![]() ![]() The working class had more freedoms and were not bound by the constraints necessary to emulating the culture of the European ruling classes. While it is difficult to imagine the management of the Champion, Quincy or C&H mines at a vaudeville show or public dance, it may be easier to imagine that socially, the working class enjoyed themselves in such environs. There were also public dances, usually with music provided by a mining company-hosted band. These were the events held at the Calumet and the Kerredge Theaters, where one main floor seat cost a day’s wages.įor the lower classes there were vaudeville theaters, where a seat cost a nickel or a dime and provided audience members with a mix of farce comedy, song and dance. These were the events requiring proper coats and ties, gowns, gloves, and some education in high culture. For the upper and middle classes, there were theaters that offered dramatic theatrical plays, operas, balls, and orchestral entertainment. These differences were discerned by the cultural offerings available to residents. It is also true, however, that advanced education was largely reserved for children of the middle and upper classes. Whether working class, middle class or upper class, children were educated. ![]() It was this type of paternalism that afforded Copper Country children among the best education American public schools had to offer. While it is true that the mining companies of the Copper Country did invest in the building and equipping of schools, it is also true that once built and equipped, they were leased to the local school districts to run as they saw fit. The increased income provided the means by which they could start a business of their own, get out of the working class and move into the middle class.Īnother marked difference between the United States and the feudal nations of Europe was public education. Many immigrants earned more money in the lower income positions in the mines than they had ever seen as members of the European working class. Self-improvement, or upward mobility, was among them. In the United States, revolution overhauled Great Britain’s rule and allowed the newly fashioned republic to govern themselves.Īs with the rest of the nation, Copper Country residents had freedoms afforded by this social restructuring not granted in most of Europe. In France, the revolution ended the feudal system, along with the lives of the feudal lords, and restructured society. In France, the revolution, which began in 1787, was a period of radical political and social change that was partially inspired by the American revolution against Great Britain. In either case, employees were still tied to the land owned by the company in much the same way peasants and serfs were bound to the land owned by the feudal lords. Employees often rented a home from the company or built one on land leased from the company. The middle class still consisted of doctors, business owners, professors, and administrators, while the lower classes, the peasants, and the serfs, consisted of trammers, road crew workers, sawyers, and miners – unskilled labor.Īt Calumet and Hecla, the class system was more obvious. In addition to ruling over mining companies, many mine superintendents and their underlings also served on county and township boards. ![]() However, they found themselves similarly situated in the early 20th century Copper Country, where the upper class consisted of mine superintendents, managers, mining captains and shift bosses. ![]()
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