic immigrants from small opportunities available to people to big and life changing experiences of an adventure.

Examination Process- "What's your name?"

        One would expect that will all these different ethnic groups of people from around the world especially Europe and Asia, that everyone would be scattered into unfamiliar groups; however, that was not the case for these immigrants. Almost every immigrant that “passed” the examination, they all formed individual groups of their own origin or country they came from and built blocks of neighborhoods that were near each other but did not cross. These groups of people had this vision of coming to America to escape from the poverty that they were trapped in  such as Poland, China, Italy, Russia, etc. Some of these immigrants had the strength to tell their stories to family members which have been passed down for several generations today. These remarkable men, women, and young children describe their journey from the very beginning of it being Ellis Island. As Ann Walsh describes her first experience at the station when she first arrived in 1922, “We were finally here and there were men at the desk and a long railing and relatives that came had to stand on that side of the railing and you be on the other side until they called your name.”() After arriving from a ten to twelve day destination, immigrants had to wait 3-4 hours waiting to be inspected and the most important question was “What is your name?”. That was all that was holding you to exit the open doors leading to a land of opportunity if you answered it right.

Book about the true story of immigrants

 
        Through the long process of becoming free, immigrants knew that it was worth it by the end of the day, except that only the unfortunate 2% of foreign immigrants were not able to pass the examination and stay due to the fact of illnesses and lack of finances for their family. Once these newcomers from around the world were put off on their own in this country where they did not know anyone, they gradually found their way through many hardships towards their future life ahead of them. As numerous amounts of immigrants arrived to the docks of the cities such as Ellis Island, they set sail to Manhattan to establish ethnic neighborhoods. Some of the patriarchs of the families decided that they would go first through the immigration process first to find housing, a job, and food. Finally when they gained enough money to provide for the family and send to their homeland, the rest of the family came to America as well. Groups such as the Italians brought similar characteristics of Italy with them which formed a neighborhood that became known as “Little Italy”. The first arrival immigrants basically had recreated their homeland features back home in a block of Manhattan, which when the following Italians came, they felt the most comfortable in growing up a family in their native neighborhoods but with much stronger lifestyles.

Finally leaving Immigration Station and heading to Manhattan

        The most important aspect of the immigration dock at Ellis Island is that it helped many impoverished and hard-working people from around the globe to get the chance to establish a foundation for their family. In present day, many past generations of the first arrival ancestors of immigrated families have gone on a search to understand the their family history and where they come from. All of the immigrants that came to America from Ellis Island have documented arrival records(of course the ones after the fire incident) accessibly stored at Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The journey of these incredible people leave a mark in history that shape our country today with the various ethnic groups all joined as one nation.

Scott Joplin and Ragtime

Daveraj Khuti
12-16-14
I Pledge DK
History Paper

Scott Joplin

Ragtime began to emerge and gain popularity by the mid 1890's and the late 1900’s Ragtime had become the most popular music genre, but around the time World War I started in 1918 Ragtime was losing its momentum. Scott Joplin had an immense influence on the popularization and legacy of Ragtime, a genre which eventually helped to close gap between the lower and upper class about what types of music was considered respectable. The influences on Scott Joplin’s life combined with his decisions helped to immortalize Ragtime music, which would eventually lead to influence other genres. 

A Portrait of Scott Joplin 

Born on November 24, 1868 in Bowie Country, Texarkana (present day Texas) Scott Joplin was destined to a life of music. Joplin’s parents were Giles Joplin (father) and Florence Givens Joplin (mother), his father was a former slave who was freed when slavery was abolished in 1865, and his mother was a freeborn woman from Kentucky. Even though they were poor black family living during the Reconstruction years following the Civil War music was an important part of their lives. The presence of musicians in Joplin’s family played a role in exposing and hooking him to a life of music. His father was a violinist, his mother was a banjoist, his brother Will played the guitar and violin, and his brother Robert sang baritone. Young Joplin was exposed to waltzes, polkas, reels, and folk music; he heard these wonderful sounds while Giles played the violin for his former masters on the plantation. His mother worked as a servant for white families in Texarkana Joplin was able to play the piano. Living in a city like Texarkana, he was able to receive an education; although it was limited because of his skin color it separated him from the majority of African Americans who were literate. His education started the process of Joplin interacting with whites and blacks enabled him to feel comfortable when interacting with both races later on in his life during his musical career.
       By the age of seven Joplin began to show some interest in the piano, and by eleven he was composing and playing his own original songs. His talent on the piano was well known by the community he lived with, and that attracted several teachers who gave him free lessons; the most notable teacher Joplin attracted was a German music teacher. He taught Joplin technique, sight-reading, and harmony; it gave Joplin the opportunity to learn classical music and popular European music. The German teacher’s teachings helped to allow Joplin have the opportunity to play in an assortment of venues which furthered allowed him to diversify his music template. After the death of his mother teenager Joplin left Texarkana to make a living as a musician. He worked as an itinerant musician traveling from cities in Texas to the Mississippi River, working in brothels, saloons, gambling halls, and traveling shows. His wide assortment of jobs helped to expose him to a wide variety of music, including a syncopated “ragged” style of music which would later become Ragtime. While on his adventures to create a career as a successful musician he met a local saloon owner named John Turpin. His son Tom was also a piano player; Joplin and Tom spent much of their time in St. Louis at the Silver Dollar. Tom would eventually write and publish the first instrumental rag in 1897 called “Harlem rag”. Tom’s piece was the first published ragtime composition by an African American, but because of its small print run, his piece was only able to reach a few piano players outside of the St. Louis area. Joplin’s career is considered by some to have started when he finally moved from St. Louis to Sedalia.

The original cover of Scott Joplin's"Maple Leaf Rag"

       After moving to Sedalia, Joplin published two original non-ragtime pieces; “Please Say You Will” and “A Picture of Her Face” these early pieces did not contain the syncopation and melodic attractiveness that his later works would contain. By 1899, Joplin’s most popular and best appreciated pieces started to be published; a man named Carl Hoffman, a music publisher in Kansas City, bought the rights to the piece “Oriental Rags”, but his second published rag would be the one that would immortalize him in music history. Joplin’s piece the “Maple Leaf Rag” was published by John Stark, Stark agreed to publish Joplin’s piece and Joplin signed a five-year contract on August 10, 1900. He was also entitled to a royalty of one cent per each copy sold, by 1905 about 3,000 copies of the “Maple Leaf Rag” were being sold per month, and by 1909 Joplin was earning roughly $600 annually from the royalties of the “Maple Leaf Rag”. Three years after the publication of the “Maple Leaf Rag” Joplin had written a number of pieces such as “Elite Syncopations” and “The Entertainer, but none of them were able to reach the level of popularity the “Maple Leaf Rag” had.
          With the continual failure of creating a piece as popular as the “Maple Leaf Rag” Joplin decided to write a large-scale “Ragtime Opera” which he would title Treemonisha. In his “Ragtime Opera” he drew from his memoires growing up during the Reconstruction period in the South, he commented on African American society, superstitions, and the necessity of education to better ones’ life. Unfortunately Joplin became obsessed with the idea of perfecting his play, and when he finished writing it he was unable to find a publisher. So Joplin copyrighted and published the piece with his own money and even had to finance the rehearsal in front of a select audience in Harlem’s Lincoln Theater. Sadly his performance was a complete failure and the rejection of his beloved “Treemonisha” devastated him. 

The cover of the Treemonisha scorepublished in 1911

        After a very disappointing result from “Treemonisha” Joplin’s health began to decline, he contracted syphilis, which caused him to have mood swings and an inability to concentrated; he even had trouble playing the piano and speaking coherently. Joplin’s last work of Ragtime was “Magnetic Rag” printed around 1914, which was around the time America was beginning to create a style of music which would be referred to as blues music. He finally passed away on April 1, 1917, his death was near the time of the end of Ragtime’s decade of glory; a music genre that he had almost single-handedly created and defined. The result from Joplin’s music specifically the “Maple Leaf Rag” helped to popularize this type of music and was slightly maintained but eventually by the start of the First World War Ragtime had faded away. But even today we still see connections from Ragtime music which would eventually influence the creation of other music styles.
     Ragtime is considered by most as the first distinctive popular American music style, even though its popularity only from 1896 to 1917, it lead to influence and inspire music styles such as Blues, Jazz, and Tin Pan Alley. Ragtime came from African American music influences, plantation melodies and folk songs played on banjos and fiddles; the result was an exciting, upbeat, and catchy syncopations. But along the way to its popularization Ragtime music overcame social standards about what was considered respectable to play in one’s house, the white and black middle class and upper class did not take to Ragtime until it was popularized. It was initially given a disreputable appearance because musicians originally played it in saloons, bordellos, and sporting clubs. But eventually thanks to Scott Joplin’s pieces of music it gained popularity and was played by bands and orchestras in theaters, and on some pianos in respectable homes. Scott Joplin is to credit for shaping Ragtime music as well as influencing other composers with his sophisticated, classical, and catchy style. Scott Joplin may have lead to influence other artists and genres, but the early influences, like his parents, are to credit for his 66 published compositions and two operas.

Works Cited

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