The Progressive Era
What is Progressivism?
■From
1890s
to
1920,
progressives
Democrats, Republicans, & Socialists all
addressed
rapid economic
&
found reasonsthe
to support
progressivism
social changes of the Gilded Age
Progressive
reform reform
began inhad
the late
Gilded
■Progressive
wide
Age,
especially
the aPanic
of 1893
appeal
but during
was not
unified
which exposed serious flaws in the American
movement
with
a
common
agenda
political, economic, & social fabric
■Progressive
reforms
included
Some histories mark the end of Progressivism
prostitution,
poverty,
child
labor,
reformers
targeted
local
community
inSome
1917
when the USA
entered
WWI;
others
problems,
for
changes,
factory
safety,
women’s
mark
the end others
at
1920aimed
with
the state
19th rights,
amendment
& others wanted
temperance,
& national
politicalreforms
corruption
Social Gospel taught
Optimism &
beliefis
in Progressivism?
What
Christians that it was
progress (“investigate,
■But,
reform
their dutyhad
to end
educate,
& Progressive
legislate”)
poverty & inequality
distinguishing characteristics:
Looked to the
Desire to “humanize”
government to help
industry & urbanization
achieve goals
Their actions
impacted the entire
nation; not regions
like the Populists
Progressive
Themes
Led by educated
Change the environment middle-class “experts”
in order to change people
who developed
(no Social Darwinism)
“rational” solutions
Reforming
America’s Cities
Reforming America’s Cities
■Progressive reform 1st began in
cities in the 1890s to address
factory, tenement, labor problems:
–The Social Gospel movement
was a new religious philosophy
that focused on improving
society & saving individual souls
The Female Dominion
■Some of the 1st reformers were
educated, middle-class women:
–Women found reform was a way
to improve their communities &
to break out of their traditional,
19th century social roles
–Led by Jane Addam’s Hull House
in Chicago, settlement houses
were built in slums, offering
health care, baths, & cheap food
Hull House in Chicago
MembershipThe
grewFemale Dominion
in the WCTU
■Women’s groups, like the WCTU,
helped gain key reforms:
–Prohibition—Shocking reports of
alcohol abuse led 19 states to
outlaw booze & the passage of
the 18th Amendment (1920)
–Prostitution—By 1915, almost
all states banned brothels & the
Mann Act banned the interstate
transport of “immoral” women
Prohibition of alcohol in the states prior to 1920
Muckraking Journalism
■New “muckraking” journalism
drew attention to social problems,
such as urban poverty, corruption,
& big business practices:
–Popular monthly magazines,
like McClure’s & Collier’s, used
investigative journalism & photos
–Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half
Lives (1890) was the 1st exposé
of urban poverty & slums
Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives
included photographs!
Muckraking Journalism
■Other groundbreaking exposés:
–Henry George’s Progress &
Poverty (1879) showed the
growing gap between rich & poor
–Lincoln Steffan’s Shame of the
Cities (1902) exposed corrupt
political machine bosses
–Ida Tarbell’s History of Standard
Oil (1904) revealed Rockefeller’s
ruthless business practices
Muckraking Journalism
■Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
(1906) led to federal investigation
There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there
meatpacking
industry,
gov’t
wouldof
comethe
all the way
back from Europe old sausage
that had been rejected,
and that was moldy and white - it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and
dumped
into the hoppers, and made
over
again for home consumption.
There
inspections,
&
improved
sanitation
would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where
the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs.
■Sam
H.stored
Adams
thefrom leaky
There
would be meat
in great pilesexposed
in rooms; and the water
roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too
dark indangers
these storage places
see well, but amedicines
man could run his handwhich
over
oftopatent
these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats
were nuisances,
and
the packers
would Food
put poisoned&
bread
out for them;
they
led
to
the
Pure
Drug
Act
would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together.
This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and
requiring listing of ingredients &
the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he
saw one - there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with
“adulterated”
drugs
whichbanned
a poisoned rat was
a tidbit.
Working-Class
Reform
From
1901
to of
1920,
14.5 work
million
“new”
By
1914,
60%
the
U.S.
force
was
Immigration
to
the
USA,
1901-1920
European,
Mexican,
&
Asian
immigrants
foreign born; Most immigrant laborers
were
traveled tolived
America
to join&theinU.S.
labor
force
unskilled,
in poverty
ethnic
enclaves
Angel
Island,
Francisco
This was
not like
EllisSan
Island
in NYC where
immigration processing took hours;
At Angel Island, processing took months
Conflict in the Workplace
■The new industrial advances like
mass production & management
sped up production but led to:
–Long hours, low wages,
dangerous settings for workers
–Labor unrest & strikes
–Union membership jumped from
4% in 1900 to 13% by 1920
–Progressive reforms for workers
Labor union
membership during
the Progressive Era,
1897-1920
The need for Progressive reform for factory workers
was made evident in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire
The
Women and African
American Movement
The Women’s Movement
■Successful progressive reforms
led by women strengthened calls
for women’s rights & suffrage:
–The National Association of
Colored Women advocated for
“Women’s
will help
the
rights vote
of black
women
cure ills of society”
–The National American Woman
Suffrage Association was key in
getting the 19th Amendment
passed in 1920
Why is the West always
the most democratic
region in America?
Women’s
Suffrage
Before
1900
To ensure
that poor & uneducated
whites
African-American
Reforms
Plessy
v Ferguson
(1896): were
could
states
created grandfather
clauses
■ Byvote,
1900,
African-Americans
in
th
Segregation
does not
violate
14 if
amendment
which allowed
white
men the
to vote
a relative
needto
oftheprogressive
reform
& candesperate
be used
a public
policy
as long
as separate
voted
prior
Civil
War
facilities
(“separate but equal”)
–80%are
of equal
African-Americans
lived in
rural areas, most as sharecroppers
–Poll taxes, literacy tests, property
qualifications limited black suffrage
–The Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
case strengthened Jim Crow laws
allowed segregation in public areas
(restaurants, hotels, schools)
African-American Reforms
■Progressive reform did occur in
Southern state government, but:
–Reform focused on regulating
RR & industries in order to
benefit white farmers
–Social reform did not occur;
keeping blacks from voting was
seen as necessary
■Due to this inequity, black civil
rights leaders demanded reform
African-American Reforms
■But, black leaders were
divided on how to
address racial problems
–Booker T Washington
was Harvard educated,
studied black urban culture, & was
1st president of Tuskegee University
–His “Atlanta Compromise” stressed
black self-improvement (not lawsuits
or agitation against whites)
“[African-Americans]
African-American Reforms
have■W.E.B.
a right to know,
to was
DuBois
think, to aspire…
We
moreforaggressive
must strive
the right
which
the world
■Dubois
led the
accords to man.”
Niagara DuBois
Movement
—W.E.B.
in 1905 calling for
immediate civil rights,
integrated schools, &
promotion of the “Talented 10th”
to be the next generation of black
civil rights leaders
The Niagara Movement & NAACP
■In 1909, National Assoc for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) was formed by William
Walling & others; DuBois was put
in charge of The Crisis publication
■The NAACP had some victories:
–Guinn v U.S. (1915) ended
Oklahoma’s grandfather clause
–Buchanan v Worley (1917)
ended KY housing segregation
Conclusions:
The Impact of Urban
Progressive Reform
Conclusions
■Social progressivism led to
successful reforms in American
cities by attacking corruption &
advocating for the less fortunate
■Urban reformers drew national
attention to:
–The plight of women & blacks
(with mixed results)
–The need for reform at the
state & national levels