Most of the early films of the silent era were seen as less than respectable, says Josh Brown of the American Social History Project.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Danish immigrant Jacob Riis, who recorded the underbelly of urban life in his photography.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the phrase "conspicuous consumption," a phrase coined by a Norwegian American sociologist to describe the lifestyles of the newly wealthy in early 20th-century America.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Jane Addams, a wealthy woman who was a pioneer of social reform. She lived and worked in Hull House, a settlement house that assisted poor immigrants with child care and English lessons.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary looks at the different goals of the Colored Farmers' Alliance and the white Farmers' Alliance.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how, in the late 19th century, the construction of giant retail stores and the creation of mail-order catalogs brought about a new era of mass consumption in the United States.

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As America's factories grew in the late 19th century, so did the demands for unions as workers struggled with long hours, low wages, and dangerous working conditions.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the Pullman Strike. Many railroad workers nationwide joined the Pullman railroad workers in protest, but the strike soon turned violent.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the African-American push for workplace equality as the economy changed after World War II. Their efforts in the post-war years would spark the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how, after the Civil War, some southern blacks left farms for new jobs in factories, but quickly realized that working conditions were poor and the pay was worse.

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