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The Great Strike
In July 1877, workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad struck to protest their second wage cut in two months. The work stoppage spread to other lines. Most freight and even some passenger traffic, covering over 50,000 miles, was stopped for more than a week. After several state governors asked President Rutherford B. Hayes to intervene, saying that the strikers were impeding interstate commerce, federal troops ended the strike. -
Brooklyn Bridge
One of the most remarkable structures was the Brooklyn Bridge. Completed in 1883, it spanned 1,595 feet of the East River in New York City. Its steel cables were supported by towers higher than any man-made and weight-bearing structure except the pyramids of Egypt. -
Haymaker Riot
Some 100,000 workers gathered in Chicago for a protest. Two days later, a fight broke out between unionists and nonunion strikebreakers, and the police shot and killed two unionists and wounded many others. The next day, laborers gathered at Haymaker Square to protest police brutality. A bomb exploded killing seven and injuring. -
Janie Porter Barrett
In 1890, Janie Porter Barrett founded Locust Street Social Settlement in Hampton, Virginia—the first settlement house for African Americans. By 1910, about 400 settlement houses were operating in cities across the country. The settlement houses helped cultivate social responsibility toward the urban poor. -
Immigration Restriction League
In 1897, Congress—influenced by the Immigration Restriction League—passed a bill requiring a literacy test for immigrants. Those who could not read 40 words in English or their native language would be refused entry. Although President Cleveland vetoed the bill, it was a powerful statement of public sentiment. -
Founding of NAACP
A group of African Americans started by W.E.B. du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and many other notable civil rights activists to wipe out racial hatred and racial discrimination. -
17th Amendment
Allowed for the direct election of senators rather than having them appointed from the state legislatures. It was a progressive effort to increase democracy. -
19th Amendment
Gave women the right to vote.
