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
wide
Progressive
reform reform
began inhad
the late
Gilded
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,
Some
reformers
targeted
local
community
in 1917 when the USA entered WWI; others
factory
safety,
womens
problems,
for
changes,
mark
the end others
at
1920aimed
with
the state
19th rights,
amendment
& others wanted
temperance,
& national
politicalreforms
corruption

Social Gospel taught

What
Optimism &
beliefis
in Progressivism?
Christians that it was
progress
(
investigate,

But,
Progressive
reform
had
their
duty
to end
educate, & legislate)
legislate
poverty & inequality
distinguishing characteristics:
Looked to the
Desire to humanize
government to help
industry & urbanization
achieve goals

Progressive
Their actions
impacted the entire
Themes
nation; not regions
like the Populists
Led by educated
Change the environment middle-class experts
in order to change people
who developed
(no Social Darwinism)
rational solutions

Reforming
Americas Cities

Reforming Americas 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 Addams Hull House
in Chicago, settlement houses
were built in slums, offering
health care, baths, & cheap food

Hull House in Chicago

MembershipThe
grewFemale
in the WCTU

Dominion

Womens groups, like the WCTU,

helped gain key reforms:
ProhibitionShocking
reports of
Prohibition
alcohol abuse led 19 states to
outlaw booze & the passage of
the 18th Amendment (1920)
ProstitutionBy
1915, almost
Prostitution
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
McClures & Colliers, used
investigative journalism & photos
Jacob Riis How the Other Half
Lives (1890) was the 1st expos
of urban poverty & slums

Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives

included photographs!

Muckraking Journalism
Other groundbreaking exposs:
Henry Georges Progress &
Poverty (1879) showed the
growing gap between rich & poor
Lincoln Steffans Shame of the
Cities (1902) exposed corrupt
political machine bosses
Ida Tarbells History of Standard
Oil (1904) revealed Rockefellers
ruthless business practices

Muckraking Journalism
Upton Sinclairs The Jungle
(1906) led to federal investigation
There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there
meatpacking
industry,
wouldof
comethe
all the way
back from Europe old sausage
that had been govt
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
topatent
see well, but amedicines
man could run his handwhich
over
of
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 the
requiring listing of ingredients &
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 which a
banned
poisoned
rat was a tidbit.adulterated drugs

Working-Class
Reform

From
1901
to
1920,
14.5
million
new
By
1914,
60%
of
the
U.S.
work
force
was
Immigration
to
the
USA,
1901-1920
European,
& Asianlaborers
immigrants
foreign
born;Mexican,
Most immigrant
were
traveled tolived
America
to join&the
labor
force
unskilled,
in poverty
in U.S.
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 Womens Movement

Successful progressive reforms
led by women strengthened calls
for womens rights & suffrage:
The National Association of
Colored Women advocated for
Womens
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?

Womens
Suffrage
Before
1900

African-American
Reforms
To ensure
that poor & uneducated
whites
Plessy
v Ferguson
(1896): were
could
states
created grandfather
clauses
Byvote,
1900,
African-Americans
in
Segregation
does not
violate
the
14th if
amendment
which
allowed
white
men
to
vote
a
relative
desperate
need
of
progressive
reform
& can be used
a public
policy
as long
as separate
voted
prior to
the 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-American
[African-Americans]
haveaW.E.B.
right to know,
to was
DuBois
think, more
to aspire
We
aggressive
must strive for the right
Dubois
led the
which
the world
accords
to man.
Niagara
Movement
W.E.B.
in 1905 DuBois
calling for

Reforms

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
Oklahomas 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