America's Dream Exposition
Chicago Worlds Fair and the American Dream
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." -Declaration of Independance
The American Dream is the idea that everyone, regardless of heredity or class or any other distinction, has the chance to succeed. The idea is that one is not born into a position, hard work will get them there. The Columbian Exposition is the American Dream realized. People saw for the first time many creations that did not exist before the industrial revolution, that were all the result of pure hard work, and it gave them hope for the upward mobility that America fosters.
What was the Exposition?
Long Boat on Venecian Canal
Egyptian Dancing Girl
Exposition Grounds
Creators
"This exposition is not the conception of any single mind; It is not the result of any single effort, but it is the grandest conception of all the minds and the best obtainable results of all the efforts put forth by all the people who have in any manner contributed to its consideration" -Fair Director General Davis
Many people contributed to the making of this historic fair. It was known for its amazing architecture and electricity. some people who helped were Administration, by Richard Morris Hunt; Agriculture, by Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White; Electricity, by Henry Van Brunt and Frank Howe; Horticulture, by William L. Jenney and William B. Mundie; Fisheries, by Henry Ives Cobb; Machinery Hall, by Robert Peabody and John Stearns; Manufactures and Liberal Arts, by George B. Post; Mines and Mining, by Solon Beman; and Transportation, by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan
Visitors
Goals
Was the Fair a Success?
He stated:"The colored people of America are not indifferent to the good opinion of the world, and we have made every effort to improve our first years of freedom and citizenship. We earnestly desired to show some results of our first thirty years of acknowledged manhood and womanhood."
But the day meant to honor them, "Colored Day", was turned around to ridicule them, as visiters handed out free watermelons to African-American fairgoers.
Bibliography
Arabian Gun Twirler video
Arabian Gun Twirler. Dir. Thomas A. Edison. Perf. Cheriff. Edison Manufacturing Co., 1899.
Motion Picture.
Video link:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg88_3ZjEII&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQg88_3ZjEII
Darkies at the Fair picture
Opper, Frederick Burr. Darkies' Day at the Fair. Digital image. Library of Congress. Library of Congress, 1893. Web. 11 Jan. 2014.
Douglass, Frederick, Irvine Garland Penn, and Ferdinand Lee Barnett. "The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition. The Afro-American's Contribution to Columbian Literature." Digital Library of UPenn. Ed. Ida B. Wells and Robert W. Rydell. University of Pennsylvania, 1999. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Egyptian Dancing Girl picture
Egyptian Dancing Girl. Digital image. Library of Congress. Library of Congress, c1893. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Exposition Grounds picture
Johnston, Frances Benjamin. Exposition Grounds. Digital image. Library of Congress. Library of Congress, c1893. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Long boat on Venecian Canal picture
Johnston, Frances Benjamin. Long Boat on Venecian Canal. Digital image. Library of Congress. Library of Congress, c1891. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Rydell, Robert W. "World's Columbian Exposition." Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society, 2005. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
"The World's Columbian Exposition." Web log post. Chicago Historical Society, 1999. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"The World's Columbian Exposition (1893)." PBS. PBS, 1999. Web. 08 Jan. 2014.