Progressive Era of Reform Common Assessment

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 1911 fire in New York factory that trapped young women workers inside locked exit doors; nearly 50 ended up jumping to their death; while 100 died inside the factory; led to the establishment of many factory reforms, including increasing safety precautions for workers

Progressive Era

1890 - 1920, Progressives tended to be women, middle class, and live in urban areas. Progressives sought to use government influence to solve societal problems.

Muckraker

a journalist who uncovers abuses and corruption in a society (they 'rake' away the 'muck' and expose problems)

Suffrage

the right to vote.

Alice Paul

suffragist; founder of the National Woman's party; fought for women's rights through rallies and hunger strikes and was even arrested and jailed

National American Women's Suffrage Association

NAWSA; founded by Alice Paul in 1890 to help women win the right to vote; lobbied (fought) for state laws and organized volunteers to support women's right to vote

NAWSA Strategy

lobbied (pressured/convinced) legislators to pass state laws; organized volunteers and suffrage rallies and events

Booker T Washington

Activist; Founded Tuskegee Institute; believed Black Americans should prove themselves through work and schooling

W.E.B. Du Bois

activist who wanted immediate equal rights for Black Americans; co-founded the NAACP

Ida B. Wells

Suffragist; Investigative journalist / muckraker who exposed the crimes of lynching and racial violence; co founded the NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

NAACP wanted to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans.

Ida B. Wells and WED DuBois were two of its founders.

NAACP Strategy

Used the legal system and the courts to challenge discriminatory laws and practices against African Americans

Lewis Hine and Child Labor

muckraker; photographed child labor throughout America in an effort to put an end to it. Worked w/ organizations to successfully enact anti-child-labor-laws.

Jacob Riis

muckraker; his book and slideshows help inspire urban housing reform

Settlement Houses

Community centers located in the slums and near tenements that gave aid to the poor, especially immigrants; Jane Addams got them going in Chicago

Workers' Compensation Laws

a progressive reform that guaranteed a portion of lost wages to workers injured on the job

Upton Sinclair and The Jungle

muckraker; his novel exposed the horrible, unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry and directly led to food regulation laws

Pure Food and Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act

laws signed by Theodore Roosevelt that established strict regulation and cleanliness requirements in the food industry; direct effect of "The Jungle"

President Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive president who pushed for food industry regulation, dismantled trusts/monopolies; created the National Park Service; supported natural conservation

Conservation

Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment (pushed for by Pres. Teddy Roosevelt)

NPS

National Park Service; Ms. Stapleton's favorite government organization; preserves historic buildings and conserves nature; created by President Theodore Roosevelt

Socialism

Some progressives advocated for this political system wherein the government controls all production (factories) in order to make sure everything is safe and regulated and affordable

Capitalism

the American economic system, based on competition, and in which private businesses control the different industries and prices

16th Amendment (1913)

created federal income tax:richer people pay more taxes, poorer people pay less taxes; provided a steady income for the government to use for social projects; reduced the need for tariffs on foreign goods

17th Amendment (Direct democracy; 1919)

Established the direct election of senators by popular vote of citizens (instead of being chosen by state legislatures, as it had been done prior)

18th Amendment (Prohibition, 1919)

Women's Christian Temperance Union who felt drunk husbands were ruining lives- this Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages.

lead to the rise of organized crime / gangs / mobs

19th Amendment (1920)

Gave women the right to vote

Nellie Bly

muckraker/journalist who went undercover in a women's mental institution to expose the mistreatment of patients; also traveled around the world in record time!