1. SSUSH13 The student will identify major efforts to reform American society and politics in the Progressive Era.

2. What does the word “progressive” mean?
In relation to a period of history, why might an era be called “progressive?”
Reforms
Changes
Improvements

3. Terms to be aware of: Muckraker: a journalist who investigated institutions and businesses and wrote about corrupt practices. They had large audiences and were widely read in newspapers and magazines. Muckraker clip: Settlement Houses: Large homes (usually like apartments) where middle class citizens voluntarily moved to help immigrants and lower class citizens assimilate to life in the US—the middle class shared valuable knowledge with lower classes.

4. Progressive Era Changes #1: Muckrakers Investigative journalists whose work encouraged reform in industry.

5. d. Explain Ida Tarbell’s role as a muckraker.
A muckraker was a journalist who investigated political corruption and social conditions
Ida Tarbell focused on John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Corporation which led to the government breaking it apart.
Clip:

6. a. Explain Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and federal oversight of the meatpacking industry.
In 1904 Upton Sinclair, a muckraker, published The Jungle.
The book was about Chicago meat slaughterhouses and described the horrible conditions in the industry: It became a best seller and caught the attention of Congress and President Roosevelt.
In response to the book Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, as a way of overseeing and inspecting the meat and food industries.
“..sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and
white-it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped
into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption.”
Roosevelt was a big meat eater!

7. What would your food be like without federal oversight of the industry?

8. Progressive Era Changes #2: Settlement Houses Homes built for immigrants and lower class citizens to help them assimilate to American life.

9. b. Identify Jane Addams and Hull House and describe the role of women in reform movements
Jane Addams founded the Hull House in Chicago in 1889 to provide immigrants with social and educational opportunities and training. It was one of the first “settlement houses” in the U.S.
Clip:
Women during the time period began to become involved in many reform efforts including education, prison, prohibition and women’s rights and suffrage.
Her work became the first “social work”

10. Progressive Era Changes #3: Labor Laws Improved working conditions, no child labor, better pay and benefits

11. Progressives worked to improve conditions for the poor
The Social Gospel movement worked to better conditions for the urban poor through organizations such as the YMCA, Salvation Army, and settlement houses.
Education also played a role in the Progressive Movement with school becoming compulsory and used as a means of assimilating immigrants into American society.

12. Labor Laws Progressives worked to end child labor
Factory and mine child workers made less than 60¢ for a 10-hour day
Progressives also fought for safer working conditions

13. Progressive Era Changes #4: Politics

14. *initiative: allowed citizens to introduce legislation
A major focus of the Progressive Movement was political reform. To give power to the voters:
*initiative: allowed citizens to introduce legislation
*recall: allowed voters to remove elected officials through a special vote
*referendum: allowed proposed legislation to be approved by voters
*Direct election of Senators: The 17th Amendment was passed in 1913 to give voters the power to elect senators directly in an attempt to prevent corruption
Prior to this amendment, Senators were chosen by State Legislatures
Led to corruption, blackmail, bargaining

15. Progressive Era Changes #5: Big Business Progressives wanted to end the era of monopolies and corruption in big business

16. T. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson (The Progressive Presidents) wanted to end corruption in big business and regulate business practices to ensure fair market competition
Sherman Anti-Trust Act: outlawed monopolies
TR: “The Trust Buster” & other progressive reforms
Clip:

17. f. Describe the conservation movement and the development of national parks and forests; include the role of Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt led a conservation movement to conserve mainly western lands from development.
Led to the creation of the national park system (Yellowstone).
Link: Live webcam at Yellowstone

18. Progressive Era Changes #6: African Americans in the Post-Reconstruction South Jim Crow Laws: laws that forced racial segregation

19. c. Describe the rise of Jim Crow, Plessy v
c. Describe the rise of Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and the emergence of the NAACP.
By the late 1800s some states began to pass laws that limited the rights of African Americans.
Jim Crow laws were laws that helped enforce segregation, first in the private sector, and then at the state level
Voting rights were curtailed by using poll taxes and enforcing grandfather clauses.
Segregation was meant to separate the races: schools, parks, resturants

20. c. Describe the rise of Jim Crow, Plessy v
c. Describe the rise of Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and the emergence of the NAACP.
Segregation was meant to separate the races: schools, parks, resturants

21. Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy, an African American by state classification, challenged a law requiring him to ride in a separate railroad car.
The case went to the Supreme Court where they ruled against Plessy.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) legalized segregation and discrimination in the U.S. under the separate but equal doctrine.
Clip:
*Plessy was 7/8ths white, but was still classified as “colored” under Louisiana State law*

22. NAACP
Founded in 1909 to promote African American voting rights in order to end racial discrimination.
Founded to respond to lynching in the South
Their work led to Brown v BOE
Ended racial segregation in schools
W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the founding members of the organization

23. Review: Goals of the Progressive Era Reforms
Progressives wanted to eliminate problems caused by industrialization, immigration, urbanization, and government corruption.
The federal government became much more active in the daily lives of the American people as a result of these changes.
Review: Goals of the Progressive Era Reforms

24. Questions
What role did Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle have during the Progressive Movement?
What was the purpose of settlement houses?
What did the ruling in Plessy v Ferguson help legalize?
What was Ida Tarbell’s role in the Progressive Movement?