Jacob Riis
He imigrated from Denmark at age 21, in 1870. By 1877, he was a police reporter for the New York Tribune that reported hidden places (ex. tenements). Eventually, he learned how to use a camera and photographed dingy rooms and hallways.
How the Other Half Lives
Jacob Riis' article debued in 1889 and became a best-selling book that he used for fame in order to improve living conditions for the poor and to build parks and schools. this book stunned Americans with photos of the urban poverty. His article started out in Scribner's Magazine.
Progressivism
A reform movement arose in the late 1800s that addressed social problems that industrialization caused. The Progressives wanted to improve the urban poor's living conditions, questioned the power and practice of big businesses, and called the government to be more honest and responsibe to peoples' needs.
Muckrakers
Journalists that raked up the filth of society. These writers were the first to expose many social ills that Progressives taargeted. Their accounts of injustices and horrors were published in popular magazines. (Named by Theodore Roosevelt)
Ida Tarbell
A leading muckraker and magazine editor, she exposed the corruption of the oil industry with her 1904 work A History of Standard Oil. She wrote how John D. Rockefeller crushed competition in order to gain control. Her reads appealed to the frightened middle class.
McClure's Magazine
Muckrakers produced a series of startling exposes; was the leading journal for Muckraking articles including Ida Tarbell's article on Standard Oil
Lincoln Steffens
United States journalist who exposes in 1906 started an era of muckraking journalism (1866-1936), Writing for McClure's Magazine, he criticized the trend of urbanization with a series of articles under the title Shame of the Cities.
Tenement Act of 1901
This act required that all tenement landlords provided lighting in public hallways and to provide one toilet for every two families. Outhouses were eventually banned from NYC slums
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP); Founded by W.E.B Du Bois in 1910 in order to help create more social and economic opportunities for blacks. In 1913, it protested the introduction of segregation into the federal government, in 1915, protested the Birth of a Nation for its hostile stereotyping of African Americans.
Birth of a Nation
Controversial but highly influential and innovative silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It demonstrated the power of film propaganda and revived the KKK.
Florence Kelley
reformer who worked to prohibit child labor and to improve conditions for female workers in Illinois. In 1904, helped found the National Child Labor Committee. Led a successful effort in Oregon that limited laundry workdays
Lochner v. New York
Supreme Court sided with the business owners in 1905. They refused to uphold a law that limited a baker's work day to 10 hours because it denied workers their right to make contracts with thier employers
Muller v. Oregon
Supreme Court sided with the workers. The court upheld a state law establishing a 10 hour day for women in laundries or factories. Louis D. Brandeis, Orgeon state attorny/future Supreme Court Justice, aruged that evidence showed that working long hours impacted the health of women
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
a fire in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Company in 1911 killed 146 people, mostly women. They died because the doors were locked and the windows were too high for them to get to the ground. Dramatized the poor working conditions and let to federal regulations to protect workers.
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union
Founded in 1900, the ILGWU was a group of unskilled workers as members. In 1909, garment workers called a strike known as the Uprising of the 20,000.
American Federation of Labor
The first federation of labor unions in the United States. Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886. United together only skilled workers
Industrial Workers of the World
Founded in 1905 and opposed capitalism altogether. It organized the unskilled workers the AFL ignored under the leadership of William Big Bill Haywood. Used radical tactics such as industrial sabotage.
Big Bill Haywood
United States labor leader and militant socialist who was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (1869-1928)
Robert M. La Follette
progressive wisconsin govenor whose adgenda of reforms was known as the wisconsin idea. Elected in 1900.
17th Amendment
Passed in 1913, this amendment to the Constitution calls for the direct election of senators by the voters instead of their election by state legislatures, Direct election of senators
Direct Primary
a primary where voters directly select the candidates who will run for office
Initiative
allows voters to put a prosposed law on the ballor for public approval. Allows citizens to propose new laws
Referendum
The practice of letting voters accept or reject measures proposed by the legislature, recently passed law on the ballot
Recall
the act of removing an official by a special election
The Jungle
This 1906 work by Upton Sinclair pointed out the abuses of the meat packing industry. The book led to the passage of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.
Otelia Cromwell
Had a long and distinguished career as an educator. Transferred from Howard University to Smith College in Northampton, MA. Taught public school in DC.
Prohibition
Called for a band on the making, selling, and distributing of alcoholic beverages. Reformers thought alcohol was sometimes responsible for crime, poverty, and violence against women or children
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
an organization that blamed alcohol for crime, poverty, and violence against women and children, and fought against it. Anti Saloon League.
18th Amendment
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Repealed in 1933
National Association of Colored Women
organization formed to fight against discrimination and for women's rights. Included some of the most prominent women such as Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Suffrage
a legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US constitution
Susan B. Anthony
social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Assosiation
Theodore Roosevelt
26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War
Leon Czolgosz
killed president McKinley in 1901. He was an anarchist, one who believes in the absence of government.
Bully Pulpit
a powerful platform to publicize important issues and seek support for his policies
Square Deal
Economic policy by Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers and consumers.
Hepburn Act
This 1906 law used the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the maximum charge that railroads to place on shipping goods.Power to regulate other companies
Elkins Act
Prohibited railroads from accepting rebates. Ensured that all customers paid the same rates for shipping their products
Newlands Reclamation Act
1902 act authorizing federal funds from public land sales to pay for irrigation and land development projects, mainly in the dry Western states
Gifford Pinchot
shared Roosevelt's views. Came up with the word conservation to show the need to protect the country's natural environment. He believed scientific management of natural resources was crucial in order to sustain the nation's needs
16th Amendment
Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913) gave Congress the power to tax income.
New Nationalism
a set of laws to protect workers, ensure public health, and regulate businesses
Progressive (Bull Moose) Party
When Taft was nominated as Republican Party candidate, the more Progressive Republicans broke away to form the new Progressive Bull Moose Party, TR being the leader.
19th Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.
Brownsville Incident
the accusation of 12 members of the black 25th infantry of a shooting spree in Brownsville, TX that killed 1 man & wounded a cop; no one member took responsibility for the shooting; all were dishonorably discharged; years later, it was determined that they had been falsely accused