Eugenics The study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)

Second International Eugenics Conference Logo, 1921

Prohibition The banning of the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcoholic beverages. With a capital “P” it is the period from during which the Eighteenth Amendment forbidding the manufacture and sale of alcohol was in force in the United States.

Social Darwinism Social theory loosely based on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Belief that in human society the fittest individuals and corporations would survive. “Survival of the Fittest” Progressives opposed Social Darwinism with the idea that wealth concentrated in the hands of monopolies and business owners was bad for the economy and society. Progressives believed that the government should promote social reforms, clean up cities, and help those in need.

Social Darwinism

Red Scare (1 st Red Scare ) Shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Red Scare took hold in the United States. A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings. The nation was gripped in fear. Innocent people were jailed for expressing their views, civil liberties were ignored, and many Americans feared that a Bolshevik-style revolution was at hand. Then, in the early 1920s, the fear seemed to dissipate just as quickly as it had begun, and the Red Scare was over.

Scopes Trial A fight over evolution and the role of science and religion in public schools and in American society. The clash over evolution, the Prohibition experiment, and the emerging urbanization of the country demonstrate the changes occurring during the 1920s. history/the-trial-of-the-century-draws- national-attention history/the-trial-of-the-century-draws- national-attention

Booker T. Washington Noted educator and director of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to train teachers. Washington believed that the best way for African Americans to get ahead was to work hard and improve their economic condition. He urged blacks to adapt themselves to the limits imposed by white society. He called for gradual economic advancement. Washington served as an adviser to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Although Washington clashed with other black leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois and drew ire for his seeming acceptance of segregation, he is recognized for his educational advancements and attempts to promote economic self-reliance among African Americans.

W. E. B. DuBois The first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard. DuBois argued that African Americans must demand civil rights and encouraged them to protest when equality was denied. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in The Souls of Black Folk published in 1903 The book contains several essays on race.. To develop this work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African-American in the American society. The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology. Chapter I lays out an overview of Du Bois's thesis for the book. It says that the blacks of the South need the right to vote, the right to a good education, and to be treated with equality and justice. Here, he also coined “double consciousness", which he defined as a "sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."

Jim Crow Laws State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. Segregation of public schools was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Jim Crow Law Examples “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930 “Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” —Nebraska, 1911 “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” —Missouri, 1929 “All railroads carrying passengers in the state (other than street railroads) shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the cars by a partition, so as to secure separate accommodations.” —Tennessee, 1891

16 th Amendment Established Congress's right to impose a Federal income tax. Progressives introduced a graduated income tax putting a higher tax burden on those who had more money.

17 th Amendment Progressives wanted senators to respond to the people – not big business. They pushed Congress to propose and ratify the 17th Amendment requiring the direct election of senators by popular vote.

18 th Amendment Prohibition of the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxication liquors.” Progressives believed that alcohol consumption was a serious social ill

19 th Amendment This amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. This was an important progressive goal designed to advance democratic rights.

NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP fought through the courts to end segregation. It also helped to ensure African Americans could vote guaranteed to them by the 15 th Amendment. It protested lynchings and other racial violence. Some progressives favored fighting racism

Upton Sinclair/The Jungle In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks in disguise, working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking plants to research his novel, The Jungle (1906), a political exposé that addressed conditions in the plants as well as the lives of poor immigrants. When it was published two years later, it became a bestseller. The government did not regulate product quality at the time and Sinclair helped to expose the unsanitary conditions at the meat packing plans in particular.

Muckraker A group of writers and journalists who helped uncover the nation’s problem and wrote about them. The term was given to them by President Theodore Roosevelt because they, “raked the mud of society.”

Susan B. Anthony American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was one of the important advocates in leading the way for women's rights to be acknowledged and instituted in the American government.

ACLU American Civil Liberties Union founded in 1920 by a group of pacifists and social activists.- “The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.” – ACLU website.

FDA Pure Food and Drug Act The first Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in The purpose was to protect the public against adulteration of food and from products identified as healthful without scientific support. For confectionary, adulteration would be the result of any poisonous color or flavor, or of any other ingredients harmful to human health. Food was adulterated if it contained filthy or decomposed animal matter, poisonous or harmful ingredients, or anything that attempted to conceal inferior components. The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed on the same day as the Meat Inspection Act of This act mandated examination of livestock before slaughter as well as analysis of carcasses, and required ongoing USDA inspection of slaughterhouses and processing plants.