Their Skin Research Document

Name: Shane Bell

Character Name: Dill

Research Question One:

What was happening in the 1900s to 1930s in San Francisco?

Research Question Two:

What would life be like for the rich people compared to poor in
San Francisco in 1946-1948?

Other, minor questions:

Why did you only have to go to school for 1 day at least?

Why did it change so much from now to back then?

Source and Link (Give your

source a title and then create
a link to the source)

MLA Citation
(use this link to learn about
how to do an MLA citation)

Brief Description of Source

(what information is in this
source, why do you think it
will be useful, etc.)

http://www.zpub.com/sf/histor
y/sfh-2.html

"San Francisco History 1900-1950." San Francisco

History - 1900-1950. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

This source Is about A

timeline of what happened
from 1900s to 1950. It names
all of the events in san
francisco and what is different
from now and then

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c
om/2015/03/23/sanfranciscos-gap-between-richand-poor-among-largest-innation-study-finds/

"San Francisco's Gap

Between Rich And Poor
Second Largest In Nation,
Study Finds." CBS San
Francisco. CBS, 2015. Web.
23 Mar. 2015.

This source is telling me the

difference between how poor
and people were different
now and then

http://www.examiner.com/arti
cle/dad-s-reply-to-school-onkids-absence-is-bestresponse-ever

Rossi, Michael. "Dad's Reply

to School on Kids' Absence Is
Best Response Ever."
Examiner.com.
Examiner.com, 2015. Web.
28 Apr. 2015.

This source is telling me how

this dad thinks that kids have
to go to school and why
sometimes they don't have to
go if they don't want to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H
istory_of_California_1900_to
_present

Rodgers, Daniel T. "The

Progressive Era." Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, 1929.
Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

This source is about how

much it changed from now
and in the 1900s. And to me it
was A really big change.

https://sucheternaldelight.wor
dpress.com/tag/1900-wealthgap/

https://sucheternaldelight.wor
dpress.com/tag/1900-wealthgap/

This source is telling me how

it was different from poor and
wealthy in the 1900s

Source One:

Michael Rossi took to Facebook to share the letter he received from Rochelle S.
Marbury, Principal of Rydal Elementary School after his kids Jack and Victoria missed
April 17, 20 and 21, 2015.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Rossi, the letter read, I understand your family recently took a
family vacation. I want you to be aware that the Abington School District does not
recognize family trips as an excused absence, regardless of the activities involved in
the trip. The school district is not in the position of overseeing family vacations or
evaluating the educational nature of a family trip. The dates that your children were
absent were recorded as unexcused. An accumulation of unexcused absences can
result in a referral to our attendance officer and a subsequent notice of a violation of
the compulsory school attendance law."
Mr. Rossi served a hot cup of tea back, validating why he took his children with him
and explained how he turned the "vacation" into a field trip that allowed them to walk
through historical places their classmates have yet to learn about. Plus, he allowed
them to witness the resilience of #BostonStrong.
After learning that the main purpose of the trip had to do with the death of a loved one,
it sort of made me wonder if the person who drafted the letter doesnt consider
compassionate days for kids also.
But, with one month left in the school year, Jack and Victoria have earned so much
more than a grade theyve earned bragging rights for having a father who has
lessons that are far from the confines of a classroom #Parent Of The Year!
MICHAEL ROSSIS RESPONSE TO SCHOOL:
Dear Madam Principal,
While I appreciate your concern for our children's education, I can promise you they
learned as much in the five days we were in Boston as they would in an entire year in
school.
Our children had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that can't be duplicated in a
classroom or read in a book.
In the 3 days of school they missed (which consisted of standardized testing that they
could take any time) they learned about dedication, commitment, love, perseverance,
overcoming adversity, civic pride, patriotism, American history culinary arts and
physical education.
They watched their father overcome, injury, bad weather, the death of a loved one and
many other obstacles to achieve an important personal goal.
They also experienced first-hand the love and support of thousands of others cheering
on people with a common goal.
At the marathon, they watched blind runners, runners with prosthetic limbs and
debilitating diseases and people running to raise money for great causes run in the
most prestigious and historic marathon in the world.
They also paid tribute to the victims of a senseless act of terrorism and learned that
no matter what evil may occur, terrorists can not deter the American spirit.
These are things they won't ever truly learn in the classroom.
In addition our children walked the Freedom Trail, visited the site of the Boston Tea

Party, the Boston Massacre and the graves of several signers of the Declaration of
Independence.
These are things they WILL learn in school a year or more from now. So in actuality
our children are ahead of the game.
They also visited an aquarium, sampled great cuisine and spent many hours of
physical activity walking and swimming

Source Two:
By the mid 1880s, the United States was the wealthiest nation in the world. But it was still with
Europe where the real international political power lay. Most of us learned the term laissez-faire in
high school and learned to apply it to Belle Epoque America. But the situation was a bit more
complicated than that. It wasnt so much that the government left business alone, it was that the
government was weak in general both in the international diplomatic sphere and in its own
backyard. And due to this and despite its wealth, the U.S. had little sway with other governments
(Zakaria, From Wealth to Power).
In any case, without wealth, no rich America. Without strong government, no strong America. And,
nothing can be accomplished without either. In 1900, the U.S. had the former in spades. It was
during the Progressive Era that it built the latter.

Disinterested and/or weak?

The economic situation in the U.S. reflected this money rich, power poor state. Though the exact

amount is unknown, it is estimated that over 45% of the U.S. wealth was held by the top 1%, a
high in U.S. history, and not to be rivaled again until the last 20 years. The gap between rich and
poor was tremendous, making a democracy rather ineffective.
Being a member of the incredibly shrinking middle class was perilous. Despite our vision of 1900
America, with its small, traditional, stable middle class families gathered around the parlor table,
attending church, and calling on friends for tea, the professional middle class was in constant siege.
Wages were uneven, unreliable, and members of the professional middle class would emulate their
betters by employing monopolistic strategies to building practices and businesses. The noble,
idealistic middle class man who struggled for honor and virtue amidst the smut the Horatio Alger
was not really a viable model for behavior in such a cutthroat environment. But the progressive
movement did what it could to turn him into a deity.

Intolerance (1916) Lillian Gish survives against corruption in Babylon, the French Revolution, and the
Modern Era thanks to her beauty and virtue

I did a paper in my undergrad years on Fatalism and the Horatio Alger mythology in Pre-World War I
Silent cinema. If the movies of that period werent on cigarette fairies or other silly, plotless
fantasies they were most likely on a virtuous young man who is a hard worker an unusually
intelligent man not in the least affected by his popularity, and very keen, businesslike and thrifty

Source Three:
1900

The Cliff House circa 1900

1900-1910 - San Francisco stereographs
from the Keystone-Mast Collection
1901

San Francisco History 1901 - 1930 - MCSF

McKinley assassinated - Roosevelt succeeds
McK. - Picasso's Blue Period - J.P. Morgan
organizes US Steel Corporation --1901

1902

Trans-Pacific telephone cable connects

Canada and Australia. --Media History
Timeline: 1900s
Twain, Mark. "A Defence of General
Funston." North American Review 174 (May
1902).

1903

The Commonwealth Club of California was

founded in 1903 by San Francisco Chronicle
editorial writer Edward F. Adams.

1905

One of the wonderful aspects of the turn-ofthe-century era was the multitude of
grandiose schemes for the development of
California. In the early 1900's, the country
had rebounded from the depression of the
1890's, so a renewed sense of optimism was
the mood of the day. It was in this frame of
mind that prominent San Francisco
businessmen schemed to create a coast
railroad from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. It
was initially called the Ocean Shore Electric
Railway. Initial work began in 1905.
Japanese Town - Nihonjin-Machi - 1905-1935

images from The Japanese American History

Archives
The San Francisco Chronicle launches a
series which accuses Japanese immigrants of
debauching white women, deliberately
undermining the school system, and causing
crime and poverty in California. The series
inspires the founding of The Japanese and
Korean Exclusion League with 80,000
members. --Social ..
1906

Lurid flames sweep San Francisco in William

Alexander Coulter (1849-1936) panorama of
the largest maritime rescue in United States
history ...
April 18 - 1906 Earthquake and Fire History at M CSF and Yahoo listing.
1907

In the first decade of the twentieth century,

organized labor in San Francisco exercised
"more power and influence than labor in any
other major American metropolitan area." The
year 1901 saw the formation of the Union
Labor Party (ULP), a political party which
ostensibly represented the interests of the
city's workingmen... At this time, with the city
considered a "closed shop" town and labor
firmly in control of its political machinery,
circumstances began to change. Between
1905 and the street railway strike of May
1907, an earthquake, charges of corruption
against the mayor and almost all the
supervisors, and a struggle for political control
between local reform elements and
controlling labor interests changed San
Francisco politics. --The 1907 San Francisco
Streetcar Strike - by Robert Emery Bionaz

1908

The FBI originated from a force of Special

Agents created in 1908 by Attorney General
Charles Bonaparte during the Presidency of
Theodore Roosevelt. --A Short History of the
FBI

1909

John Muir (1838-1914) was the leader of the

movement to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley
from despoliation at the hands of the City and
County of San Francisco, which wanted the
valley for a municipal water supply...
Published in late 1909, outlines the
preservationist cause, and was distributed by
Muir acting as president of the Society for the
Preservation of National Parks... --John Muir Let Everyone Help to Save the Famous
Hetch-Hetchy Valley

1910

Angel Island opened in 1910. For 30 years,

Angel Island served as a point of entry to the
United States for many immigrants. Like Ellis
Island in New York, it processed the entry of
people from different parts of the world.
Unlike Ellis Island, it also served as a prison
for hundreds of Chinese immigrants. The
immigration compound at Angel Island was
built to enforce an exclusionary law passed in
1882. This law, The Chinese Exclusion Act,
was passed to deny entry to Chinese ...
--Angel Island Home Page

Source Four:

Across the 50 largest cities, households in the 95th percentile of income

earned 11.6 times as much as households at the 20th percentile, a
considerably wider margin than the national average ratio of 9.3. This
difference reflects the fact that in big cities the rich have higher incomes,
and the poor lower incomes, than their counterparts nationally.
Atlanta, followed by San Francisco, ranked as the most unequal city in 2012
and 2013. Virginia Beach, Va. and Colorado Springs, Co. had the smallest gap.
Rich households in San Francisco grew by nearly 18 percent, equivalent to a
$66,000 bump. The city stands apart from other cities like Washington, D.C.
and New York, in just how rich its richest households were in 2013. In 2013,

San Franciscans earned at least $423,000, more than $100,000 than

counterparts in San Jose.

Meanwhile, San Joses wealthiest households continue to get richer. The South
Bay city witnessed a double-digit growth in the incomes of the 95th-percentile
between 2012-2013, equivalent to a $34,000 increase. The growing income
gap is shaping public policy for reducing the inequality. In 2014, 14 states and
the District of Columbia enacted increases in their minimum wages. Here in
the Bay Area, San Francisco became the second city, after Seattle, to have the
highest minimum wage in the country with an incremental increase that will
reach its peak in 2018. The minimum wage in Oakland became the highest in
the Bay Area after jumping from $9/hour to $12.25/hour thanks to a voter-

approved measure. Richmond also voted to phase in an increase to $13 by

2018.
Brookings authors Alan Berube and Natalie Holmes notes while the minimum
wage is an important method for helping low-earner households living in highcost places, local policymakers should not ignore the other tools they have at
handfrom education to economic development to housing and zoning policies
that are essential for improving social mobility and sustaining income
diversity in big cities today.

Source Five:
After 1900, California continued to grow rapidly and soon became an agricultural and industrial
power. The economy was widely based on specialty agriculture, oil, tourism, shipping, film, and
after 1940 advanced technology such as aerospace and electronics industries - along with a
significant military presence. The films and stars of Hollywood helped make the state the "center"
of worldwide attention. California became an American cultural phenomenon; the idea of the
"California Dream" as a portion of the larger American Dream of finding a better life drew 35
million new residents from the start to the end of the 20th century (19002010).

[1]

Silicon Valley

became the world's center for computer innovation.

California is now the most populous state in the United States. If it were an independent
country, California would rank 34th in population in the world. California has had waves of
immigration and emigration over the years. The first big wave was the California Gold Rush
starting in 1848 of miners, businessmen, farmers, loggers, etc. as well as their many
supporters.
There were fewer than 10,000 females in a total California population (not including Native

Americans who were not counted) of about 120,000 residents in 1850. About 3.0% of the
gold rush Argonauts before 1850 were female or about 3,500 female Gold Rushers,
compared to about 115,000 male California Gold Rushers. Massive immigration from mostly
[3][4]

other states continued throughout the nineteenth century.

California did not reach a

"normal" male to female ratio of about one to one until the 1950 census. California for over
a century was short on females. The 1900 census showed emigrations down to "only" a
20% growth rate. The early 1900s showed a massive population increase of over 60%
between 1900 and 1910. The population more than doubled again in the next 20 years by
1930. Foreign immigration largely ceased during the Great Depression, as immigration to
the U.S. was held to a low of 23,068 per year by 1933, and many foreign workers were
deported. There were not enough jobs to go around. Once World War II "solved" the
problems of the Great Depression there was a rapidly increasing buildup of U.S. workers in
California as wartime industries boomed.

Annotation Bibliography
1. "San Francisco History - 1900-1950." San Francisco History - 1900-1950. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
2. This source is telling me the present from 1900s in San francisco because
I wanna know the difference between now and 1900s. It is useful in my story
because my character in moving to San Francisco and my story is taking place in
1900s so I wanna know how it was in San Francisco in the 1900s.
"San Francisco's Gap Between Rich And Poor Second Largest In Nation, Study Finds." CBS
San Francisco. CBS, 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
This source is telling me the gap between rich and poor. I choose this source because My
character is gonna be poor then get A good job and become rich so I wanna know the
difference between poor and rich in San Francisco. I also wanted to know how the money
worked in the 1900s

Rossi, Michael. "Dad's Reply to School on Kids' Absence Is Best Response Ever."
Examiner.com. Examiner.com, 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

This source is telling me how back then kids when they wanted to go on vacation with her
family won't let them because they won't excuse the absence. I needed this source because I
wanted to know the difference between school now and in the 1900s. It is important to me
because I want jump into my character's shoes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_California_1900_to_present
This source is telling me the progressive of time from 1900s -2015 so I could know the
difference between how school and jobs were different back then from now. I choose this
source because My character is from the 1900s and lives until he is into the 1992 so i have to
research how life was in that time period

https://sucheternaldelight.wordpress.com/tag/1900-wealth-gap/
This source is telling me the wealth gap between 1900s-2015 and I really needed this source
because I wanted to know the wealth grap from 1900s-2015 and to me it is important because
my character is poor and then becomes rich and lives that happy life