The National League was formed in 1876 and enabled spectators to observe touring athletes play the game. The first World Series was played between the National League and its rival, the American League, in 1903. The popularity of baseball allowed for the financing of large baseball fields such as Fenway Park, Shibe Park, and Wrigley Field (Sports and Leisure, 2011). This era also saw the rise of collegiate football, boxing, and basketball. The rise of entertainment was meteoric in the Gilded Age. With Americans working less and having a higher expendable income, they were able to enjoy entertainments such as expositions, amusement parks, vaudeville shows, sports, and music. To this day, the influence of these innovations and pastimes can still be seen in modern entertainment outlets and continue to amuse audiences everywhere.

Jim Crow Laws:

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that were enacted between 1876 and 1965 that severely limited the rights of freed slaves and African-Americans. These mandated "separate but equal" facilities for blacks. These "separate but equal" facilities included schools, public places such as restaurants, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. Segregation also applied to public transportation, as well as enlisted services. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court began to overturn Jim Crow laws on the basis that they were Constitutionally unsound. Discrimination against African-Americans continued more than 50 years into the 20th century. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson helped to convince Congress to pass the Civil...

The Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination in public places illegal.
Sharecropping:

Sharecropping was an agricultural system that developed in Georgia and other southern regions following Reconstruction. Sharecropping evolved from the failure of both the contract labor system and land reform that followed the Civil War. Under the agreement, a sharecropping agreement, laborers that did not own land would work on farms that were owned by others. At the end of the season, the laborers would be entitled to and paid a share of the crop. By 1880, 32% of Georgia's farms owned and operated by sharecroppers; in 1910 the figure rose to 37%.

References

About Vaudeville. (1999). Retrieved from American Masters:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/vaudeville/about-vaudeville/721/.

An Introduction to American Cultural Expression during the Gilded Age and Progressive

Era (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://bss.sfsu.edu/cherny/cultlexp/expo.htm

Ohl, V. (1996). Popular Music in the 1980s. Retrieved from http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/ragmusic/music.html

Rutherford, Scott (2000). The American Roller Coaster. Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing

Company.

Sports and Leisure. (2011). Retrieved from U.S. History: Pre-Colombian to the New

Millenium: http://www.ushistory.org/us/39b.asp

Vaudeville, a History. (n.d.) Retrieved from:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/easton/vaudeville/vaudevillemain.html