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Susan B. Anthony
was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17 -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest people. -
Alexander Graham Bell
was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885. -
Jacob Riis
was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City -
Nativism
the political policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants. However, as of 2018 it is more commonly described as an immigration-restriction position. In scholarly studies nativism is a standard technical term. -
Samuel Gompers
was an English-born American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor, and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924. -
Eugene V. Debbs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. -
Bessemer steel production
was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. -
Clarence Darrow
was an American lawyer, a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. -
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman and writer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He also served as the 25th Vice President of the United States from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd Governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. -
Robber Barons
is a derogatory metaphor of social criticism originally applied to certain late 19th-century American businessmen who were accused of using unscrupulous methods to get rich, or expand their wealth -
tenement
are urban dwellings occupied by impoverished families. Emerging in U.S. cities during the late 1800s, tenements took many shapes and forms: multistoried buildings, row houses, frame houses, and even converted slave quarters. -
William Jennings Bryan
was an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, standing three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States. -
Labor Strikes
is a work stoppage, caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. -
Jane Addams
Jane Addams, known as the "mother" of social work, was a pioneer American settlement activist/reformer, social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, public administrator, protestor, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. -
Ida B. Wells
was an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. -
The glided age
is the late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900. The term for this period came into use in the 1920s and 1930s and was derived from writer Mark Twain's and Charles Dudley Warner's 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding. -
Industrialization
The industrial growth that began in the United States in the early 1800's continued steadily up to and through the American Civil War. Machines replaced hand labor as the main means of manufacturing, increasing the production capacity of industry tremendously. -
Social Gospel
was a movement led by a group of liberal Protestant progressives in response to the social problems raised by the rapid industrialization, urbanization, and increasing immigration of the Gilded Age. -
Settlement house
was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in England and the U.S. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and social interconnectedness. -
Haymarket Riot
was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday, May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. -
Labor Unions
an organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. -
Interstate Commerce Act 1887
is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
is a United States antitrust law passed by Congress under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, which regulates competition among enterprises. -
Klondike gold rush
was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. -
Initiative, Referendum, Recall
three powers reserved to enable the voters, by petition, to propose or repeal legislation or to remove an elected official from office. Proponents of an initiative, referendum, or recall effort must apply for an official petition serial number from the Town Clerk. -
Populism & Progressivism
Populism, initiated back in late 19th century was a movement that was led by the farmers for the economic change, whereas Progressivism, commenced in the beginning of 20th century was the movement of urban middle class against the political system, which they believe was corrupt and the electable were chosen through unfair elections. -
Pure food and drug act
was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. -
Muckraker
The term was used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. They typically had large audiences in some popular magazines. -
Dollar diplomacy
was a form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. -
17th Amendments
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. -
16th Amendments
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. -
Federal Reserve Act
an Act of Congress that created the Federal Reserve System, and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
18th Amendments
effectively established the prohibition of intoxicating liquors in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. -
19th amendments
prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. Until the 1910s, most states did not give women the right to vote. -
Tea Pot Dome Scandal
was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921–1923. -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair Jr. was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.
