-
Progressivism's Beginning
https://kwlibguides.lonestar.edu/PrimarySources-History/gildedage This tool will be a great place for students to find primary sources form the progressive era and vary from music to photos, and announcements. -
Woman's Suffrage
Women began to seek more opportunities such as higher education, better working conditions, and the right to vote. Uneducated laborers began efforts to reform workplace health and safety. Since women were not allowed to vote or run for office, women reformers strove to improve conditions at home and at work. Their “social housekeeping” targeted workplace reform, house reform, educational improvement, and food and drug laws. -
Progressivism's Implemented
-
Education Reform
There was an expansion in the number of schools and students served, especially in the bigger cities. Elementary education had spread throughout the Western world and raised the level of social understanding. John Dewey who was a professor at the University of Chicago led the proponent of "Progressive Education" and wrote many books and articles to promote the central role of democracy in education. School should not only teach knowledge but teach how to live. -
Coal Strike
When 140,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike and demanded a 20 percent raise, a nine-hour workday, and the right to organize a union, the mine operators refused to bargain. Five months into the striking coal began to run low and got Roosevelt's attention. He called on both sides to talk and settle the strike. The miners won a 10 percent pay hike and a shorter, nine-hour workday. They did have to give up their demand for a closed shop in which all -
National Child Labor Committee
This set out to "promote the rights, awareness, dignity, well-being, and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working. This committee released photographs of children under the age of 15 in hazardous tasks, such as mines, glass factories, canneries, and textile mills. Also, children work street jobs such as newspaper sellers and providing messenger services. Unfortunately, the committee failed to gain support enough for nationwide laws banning labor practices. -
Primary Source #1
Vance, a Trapper Boy, is 15 years old. Has been trapped for several years in a West Va. Coal mine. $.75 a day for 10 hours of work. All he does is open and shut this door. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the NLCC. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
After reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which was a book that describes diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat. The public demanded a change in the meat packing district. In 1906, Roosevelt pushed for the passage of the Meat Inspection Act, which dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers. In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling. -
NAACP
W.E.B. Du Bois helps found the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This helped enter the forefront of the early U.S. civil rights movement. Du Bois and other advocates of equality for African Americans were deeply upset by the apparent progressive indifference to racial injustice. This found little support in the Progressive Movement, which mainly focused on the needs of middle-class whites. Presidents did little to no help with this. -
Primary Source #2
A song from The Suffrage Song Book contains 28 songs that express women's rights perspective. The lyrics of these songs illustrate the major issues in the women's rights movement. "GOOD NEWS, LADIES" -
Legacy of Reform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGhsN9NmJh8 This video will provide an overview of the whole progressive era and provides it in a PowerPoint with audio and images. -
Immigration Reform
The end of the nineteenth century saw a period of rapid immigration and urbanization. As the promise of factory jobs and higher wages attracted more and more people into the cities, the United States began to shift into a nation of city dwellers. Many of these newly arrived immigrants lived in poverty, resulting in a very poor quality of life. In the cities, immigrants were faced with overcrowding, inadequate water facilities, poor sanitation, and disease. -
17th amendments ratified
Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen its own US senators, which would put more power in the hands of party bosses and wealthy corporation heads. To get more senators to be responsive to the public, progressives pushed for the popular election of senators. This led to the passing of the 17th amendment which provides the for the election of U.S. senators by the people rather than by state legislators. -
United States enters World War I
The war had been going on since 1914 and it was not until April 1917 that the United States under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson decided to join the war. America joining the war was the highest point in development of progressivism because their goal was to end the war forever. Most progressives supported the war because they saw the fighting to “make the world safe for democracy.” -
18th Amendment outlaws alcoholic
This amednement prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition groups feared that alcohol was undermining American morals. They believed alcohol was the reason there was crime, wife and child abuse, accidents on the job, and other society problems. Groups that went against alcohol such as WCTU would go into saloons and sing, pray, and urge saloonkeepers to stop selling alcohol. As members looked to close saloons to fix the problems in society. -
19th Amendments grants women the right to vote
This amendment prohibits the United States from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Recognizing the right of women to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle which took decades of agitation and protest. Susan B. Anthony, and many other women worked tirelessly for women's voting rights.
