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Susan B. Anthony
Born on February 15, 1820, Susan B. Anthony was raised in a Quaker household and went on to work as a teacher before becoming a leading figure in the abolitionist and women's voting rights movement. She partnered with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and would eventually lead the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In recognition of her dedication and hard work, the US Treasury Department put Anthony's portrait on dollar coins in 1979, making her the first woman to be so honored. -
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Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He taught that economic success for African Americans would take time, and that subordination to whites was a necessary evil until African Americans could prove they were worthy of full economic and political rights. In 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, which grew immensely and focused on training African Americans in agricultural pursuits. -
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Ida Tarbell
Ida Tarbell was an American journalist best known for her pioneering investigative reporting that led to the breakup of the Standard Oil Company’s monopoly. She was often called a muckraker, a term that Theodore Roosevelt coined in 1906 to refer to a group of journalists who devoted themselves to exposing the ills of industrialization. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2000, and was later honored by having her portrait appear on a U.S. postage stamp. -
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Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger was an early feminist and women's rights activist who coined the term "birth control" and worked towards its legislation. In 1914, Sanger started a feminist publication called The Woman Rebel, which promoted a woman's right to have birth control. Rather than face a possible five-year jail sentence for this, Sanger fled to England. While there, she worked in the women's movement and researched other forms of birth control which she later smuggled back into the US. -
Hull House and the Assimilation of Immigrants
Hull House, Chicago's first and the nation's most influential settlement house, was established by Jane Addams on Chicago's West Side. The Hull House was intended to provide social and educational opportunities to immigrants and other poor in the society. Addams remained the head resident of the Hull House until her death in 1935. -
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Progressive Era
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Immigration Act of 1891
The 1891 Immigration Act created the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department. The federal government assumed direct control of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the United States with the Immigration Act of 1891. The 1891 Act also expanded the list of excludable classes, barring the immigration of polygamists, persons convicted of crimes of moral turpitude, and those suffering loathsome or contagious diseases. -
The Jungle
Written by Upton Sinclar, The Jungle unintentionally brought attention to the unhealthy standards in the meatpacking industry, as well as provoked the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. With the instant success of The Jungle, Sinclair took his place in the ranks of the “muckrakers,” a term that Theodore Roosevelt coined in 1906 to refer to a group of journalists who devoted themselves to exposing the ills of industrialization. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs. It also gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to ablosh the "patent" drug trade. This act is still in existence as the FDA. -
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916
The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 limited the working hours of children, as well as forbade the the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. This act was named after its sponsors, Democratic representatives Edward Keating and Robert Latham Owen. The Supreme Court later ruled in Hammer vs. Dagenhart that this act was unconstitutional in 1918. -
18th Amendment and Prohibition
By the late 1800s, prohibition movements had sprung up across the United States, driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation. The movement reached its height in 1920 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. However, prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems.
