These are tumultuous times that many have compared to 1930s pre-war Germany. As someone who gives tours of the Haymarket Monument in Forest Home Cemetery, I would like to propose that what we are experiencing is actually more similar to the America of the late 1800s and early 1900s – another time of great upheaval in our country.
The parallels are compelling:
Demonization of immigrants – In much the same way that recent immigrants have been referred to as criminals and mentally unstable, in the late 1800s, many people arriving in the U.S. were “othered” and racially profiled. Of course there were the infamous, “No Irish need apply” signs. The Chicago Tribune railed against German and Eastern European labor organizers, printing, “Let us whip these Slavic wolves … is there some way to exterminate them?” In 1882, we had the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Immigration Act, both of which allowed deportations of “undesirable” groups of people.
Income inequality – As viewers of the TV show The Gilded Age know, during the late 19th century there was a class of businessmen who amassed huge amounts of wealth, often by unethical practices like monopolies. Today, we can see similar monopolies in tech (Google, Amazon, Meta), and media organizations (Nexstar, Sinclair). In the 1890s, the top 12 percent of the population held a shocking 86 percent of the wealth while the lower 44 percent owned only 1.2 percent. Currently, the disparity is only slightly less egregious with 86 percent of all the wealth in the U.S. owned by the top 20 percent of income, while the bottom 50 percent owns only 2.5 percent.
Robber Barons – It isn’t much of a stretch to see Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos as the modern-day equivalents of Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt. These are incredibly wealthy individuals with enormous influence on government policy and the lives of Americans.
Rapid Innovation – As the 19th century was ending, industrial advances put many talented, high-paid craftsmen out of work. Factory jobs often required less skill, which made workers easier to replace, underpay, and abuse. In the mid-2020s, we are facing rapid workplace changes with the coming of AI and ever-evolving technology. Like the craftsmen of the past, many present-day workers are being replaced by technology.
Militarization of police – Images of ICE and Border Patrol agents in full military gear confronting unarmed protesters are disturbing. Similarly, during the late 1800s, striking, unarmed workers were routinely battered and fired upon by battle-equipped police and sanctioned private security forces.
Using troops against U.S. citizens – As distressing as it has been to see federal forces sent to U.S. cities, it has been done before. American presidents in the late 1800s used the U.S. Army as strikebreakers – pitting the Army against U.S. citizens during the 1877 railroad strike and the 1894 Pullman strike.
What lessons can we learn from over 100 years ago? How did the deep unrest and social injustices of the late 1800s and early 1900s resolve? There isn’t a single turning point or a revolutionary act we can point to. There wasn’t a tidy, quick resolution, but a slow push forward toward transformation. People joined together, unified in their demands for reforms. Methodically, over time, they improved conditions and changed laws. Also playing an important role were “Muckrakers” — writers, journalists, and photographers who documented and exposed corruption, turning the tide of public opinion.
It’s possible that we will look back on this time and see that it was ordinary citizens capturing videos on their phones who are our muckrakers, shaping public opinion by exposing the truth.