Progressive Era: The period beginning in the late 1890s and ending in 1920. Several significant social, economic, and political reforms took place, mainly in reaction to the rapid (and largely uncontrolled) industrialization and urbanization that occurred in the US after the Civil War- especially during the gilded age

Lynchings: hangings that terrorized Southern blacks

• KKK experienced a significant resurgence after 1915

NAACP: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; founded in 1910 by progressive whites and blacks

Motion Picture Industry: arts and leisure grew during the progressive era, leading to the development of the Motion Picture Industry

Birth of a Nation: This 1915 movie was widely considered the first American “blockbuster”. It was very racist, triggering boycotts for groups like the NAACP

Muckracking Journalist: These journalists “investigated almost every corner of American Life: gov’t, labor, unions, big business, Wall Street, health care, food industry, child labor, woman’s rights, prostitution, ghetto living. and life insurance”

Professional Class: an important element of progressivism was the rise of this class. During this period, doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers, and others formed organizations that set standards for their profession and became active in political and social affairs. They counterbalanced the influence of big business

Socialist: most reformers of the professional class became more radical in their ideas, which led to socialism becoming a political force in the US. Socialist candidates even started running for president

monopolies: a business completely controlling one product o marketplace; a feature of industrialism and capitalism of the late nineteenth century was the consolidation of important businesses (steel, railroads, and oil) into the hands of a few high monopolies

Theodore Roosevelt: became president in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley, was more ambivalent (mixed feelings) about trusts (progressive movement divided over the issue of trusts). He thought some were good, some bad. However, he took aggressive stances against a number of the more notorious monopolies. In 1902, his administration sued the powerful Northern Securities company which controlled lots of the nation’s railroads

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890): Northern Securities was in violation, so the Supreme Court agreed with Roosevelt, and the company was broken up, This led t Roosevelt to pursue other trusts with mixed results

Meat Inspection Act: during Roosevelt’s second term (1905-1909): fixed some issues with the production of unsafe meat (Upton Sinclair, muckraking journalist wrote about the issue in the famous book, The Jungle)

Pure Food and Drug Act: first law regulating other food and drugs, putting safety caps on pill bottles, etc,

Hepburn Act: gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate railroad rates

Triangle Shirtwaist Company: In 1911, a fire in NY at the company focused national attention to work conditions, which led to the growth of organized labor ( unions)

Woodrow Wilson: an arguably more conservative Democrat that was elected in 1912, after the splurt in the Republican party between Roosevelt and Taft,

16th Amendment: ratified in 1913, it gave Congress the power to impose an income tax, thus providing an important tool that would be used later on to expand the role and size of the federal government

Populist Party: the income tax had been a goal of a third party that had been formed years before in the Progressive Era.

17th Amendment: provided for the direct election of US Senators, who under the original Constitution were appointed by State legislatures rather than chosen directly by the people

Woman’s Suffrage: a movement that started during the 1830s and 1840s and finally had success in 1920

19th Amendment: this amendment gave women the right to vote, This led to more women entering the workforce and having a more active role in their communities

Birth Control Movement: started during Progressive Era, women called for easy access to contraceptives so that women could control their reproduction

Margaret Sanger: women such as her played an important part in the birth control movement, arrested 8 times before birth control was made legal

Temperance Movement: to prohibit alcohol consumption, started during the 1830s, but only succeeded in the Progressive Era (similar to woman’s suffrage)

18th Amendment: adopted in 1919 and banned the sale of liquor in the US after 1920. However, it was a failure

21st Amendment: the 18th Amendment was repealed(formally revoked or ended) in 1933, by its Amendment, This was after the Progressive Era ended

20th Amendment: between the previously listed amendments, this amendment allowed a President-elect to take office on January 20th following the November election.

The Gilded Age: defined as a period of fabulous wealth in the late 1800s, but it was also a period o widespread poverty

Cycle of Urbanization: an intense process that repeated itself in many places

Tenements: cheap, high-rise apartment buildings that housed handfuls of families, one on top of another; quick construction = poorly done, bad quality, unsafe

Slums: a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people, caused by sudden immigration