Ragtime and Social Class

     This post pertains to the subject of SOCIAL CLASS (whoa, complicated topic.)  and Ragtime.   I have to admit, I was extremely annoyed when I first began reading the Encyclopedia of Social History article on social class.   Scanning through the pages, I could see that the article began by focusing on the 1700s and ended barely in 1920.   Ragtime takes place in the 1900s...I didn't see the point.   Yeah, we talked about colonialism a year ago.  We discussed slavery last semester...what about the 1900s?  Where can I read about that?  
     My attitude became somewhat better as I delved further into the article.   The Encyclopedia format allowed me to see the connections throughout American History that led up to the social, political, and economic situations that are present in Ragtime, from the slow emergence of a white elite, to the further separation of the poor, from black slaves and white indentured servants, to the industrialization that made further separation of classes and ethnicity possible.  
     The portion of the article which most interested me, however, was the element of fear that coincided so seamlessly with the cementing of class lines.   A quote that struck me was, "This new middle class felt different and fearful of immigrants because it was overwhelmingly Protestant and native-born; superior to and fearful of workers because it consisted of individualistic property-owners; different from, superior to, and fearful of elites because it was self-reliant and cherished economic and political liberty"(473).   This form of fear, possessed by the middle class, can be particularly seen in Ragtime.  This is, in part, the fear that Coalhouse Walker exhibits as he tries to overcome racial prejudice and embody a "normal"  white member of the middle class:  afraid of appearing unintelligent or poor, and afraid of those "above" him on the social hierarchy, attempting to push him back to the status of other African Americans.   Consequentially, those around him respond to his attempts to fit into a social class to which he should not, according to normal racial lines, belong.   Father is automatically fearful that he means the worst, and fears for his own reputation as a business owner if he associates with Coalhouse (especially after his crime streak begins.)   The local firefighters respond with racism towards Coalhouse, but also with a certain class fear.  Coalhouse, according to the protestant, native-born, white nature of their class, should not own a car, should not speak with such intelligence, and should not dress so fashionably.   He was a threat to their own social class simply by attempting to join it.    These factors, perhaps to a lesser (but certainly important) extent than his race, condemned Coalhouse to prejudice, and spurred on his spree of radical violence.  
     ....A little less annoyance later, and I have inadequately tackled the subject of social class.   But I feel happy to have addressed a bit of what I found within the Encyclopedia of Social History and Ragtime: social class augmenting the issue of race.   Not an answer, but a beginning, relying upon the beginning of American History to make sense of  a subsequent era, and how it came to be so utterly...complicated.