The Progressive Era 1

Many progressives used their writing to expose the public to social and industrial problems. Their goal was to try to clean up corruption. The major weapon they used to fight corruption was the press (newspapers.) 2

Many journalists became known as Muckrakers Many journalists became known as Muckrakers. People said they raked the dirt, or muck, and exposed it to public view. The wrote about public corruption. Ida Tarbell, targeted the unfair practices of big businesses. Muckrakers helped change public opinion. Now middle-class people did not have to be ignored. Ida Tarbell 3

Muckrakers Jacob Riis Danish immigrant who faced New York poverty Exposed the slums through magazines, photographs, and a best-selling book

Reforming Society Growing cities couldn’t provide people necessary services like garbage collection, safe housing, and police and fire protection. Reformers saw this as an opportunity to expand public health services.

Improving Housing Tenement Act of 1901, forced landlords to install lighting in public hallways and to provide at least one toilet for every two families helped impoverished people within 15 years the death rates dropped dramatically.

Uptown Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle. This novel presented the terrible working conditions that people had to face in the meat packing industry 9

The Pure Food and Drug Act outlawed food and drugs containing harmful ingredients, and required that containers carry ingredient labels. The Meat Inspection Act required federal government inspection of meat shipped across state lines.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire In 1911, a disaster in New York inspired progressives to fight for safety in the workplace. About 500 women worked for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a high-rise building sweatshop that made women’s blouses.

Just as they were ending their six-day workweek, a small fire broke out, which quickly spread to three floors. Escape nearly impossible, as doors were locked the fire escape broke fire was too high for fire truck ladders to reach. More than 140 women and men died in the fire

4- Women Win Reforms 1872 Susan B. Anthony broke the law. Her crime was voting. Along with fifteen other women, she was arrested in Rochester, New York. Anthony was robbed of the fundamental privilege of voting because she was a woman. A judge ordered her to pay $100.00 as a fine. Anthony refused and never paid the fine. 13

More than 5 million women were earning wages outside the home More than 5 million women were earning wages outside the home. Women were paid less than men. In the late 1800’s, women gained to the right to vote in four western states: Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho. 14

Reforming the Workplace By 1900, labor unions fought for adult male workers but didn’t help women and children. In 1893, Florence Kelley helped push the Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and to limit women’s working hours. Businesses fought labor laws in the Supreme Court, which ruled on several cases in the early 1900s concerning workday length.

Child Labor By 1912, nearly 40 states passed child-labor laws, but states didn’t strictly enforce the laws

African Americans After reconstruction, African Americans still did not retain their rights and equality. Jim Crow Laws led to segregation in schools, trains, and other public places. In the 1890’s more than 1,000 Black people were lynched, or murdered by mobs. Ida B. Wells, a Black Journalist, in her Newspaper urged African Americans to protest these lynchings. She called for boycotts to streetcars and white owned stores. She spoke out despite threats to her life. Booker T. Washington, called for Blacks and Whites to live in harmony. Washington believed the Blacks must work hard to move up the ladder of success in society.

W. E. B. Du Bois took a different approach W.E.B. Du Bois took a different approach. He urged Blacks to fight actively to gain equality. Du Bois organized the NAACP or the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This organization worked to gain equal rights for Black people.

Fighting for Civil Rights Progressives fought prejudice in society by forming various reform groups. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 1915: Protested the D. W. Griffith film Birth of a Nation because of hostile African American stereotypes, which led to the film’s banning in eight states ADL Anti-Defamation League Formed by Sigmund Livingston, a Jewish man in Chicago, in 1913 Fought anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jews, which was common in America