Category:Society and Culture

The Progressive Era

Progressivism is defined as advocating progress towards better conditions, change, improvement or reform. In the early 1900's, Progressivism focused specifically on social control and moral reform. The progressives, who were mainly middle- and upper-class Protestants, believed that immigrants and urbanization threatened the stability of American democracy. They believed that it was their responsibility to create lawas and regulations for the benefit of the immigrants, African-Americans, and lower-class. They did so by supporting regulations on alcohol, prostitution, entertainment, and public education.

Prohibition
 * The Prohibition Movement, which began towards the end of the 19th century, was fueled mainly by two organizations with very different motives: the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League. Prohibition.jpg
 * Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)


 * Specifically appealed to women who were directly affected by or had concerns about violence caused by drunken men.
 * Their goal was to stop the production, sale, and consumption of liquor.
 * They also had many other local goals, including: homeless shelters, prison reform, sunday schools and nurseries, and women's suffrage.
 * By 1911, the WCTU had over a quarter of a million members including both black and white women.
 * The WCTU was one of the only clubs where black and white women could join together and agree on the same things.
 * Anti-Saloon League


 * Founded in 1893 with a much narrower focus than the WCTU.
 * Their goal was to ban liquor in its entirety.
 * Supporters were mainly businessmen who thought that without alcohol their workers would be more efficient.
 * Prostitution


 * A series of exposes written from 1908-1914 about prostitution increased its visibility to the public eye, making it a big focus of the progressive reform.


 * Male business and political leaders joined forces with feminists and social workers to help eliminate what had become known as the "white slave traffic".
 * In 1910 Congress passed legislation that deported foreign-born prostitutes as well as any immigrant found procuring or employing them.
 * That same year 1910, the Mann Act stated that it was a federal offense to transport women across state lines for inappropriate reasons.
 * These new laws caused numerous brothels to close but resulted in streetwalkers and call-girls who were now more vulnerable to the police and pimps
 * Overall, the reform efforts organized the sex trade rather than eliminating it

Entertainment
 * At first, commercial entertainment was considered a grave threat. The progressives were afraid that burlesque theaters, amusement parks, dance halls, and movie theaters were overtaking wholesome entertainment like parks, libraries, museums, and YMCA's.
 * Movies were originally popular entertainment for the working-class due to the inexpensive prices
 * In 1908 movie theaters were averaging nearly 5 million patrons per day
 * It was not long before people began to realize the enormous increase in profits that would come from marketing the films to the middle-class instead.
 * In 1909 movie producers and reformes created the National Board of Censorship (NBC) and by 1914 they were reviewing 95% of films
 * NBC.jpg 1914 Frederick C. Howe, a Senator and progressive, said that "commercialized leisure must be controlled by the community, if it is to become an agency of civilization rather than the reverse."


 * Public Education


 * The goal of the reform of public education was to assimilate the immigrants and minorites into a part of the American race with a focus on righteousness, law and order, and government.
 * Schools started to begin earlier and end later in the day.
 * By 1918 every school had some form of mandatory attendance.
 * In 1890 there was a 4% enrollment rate and by 1930 it increased significantly to 47%
 * In 1917 the Smith-Hughes Act established federal funding for Vocational programs.
 * Boys studied metal trades, carpentry, and machine tools
 * Girls studied typing, housekeeping, seewing, cooking, and home economics
 * In 1918 the National Education Association defined the Cardinal principles of Secondary education as: health, family life, citizenship, and ethical character.

{C Inequality
 * Women and African-Americans began their fight for civil rights long befor the turn of the century, but it wasn't until the early 1900's that their movement really gained momentum. This groundwork that was laid in this decade was very crucial to the success of many activists.


 * Women


 * Reform organizations gave women a place in public life for the first time.


 * They called themselves the "guardian of the home".


 * Many women's groups focused on topics like self-improvement, education, child care, child-labor laws, mother's pension, public morality, and social welfare.


 * They were supported through private charities, churches, and volunteer groups.


 * By 1900 the General Federation of Women's Clubs had 150,000 members and by World War I they had over a million.


 * By 1910, approximately 5% of college-age Americans attended college and of that 5%, 40% of them were women.


 * Birth Conrol


 * This name was coined by Margaret Sanger in 1913 


 * She distributed contraceptive information and devices, created the magazine Woman Rebel and a pamphlet called Family Limitation. 


 * Contraceptives were considered to be a way of advancing sexual freedom for the middle- and working-class women


 * Sanger's materials were confiscated and she was facing up to 45 years in prison before she fled to Europe in 1914. She returned in 1915 and went on a speaking tour then proceded to open a birth control clinic in 1916.


 * Suffrage


 * Women began fighting for their right to vote in the middle of the 19th century but many had different opinions on certain things which resulted in a rivalry between the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association.


 * They united in 1890 which resulted in the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).


 * By 1910, Women's Suffrage had become a mass movement supported by socialites, garment workers, black and white women's clubs, conservatives, liberals, and even men. Suffrage.jpg


 * By 1914, women had the right to vote in state, local, and school board elections in 11 states.


 * In 1920 their fight was awarded by the adoption of the 19th amendment which states that no person can be denied the right to vote.




 * African Americans


 * As racism began to gain ground, the fight to for their rights secured during the Reconstruction was significantly harder than what most of the women had to deal with in their fight for civil rights.


 * Racism was fueled by Darwin's theory-- blacks were a "degenerate" race and were predisposed to vice, crime, and disease.


 * It became a part of every day life, even in politics


 * U.S. Senator Benjamin Tillman refered to African-Americans as "wild beasts"


 * "coon songs"


 * Southern progressives believed that African-American progress was necessary in order to achieve economic and political progress and shouldn't be terrorized
 * Booker T. Washington was born a slave in 1856 and is now considered to be one of the most influential African-American leaders
 * He founded the National Negro Business League
 * He put a lot of funds into black schools in the South and believed in economic self-help and ending segregation.
 * W.E.B DuBois was born into a middle-class African-American family and was the first African-American to receive a PhD
 * He wanted to embrace the African culture and wrote about black history, culture, education, and politics
 * He criticized Booker T. Washington for his acceptance of racial inferiority
 * Organized a group of educated black men to oppose Washington's views and protest segregation, exclusion from labor unions, and the denial of voting and other rights
 * This meeting, known as the Niagra Movement, was not successful but led to a meeting in New York called the National Negro Conference which led to the founding of the NAACP in 1910.
 * Naacp_logo.jpg first, W.E.B DuBois was the only African American officer of the NAACP
 * In 1900, the Women's Convention of the National Baptist Convention was founded and was the largest African-American denomination
 * They claimed to offer "racial uplift"
 * They organized playgorunds, daycare facilities and Kindergartens, helped campaign for women's suffrage and advances in public health
 * In 1914 the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs boasted 50,000 members throughout 1000 clubs in the nation.