Life in the Progressive Era

A fter the civil war, many African Americans still struggled to find good opportunities or live like a true citizen in this country. Although as time went on, they were slowly accepted by some, but not the majority. Let's explore what life as an African-American individual looked like during the Progressive Era. As mentioned before, African-Americans still did not feel like citizens because they lacked rights, like voting. According to American Yawp Chapter 20, "In the South, electoral politics remained a parade of electoral fraud, voter intimidation, and race-baiting." Although, African-Americans could vote, their vote meant nothing because Whites manipulated the voting system in favor of themselves. These initial signs of discrimination only got worse from here. Eventually, Africans-Americans had to fulfill special requirements to be able to vote. This included poll taxes, a crime-free background, literacy tests and more.  Segregation continued to expand as cities grew....

O ne of the prominent events of the Progressive Era is the growth of Industrialization . This led to many issues like increased urbanization and poor working conditions. Let’s dive in deeper to look into the concerning issues of industrialization. Industrialization brought new jobs, more money, and many thought it would also bring a better life. Specifically, eleven million people thought this way and moved from their farms to the booming cities. The reality was that business owners offered a lot of jobs, but at low wages and with poor working conditions. There are many painful stories that tell how horrible working environments were. A famous true story on this topic was a massive fire that occurred in The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25th, 1911. In this incident an accidental fire grew quickly because of the fabric and paper in the factory. This led the workers to flee to the emergency exits and fire extinguishing equipment but they were all in such poor condition that it eit...

  A s the United States expanded its cities and businesses, the nature around them started to get damaged. Some people began noticing how the Progressive Era was taking a negative toll on the environment so they started organizations to protect the environment. One case in which environmentalists helped protect the environment was in the 1880s where engineers and representatives argued over finding a new source of water for San Francisco. They wanted to build a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley in California to solve this but were unsure of how it would affect nature. Environmentalists eventually came to a consensus on “a kind of environmental utilitarianism that emphasized the efficient use of available resources, through planning and control and “the prevention of waste”. They proceeded to approve and build the project in 1913. Another case regarded hunting and its effect on wildlife. Some states placed restrictions like a requirement for firearm permits, banning hunting on certain days...

W hat is Women's Suffrage? Simply put, it is the right for women to vote. But there is so much behind this term that, when explored, will open a new and deeper definition. Lets first look at how this movement first started. It all began with women gathering together to express their common interests in learning and having a voice in society. These groups later gained more and more interest to the point where they were being recognized nationally. Some of the most popular groups includes: General Federation of Women’s Clubs and the National Association of Colored Women.  A thing to note here is how these organizations, although working towards the same goals, were still involved in segregating women of color. Many women of color had to establish their own groups to be able to fight for their suffrage rights. These organizations had to work even harder to make their voices heard. Some of the famous activists of these Black American women movements include: Mary Jane Richardson Jones...