They must research, read and explore using multiple different resources to look at and explore the past history.
There are many factors that affect the city being a car production place.
First, the amount of flat land can attract the large manufctors. Car production requires a large amount of space, so they're usually in places with large amounts of flat land.
Second, usually the car production plants are near the source of raw materials. They're near coal fields, or iron markets. These raw materials are heavy and bulky, putting factories near the source can reduce the transport cost.
Third of all, with a lot of car production plants in the same area can prevent them from moving out. This is called industrial interia. They can enjoy agglomeration economies which they can for example order iron or steel together in bulk for a cheaper price or enjoy the abundant labor supply together.
Last but not least, the help of government is important too. Government policies and tax allowances can promote the car munfactors to stay.
Your question is rather vague by just giving dates ... but I think I know what you might be looking for here. During the "antebellum" (before the Civil War) years and again in the years after the Civil War, there were strong movements by social activists that went against how society wanted to keep women and African Americans in "their place." Social reformers thought that the place assigned to women or to blacks was not at all right. They put forward better ideas of how black Americans and female citizens should have equal status with whites and with men in regard to political, social, and economic rights.
The activist movements from 1820 to 1848 and again from 1865 to 1898 didn't achieve all their goals in that time period, but they began to advance the causes of civil rights for blacks and women -- both movements which would continue into the 20th century.
