Progressive Era
an era of reform and changes from 1900-1920
Progressives Had Diverse Interests and Goals
Additionally, Progressives of all persuasions ought to use scientific research and knowledge to inform their decisions about necessary changes. At the city level, conservative Progressives used the research of Frederick Taylor (time and motion studies, "Taylorism") to try to create a more efficient and effective factory workplace, taking away worker autonomy.
Also at the city level college educated city managers were hired to take the place of political appointees to scientifically run government.
16th-19th amendments
17th Amendment - Direct Election of Senators
18th Amendment - Prohibition
19th Amendment - Women's Suffrage
Muckrakers
(eg Standard Oil).
Ida Tarbell - History of Standard Oil
Lincoln Steffens - The Shame of the Cities
Upton Sinclair - The Jungle
Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives
Henry Demarest Lloyd - Wealth Against Commonweath (Standard Oil)
Ida Wells - Jim Crow laws and anti-lynching
Ray Stannard Baker - The Color Line
Lewis Hine - pictures of child laboreres in textile factories and mines
State and City Progressives
initiative - ability to propose a law outside of the legislative process
referendum - ability to vote on a proposed law outside of the legislative process
recall - ability to remove someone from office before their term has expired
Golden Rule Jones (Toledo, Ohio) - city parks, living wage, public control over gas and water and improved schools
Diversity in Progressivism
Teddy Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington, and WEB DU Bois
Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up from Slavery (1901) and famous speech the Atlanta Compromise (1895) advocated African Americans focusing on vocational education and menial low paying jobs to gradually earn the respect of white America,
WEB Du Bois focused on (The Souls of Black Folk - 1903) African Americans demanding heir Constitutional rights through organization like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which he co-founded in 1909.
The NAACP came out of the Niagara Movement (1905) which worked against disenfranchisement, segregation, and the acomodationist views of Booker T. Washington.
Margaret Sanger, New York labor laws
After dozens died during the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 the state of New York investigated working conditions in factories made legislative recommendation and passed important safety and work hours laws.
Among those who advocated for those legal changes were Frances Perkins (future Secretary of Labor and first female cabinet member), Al Smith (future Democratic candidate for president) and Robert Wagner (author of the National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act during the New Deal).
Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
The Antebellum Era forerunner of temperance and the WCTU was the American Temperance Society, co founded by Lyman Beecher.