NCHE Presentation Lesson Plans

The Gilded Age at the Museum of the City of New York
Class Conflict and Cooperation
Rags and Riches in New York City: Exploration of the Rockefeller Rooms
and the Lower East Side Tenements

Written By: Sari Rosenberg, Margaret Fay, Sue Schaller, Kathleen Reddington, and Lainie Leber

Pre-visit Class Lesson and Materials

Teacher will show a clip of MTV Cribs and tell the students to write down one object that is highlighted during the celebrity house tour. (Note: If video clip is not available, teacher will elicit responses by merely asking the students about the television show and the prized possessions flaunted by the featured celebrities)
- Students will be asked to share their selected objects with the class.
- Students will be asked how the objects highlighted in the star’s “crib” make a particular statement about what we value in our culture today.
Explain overview of the Museum of the City of New York assignment.
Discuss students’ background knowledge about the Gilded Age, the Rockefeller family, life in the tenements, and the role of Jacob Riis in spotlighting the plight of the urban poor.
- Give out one page Jacob Riis and Rockefeller biographies and have students make a note of new information learned from the readings.

Objectives:
Content:
1. Vulnerability and struggles of the poor
2. Wealth and excesses of the rich
3. Analyzing the disparity of wealth in New York City
4. Effects of rapid economic expansion and laissez faire government on society
5. Lack of governmental restrictions on monopolists
6. Showing the interdependence of the two disparate groups
7. Role of the press in American social issues
8. Understanding the urban experience in the late nineteenth century Correlation to New York

State Standards:
More Information about NYS Standards at www.nysed.gov
Standard 1: The study of New York State and United States history requires an analysis of the development of American culture, its diversity and multicultural context, and the
ways people are unified by many values, practices, and traditions. Students will * demonstrate this by:
• analyzing the development of American culture; explaining how ideas, values, beliefs, and traditions have changed over time and how they influence all Americans
Standard 2: Important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions from New York State and United States history illustrate the connections and interactions of people and events across time and from a variety of perspectives.. Students will demonstrate this by:
• Comparing and contrasting the experiences of different groups in the United States for periodizing the history of New York State and the United States
• Develop and test hypotheses about important events, eras, or issues in New York State and United States history, setting clear and valid criteria for judging the importance and significance of these events, eras, or issues
• Discuss several schemes for periodizing the history of New York State and the United States
Standard 3: Study about the major social, political, economic, cultural, and religious developments in New York State and United States history involves learning about the important roles and contributions of individuals and groups. Performance Indicators--Students will:
• Compare and contrast the experiences of different ethnic, national, and religious groups, including Native American Indians, in the United States, explaining their contributions to American society and culture
• Research and analyze the major themes and developments in New York State and United States history (e.g., colonization and settlement; Revolution and New National Period; immigration; expansion and reform era; Civil War and Reconstruction; The American labor movement; Great Depression; World Wars; contemporary United States)
• Prepare essays and oral reports about the important social, political, economic, scientific, technological, and cultural developments, issues, and events from New York State and United States history
Standard 4: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to: explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of changing and competing interpretations of different historical developments.

Performance Indicators--Students will:
• Analyze historical narratives about key events in New York State and United States history to identify the facts and evaluate the authors’ perspectives
• Consider different historians’ analyses of the same event or development in United States history to understand how different viewpoints and/or frames of reference influence historical interpretations
• Evaluate the validity and credibility of historical interpretations of important events or issues in New York State or United States history, revising these interpretations as new information is learned and other interpretations are developed. (Adapted from National Standards for United States History)

Motivation:
1. Share the thought provoking quote with the students (10 minutes):
“What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, I understand”
- Confucius
Evaluate what Confucius means by this quotation.
Do you agree with him? Explain.
2. Relate quotation with the museum visit for the students
Explain that the students will be actively learning today while exploring the Rockefeller rooms and Jacob Riis photographs.
In the Rockefeller Rooms, students will give a guided tour pretending that they have entered a time machine and they are in an episode of “MTV Cribs” with the Rockefellers in the late nineteenth century.
3. Modeling - - Period Gallery – Targeted visit (15 minutes)
• The goal is to model the thought process of the guided questions.
• Ask students to respond to the follow questions:
o What do you see in the room?
o What does it tell you about the people who live there?
• Visit Flagler’s 1906 alcove. Teacher or docent will pretend to be Henry Flagler and use the MTV Cribs format in order to demonstrate the assignment to the students.

PART ONE:
The Rockefeller Rooms (60 minutes total with 45 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to present)
(Worksheet provided to students- see below)
1. Students will be split into 5 groups and each group will create an MTV Crib style tour:
a. Portraits of John D. Rockefeller and his wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, stock certificate and sitting room
b. Bedroom / and photos immediately adjacent
c. Back view of the bedroom by China plates
d. Photographs of the Rockefeller mansion, on wall directly across from the
bedroom.
2. Students will present their tour to the class by selecting one member to act as the character.
(Suggestion: Videotape the presentation so that you can share with the students who were not able to attend the trip. The videotaping will further recreate the humorous anachronistic MTV style in the late nineteenth century rooms)
3. Students will fill out a rubric so they can evaluate each presentation and learn from their peers.

PART TWO:
The Mobile Jacob Riis Display in the Museum Classroom (45 minutes total with 35 minutes preparation and 10 minutes to present)
(Worksheet provided to students – see below)
1. Each group will select 4-5 Jacob Riis photos and develop a narrative about the living environment and conditions. This will be done from the perspective of the person in the photo or of an observer/journalist.
2. Students will present their tour to the class by selecting one member to act as the character.
3. Students will fill out a rubric so they can evaluate each presentation and learn from their peers. Summation / Closure
(30 minutes)

Discussion comparing the two worlds that we have observed and evaluated based on the following pivotal questions:
• How are these two groups interdependent?
• What is their relationship to one another?
• To what extent should society be responsible for helping the poor?
• Should the wealthy take on the responsibility for assisting people in need?
Return to the beginning quote: “What I hear I forget, What I see I remember, What I do I understand” - Confucius

Assessment
Assign an essay to the students based on one or a combination of the following topics:
Review of the presentations and what you learned from the experience at the museum. (Students can use their rubrics to complete this assignment)
Assess what you have learned about the Gilded Age by participating in the museum lesson.
Write a series of fictitious letters between a member of the upper class and a member of the lower class, perhaps an employer and an employee, in the late nineteenth century based on the different urban experiences you explored today. Another option is to have a tourist write a letter home describing the extremes he/she had seen in NYC.

How would you relate the theme of “Rags and Riches” to New York City society today? Is there still a noticeable disparity of wealth? If you had to select four key images in New York City to illustrate this theme what would you choose to present?
Based on your experience of the two socio-economic groups during the Gilded Age, discuss the following: Do the rich have a responsibility to the poor? What obligation does an employer have to his/her employees? Should workers be allowed to demand better working conditions? How does supply and demand fit into this picture?
What, if anything, has changed since the Gilded Age? Are there conditions today that reflect this conflict between the rich and poor?

Supporting Worksheets
Flagler Room Script
My name is Harry Harkness Flagler and this is my crib. As you can see by looking around my home, I live a very comfortable life. My father, Henry Morrison Flagler, used to be involved in a very successful business called the Standard Oil Company. I understand that your are going to see the home of his former business partner John D. Rockefeller a little later.
Actually, compared to my house, the Rockefeller home is quite plain, too conservative if you ask me ! My drawing room, on the other hand, really gets your attention. From the carpet on the floor to the elaborately decorated ceiling, my drawing room signifies wealth and power to others. The trim throughout the room lets you know that I can afford to cover my home in gold. The miniature portraits that are on display on the right are all valuable collector’s items. A servant broke one of those delicate frames when she was cleaning last month and I sent her packing. You have to keep the servants in their place you know.
Back to my lovely home. The painting above the mantelpiece is done in a classical style and it is hanging there to let you know what good taste I have. You see, a drawing room is a very formal space, one that is used with visitors. You always want it to give the best possible impression. Everything is so ornate because it lets visitors (even time travelers) know how important I am. Among my associates wealth and power are the only things that matter. Good heavens look at the time. I have an appointment. The maid will see you out.

John D. Rockefeller, (1839-1937)
John D. Rockefeller, creator of the oil industry that made him one of the richest men in America, was born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839 the son of a “pitch man” who sold medical treatments for $25. His first job, as a bookkeeper at the age of 16, gave him the opportunity to analyze the financial structure of business, and his aggressiveness in collecting overdue accounts was an early indicator of the tenacity he was to show in later years. Just before his 20th birthday he went into business for himself and quadrupled his profits in one year. His aggressive pursuit of clients and expansion of the merchant business created more successes, but he realized that the merchant industry would not create the opportunities that he wanted.
The oil boom that began in northwestern Pennsylvania was to be Rockefeller’s chance to become one of the giants of industry through the use of refining techniques and transportation. By 1868, Rockefeller joined Andrews and Flagler, and the group created the largest refinery in the world. These men understood that the only way to continue to have the consistent profits was to make the business as large as possible and utilize all of their waste products.
In 1870, the Standard Oil Company of Ohio was organized. Rockefeller developed the concept of a trust. Companies acquired by the main company could be held in trust so that the perception was that there were many independent companies, but all were actually controlled and regulated by a group of trustees. By 1882, Standard Oil controlled, through trusts, 77 oil companies which produced 90%of all refined oil in the US., and as a result Rockefeller was able to control the supply and price of oil across the US. Although he defended the technique, stating that he could give a consistent price to suppliers who would not have fluctuations of oil based on scarcity and overproduction, eventually the US Congress, with much prodding, enacting two important laws to reduce this monopolistic control: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. These rulings, however, did not dissipate the tremendous wealth that Rockefeller had already acquired…he was one of the richest men in America. And it was shortly after this legislation that he began to consider what contributions he could make to American society.
Although perceived as a tough competitor, and part of a group which came to be called “robber barons”, Rockefeller established a Foundation in 1913 (The Rockefeller Foundation), which was initially controlled by his son, John Jr. The Foundation has been the source of tremendous philanthropic assistance in America for generations.
Written by: Margaret Fay
Sources Used:
• www.pbs.org
• Derrick Murphy, Kathyrn Cooper, Mark Waldron, US 1776-1992,Collins Educational: London and England 2001

Jacob Riis (1849-1914)
In the introduction to How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis wrote:
"Long ago it was said that 'one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.' That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate, of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat."
Jacob Riis was a famous “muckraker” journalist who inspired an urban reform movement after exposing the plight of the late nineteenth century urban poor living in New York City tenements. Riis experienced similar hardships to the subjects of his stories and photographs when he first immigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1870. Unable to find work, Riis was often forced to sleep at the police station lodging stations. Eventually Riis became a journalist gradually rising up to the position of police reporter for the New York Tribune and then photo journalist for the New York Evening Sun.
Never forgetting his roots, Riis decided to put his journalistic skills and the invention of flash powder to good use in order to illustrate and communicate the plight of New York City’s poor children, immigrants and tenement dwellers to the rest of the world. In December of 1889, an account of city life, illustrated by photographs, appeared in Scribner’s Magazine. Due to the overwhelming interest in the story, a full-length version, How the Other Half Lives, was published. The stories and photographs in this book were a shocking portrayal of the dreadful living conditions of the urban poor. Theodore Roosevelt, the New York Police Commissioner at the time, held Riis’ work in such high esteem that he called him “the most useful citizen of New York.”
Over the next twenty five years, Riis continued to write, photograph and lecture about the problems of poverty in America in order raise awareness and to stir the government to provide assistance. He believed that the “poor were the victims rather than the makers of their fate” and not to be blamed and ignored for their suffering. Riis’ commitment to revealing “how the other half lived” was influential in forcing the American government to take heed of Americans in need and provide assistance. In turn, Riis also inspired his fellow “muckraking” journalists to heroically expose other societal problems in America.
Sources Used:
Alland, Alexander, Jacob Riis: Photographer and Citizen, Millerton, New York, 1972.
Hales, Peter, Silver Cities: The Photography of American Urbanization, Philadelphia, PA, 1984.
Riis, Jacob, How the Other Half Lives, Dover Publications, New York, 1971.

Student Worksheet For the Rockefeller Rooms
Museum of the City of New York
Class Conflict During the Gilded Age

You have entered into a time warp. It now the year 1910 and you are a member of John D Rockefeller’s family. MTV has contacted you to give a tour of a room in your home. For your television interview you will need to prepare by writing down the following information.
1. Introduction of yourself
2. Briefly describe your background and what your life is like
3. Choose 4 artifacts/photos/paintings/pieces of furniture and
• Briefly describe each
• Explain its purpose / how you use it / or if it is just purely decorative
Now that you have all this information written down – you need to choose one member of the group who will act as the tour guide and present their “crib” on video.
*Remember on video the presenter must be in character.

2. What is your life like? How do you earn a living? What is your social life like?

1. Selecting objects
a. Object #1 __________________________
Describe its appearance,

Student Worksheet for the Jacob Riis Lower East Side Tenement Photos
Museum of the City of New York
Class Conflict During the Gilded Age

For the Jacob Riis MTV Crib Tour you have a choice of two scenarios. You will need to choice one perspective and develop your tour/ presentation in that character.

Scenario #1 -You are a reporter
You have entered into a time warp. It is now the year 1910 and you are a reporter. Jacob Riis’s photos motivated you to visit the Lower East Side tenements to see these terrible living conditions first hand. You will be giving a presentation at a conference about what you saw. To prepare for your presentation you will need to
1. Explain the daily lives of the tenement immigrants you met
2. Briefly describe their background
3. Pull information from 1 - 3 photos illustrating their impoverish life
4. Assess their situation and make a recommendation for a solution

Scenario #2 - You are an immigrant in the photos
You have entered into a time warp. It is now the year 1910 and you are an immigrant living in the tenement houses on the Lower East Side. Because of the photos that Jacob Riis has taken of your home, MTV has contacted you to give a tour of a room in your home. For your television interview you will need to prepare by writing down the following information.
1. Introduction of yourself
2. Briefly describe your background and what your life is like
3. Choose 1 - 3 photos that show your life and your home from these photos choose
4. Choose 4 artifacts/photos/paintings/pieces of furniture and
• Briefly describe each
• Explain its purpose / how you use it / or if it is just purely decorative
Now that you have all this information written down – you need to choose one member of the group who will act as the tour guide and present their “crib” on video.
*remember on video the presenter must be in character.

2. What is your life like? What do you for money? What is your social life like?

3. Selecting objects
a. Object #1 __________________________
Describe its appearance,

How does it reflect your lifestyle? If you are a reporter, what is your recommendation to alleviate or change conditions under which the inhabitants of the Lower East Side live?

Student Rubric
Historical Role Play : Rockefeller - MTV tour

Teacher Name:

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Historical Accuracy:
All historical information appeared to be accurate and in chronological order.
Almost all historical information appeared to be accurate and in chronological order.
Most of the historical information was accurate and in chronological order.
Very little of the historical information was accurate and/or in chronological order.

Role:
Point-of-view, arguments, and solutions proposed were consistently in character.
Point-of-view, arguments, and solutions proposed were often in character.
Point-of-view, arguments, and solutions proposed were sometimes in character.
Point-of-view, arguments, and solutions proposed were rarely in character.

Knowledge gained:
Can clearly explain several ways in which his character "saw" things differently than other characters and can clearly explain why.
Can clearly explain several ways in which his character "saw" things differently than other characters.
Can clearly explain one way in which his character "saw" things differently than other characters.
Cannot explain one way in which his character "saw" things differently than other characters.

Required Elements:
Student included more information than was required.
Student included all information that was required.
Student included most information that was required.
Student included less information than was required.