The Progressive Era

Seneca Falls Convention

Jul 19, 1848

This was the first ever women's rights convention. It was held in Seneca Falls, New York, and it lasted two days. This convention was used to bring light on issues affecting women and the unequal rights they received at the time. Some famous figures who organized this event were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

14th Amendment passed

Jul 9, 1868

This Amendment was finally passed and it supposedly gave citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S. This Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote, which they had been deserving of and never received up until this point. Former slaves were finally viewed as citizens according to the U.S. law.

Women's Christian Temperance Union formed

Dec 23, 1873

This union was formed by women who wanted to support wives and mothers suffering from domestic abuse, because of their alcoholic husbands. This union was started by Francis Willard, and fought for local alcohol bans. They also taught anti- alcohol education programs.

NAWSA formed

1890

NAWSA was the National American Woman's Suffrage Association, and it was first led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They wanted states to pass women's suffrage, and they had a very clever 3- part strategy. The first states to allow women's suffrage turned out to be Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. This association was supported by the Women's Trade Union League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Anti- Saloon League

May 24, 1893

This League was formed to support Prohibition and to make the cities safer. They took over the Prohibition movement in the early 1900s in the effort to help Americanize immigrants, make everything safer, and make workers more efficient without alcohol consumption in their way. This League was supported by Industrialists because the businessmen didn't want their workers to be drunk at work.

"The Jungle" is published

Feb 26, 1906

Upton Sinclair published a novel called "The Jungle," that exposed all the disturbingly unsanitary ins- and- outs of the meat packing industry. It spoke about the contaminated meat and what consumers were actually eating, and this upset so many Americans that it led to many reforms and new regulations.

Federal Meat Inspection Act passed

Jun 30, 1906

This was passed by President Roosevelt and it banned the mislabeling of food products, and it called for stricter regulations on the meat production industry. The USDA now had to inspect all the meat, to make sure it wasn't contaminated.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

Jun 30, 1906

Any foods or drugs that were mislabeled were now prohibited. Everything had to be inspected by the USDA. This act was passed on the same day as the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. It led to less contamination of food and mislabeling of products, and led to what we now call our modern FDA.

NAACP was founded

Feb 12, 1909

This civil rights organization was founded by W.E.B. DuBois. He created this as a response to the disgusting practice of lynching African Americans. This movement echoed the Niagara Movement that was also founded by DuBois. NAACP was meant to shine light on African American injustices and to achieve the equality of the minority groups of America.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Mar 25, 1911

On this horrible day in history, 145 workers were killed in a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Factory. The fire broke out supposedly because of a dropped cigarette, and the building became caught in flames almost immediately. No one even thought to tell the girls working that there was a fire just a few floors above them. So many people lost their lives because they became trapped in the building when they were locked in by their managers and elevators and stairwells were breaking.

17th Amendment passed

May 13, 1912

This Amendment allowed for senators to be directly voted for, putting more hands in the American people. This led to Referendum, Recall, and Initiative. However, women still couldn't vote at all.

Keating- Owen Act of 1916

1916

This Act was passed in order to prohibit child labor. It prevented the shipment of goods from factories and mines that had child labor. However, this was later denied by the Supreme Court, because they claimed it was unconstitutional.

Prohibition

Jan 16, 1919

This was the movement in the early 1900s that prohibited the consumption, production, or selling of alcohol. This was supported by women, Protestant fundamentalists, and nativists. Many organizations were formed in support of this movement, although it caused lots of tension between the immigrants and the working- class.

18th Amendment passed

Jan 16, 1919

This Amendment was passed by Congress. It banned the manufacturing, selling, or transportation of alcohol. However, it wasn't illegal to just be drinking alcohol. Before this, 22 states had prohibition laws.

19th Amendment passed

Aug 18, 1920

The 19th Amendment was finally passed, giving women and men the equal right to vote. President Wilson passed this Amendment in 1919, and it gave 39 states full or partial women's suffrage. The Amendment was ratified in August of 1920, and thousands of women in the country could now vote.