Chapter 22: The Progressive Era (1895–1917)

These flashcards cover key terms, people, and events from the Progressive Era as described in the lecture notes on industrial change and social reform.

Muckrakers

Journalists at the turn of the twentieth century who utilized investigative reporting to expose social ills and corporate corruption.

Progressivism

A reform-oriented movement lasting from the mid-$1890\text{s}$ through World War I that addressed issues like industrialization, urbanization, and political graft.

Model T

An affordable vehicle introduced by Henry Ford in $1908$ that utilized mass production and assembly line techniques.

Oligopoly

An economic condition where a small number of powerful companies control a specific commodity or service, such as the oil industry in the early $1900\text{s}$.

Interlocking directorates

A business practice where individuals from a single firm, like J. P. Morgan and Company, held seats on the boards of multiple different corporations.

Scientific Management

A workplace philosophy developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor that emphasized management control and standardization to increase efficiency.

Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire

A tragic $1911$ industrial disaster that resulted in $146$ deaths and prompted significant safety reforms and labor laws in New York.

Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)

An organization founded in $1903$ that worked to organize female labor unions and lobby for protective workplace legislation.

Children’s Bureau

A federal office established within the U.S. Bureau of Labor in $1911$ following investigations into the conditions of young workers.

Niagara Movement

A civil rights effort led by W. E. B. Du Bois that advocated for militant action to secure equal rights and education for Black American youth.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

A major civil rights organization formed after race riots in $1906$ to pursue racial equality and justice.

Birds of passage

Temporary migrants who entered the United States between $1901$ and $1920$ to earn money before returning to their home countries.

Angel Island

An immigration processing center in San Francisco Bay where Asian immigrants were often detained and examined for weeks or months.

Eugenics

A movement in the early $1900\text{s}$ that used biased science to argue for controlling the population growth of groups deemed inferior.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Known as the "Wobblies," this radical labor union founded in $1905$ welcomed all workers and sought social revolution through labor solidarity.

Ashcan School

An early $20\text{th}$-century art movement that focused on portraying realistic, often gritty, urban life in America.

Hull House

A Chicago settlement house founded in $1889$ by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to provide social and educational services to immigrant communities.