The Progressive Era Progressivism Progress toward social justice is possible! Started at the local level first Social Sins Reform for Groups of People Alcohol reform Prison reform City reform Political reform Clean up food and drugs Labor reform Social Sins Hardest to prove Vague idea of who was to blame Women Groups of people African-American Children Reform for women Susan B. Anthony Jane Addams Susan B. Anthony Suffrage 1870’s 19th amendment Jane Addams Political reformer Better rights for women and immigrants Social reformer Hull House Hull House House classes and clubs Nursery school Only library in the neighborhood One of the first gymnasiums in in the country Many of the neighbors came to the center for weekly baths. After school programs Laundry service Civil Rights? The Progressive Movement was not concerned with the rights of minorities. Most of the leaders, including Wilson, were racist. It is the only period of reform was not concerned with helping minorities. African Americans for African Americans W.E.B. Dubois Booker T. Washington Plessy v Ferguson W.E.B. Dubois Everything one does should focus on the betterment of the race Founded the NAACP Booker T. Washington That it was best to concentrate on improving their economic skills and the quality of their character. The burden of improvement resting squarely on the shoulders of the black man. Eventually they would earn the respect and love of the white man, and civil and political rights would be accrued as a matter of course. Plessy vs. Ferguson 1895 Separate but equal facilities for the races BUT… Jim Crow Laws Racial segregation in public facilities Varied in communities Regulated separate use of water fountains Public bath houses Separate seating sections on public transportation Examples of Jim Crow Arizona The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. Georgia Child labor The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together. Children Employers said it instilled the work ethic Horrendous conditions Long hours Legislation was difficult to achieve Child Labor Sons and daughters of poor parents or recent immigrants Symptom of the unchecked industrialism. 1911 more than two million American children under the age of 16 were working (many of them 12 hours or more, six days a week) 1870 750,000 workers under the age of 15, not including children who worked for their families in businesses or on farms Lewis W. Hine Investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee Conducting a major campaign against the exploitation of American children Glass factory "...boys traveled as distance of nearly 22 miles in an 8hour shift at a constant slow run to and from ovens... average pay of 72 cents per 8-hour shift....“ Cannery "...children as young as six employed as headers and cleaners (of shrimp and fish)... stand for shifts of 12 hours and longer in open sheds... hands immersed in cold water..." Silk Mills “Child not 9 years old... cleaned bobbins for 3 cents an hour... must stand at their work... 12-hour shifts... by night... unceasingly... watching the threads... before... scores of revolving spindles... some of them making 25,000 revolutions per minute....“ Soap-Packing Plants "...girls were exposed to caustic soda that turned their nails yellow and ate away at their fingers..." Field workers Breaker Boys Used in the anthracite coal mines to separate slate rock from the coal after it had been brought out of the shaft. They often worked 14 to 16 hours a day.