1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910796523403321

Autore

Prout Jerry

Titolo

Coxey's crusade for jobs : unemployment in the Gilded Age / / Jerry Prout

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Dekalb, [Illinois] : , : Northern Illinois University Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

1-5017-5690-7

1-60909-197-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (152 pages :) : illustrations ;

Classificazione

HIS036040

Disciplina

331.13/797309034

Soggetti

Labor - United States - History - 19th century

Unemployment - United States - History - 19th century

Working class - United States - History - 19th century

Unemployed - United States - History - 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- INTRODUCTION The Cause of the Unemployed -- CHAPTER ONE They Sleep on Marble Floors -- CHAPTER TWO The Good Roads Plan -- CHAPTER THREE A Millenarian Spectacle -- CHAPTER FOUR Through the Prism of the Argus-Eyed -- CHAPTER FIVE "Coxey is Coming" -- EPILOGUE The Crusade Continued -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

"In the depths of a depression in 1894, a highly successful Gilded Age businessman named Jacob Coxey led a group of jobless men on a march from his hometown of Massillon, Ohio, to the steps of the nation's Capitol. Though a financial panic and the resulting widespread business failures caused millions of Americans to be without work at the time, the word unemployment was rarely used and generally misunderstood. In an era that worshipped the self-reliant individual who triumphed in a laissez-faire market, the out-of-work "tramp" was disparaged as weak or flawed, and undeserving of assistance. Private charities were unable to meet the needs of the jobless, and only a few communities experimented with public works programs. Despite these limitations, Coxey conceived a plan to put millions back to work



building a nationwide system of roads and drew attention to his idea with the march to Washington.  In Coxey's Crusade for Jobs, Jerry Prout recounts Coxey's story and adds depth and context by focusing on the reporters who were embedded in the march. Their fascinating depictions of life on the road occupied the headlines and front pages of America's newspapers for more than a month, turning the spectacle into a serialized drama. These accounts humanized the idea of unemployment and helped Americans realize that in a new industrial economy, unemployment was not going away and the unemployed deserved attention. This unique study will appeal to scholars and students interested in the Gilded Age and US and labor history"--