The Progressive Era: 1890's - 1917
We've studied the problems of The Gilded Age: racial (Jim Crow Laws, Chinese Exclusion Act) discrimination, and unfair treatment of labor (low wages, long hours, unsafe working conditions.) In addition there were the real problems of business monopolies, industrial abuses and political corruption.
With the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, many middle-class Americans will demand changes. The Progressive Movement will attempt to right some of the wrongs in the areas of business, political institutions, society, and the law.
Use the button links below to learn about Labor Unions, then go to the Labor Union Quiz, read the information and take the quiz.
You may do the same for Women's Suffrage (below labor unions).
Watch the video (linked above) about how one son listened to his mother and changed the world!
Credit: Library of Congress
Annotation: This is a postcard from Women’s Suffrage. It shows a young girl sassing a young boy with a poem at the bottom which reads: “For the work of a day, For the taxes we pay, For the laws we obey, We want something to say.”
Year: 1913
Annotation: This is a postcard from Women’s Suffrage. It shows a young girl sassing a young boy with a poem at the bottom which reads: “For the work of a day, For the taxes we pay, For the laws we obey, We want something to say.”
Year: 1913
Credit: Library of Congress
Annotation: This image shows a young immigrant child laborer, Rob Kidd, one of the young workers in a glass factory in Alexandria, Virginia.
Year: 1911
Annotation: This image shows a young immigrant child laborer, Rob Kidd, one of the young workers in a glass factory in Alexandria, Virginia.
Year: 1911
Credit: Library of Congress
Media type: photograph
Museum Number: LC-DIG-nclc-00593
Annotation: This photograph shows Dovey Kirkpatrick, 5 years old, picking cotton. Bibliographic reference states that she "picks 15 pounds of cotton a day (average)." Her mother said: "She jess works fer pleasure." This photograph was taken in Comanche County, Oklahoma.
Year: 1916
Media type: photograph
Museum Number: LC-DIG-nclc-00593
Annotation: This photograph shows Dovey Kirkpatrick, 5 years old, picking cotton. Bibliographic reference states that she "picks 15 pounds of cotton a day (average)." Her mother said: "She jess works fer pleasure." This photograph was taken in Comanche County, Oklahoma.
Year: 1916