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The Progressive Era - Coggle Diagram
The Progressive Era
Child Labor
The problem: In 1915, around 2 million children were working in mines and factories and were paid very little. They worked extremely long hours and used dangerous machinery/equipment in factories. Children worked in factories, mines, farms, and they even sold newspapers, shined shoes, and cleaned fish. Children at the time never went to school so they could provide for their families.
The progressive: Lewis Hine was a famous photographer who wanted to help children. He went into factories and took pictures of child laborers in order to show how terrible the working conditions were. Later on, Hine's photographs were published in magazines and newspapers. These photographs helped Americans to see the dangers of child labor and sparked the creation of child labor laws and Compulsory Education.
The change: The National Child Labor Committee was created in 1904 to help end all child labor. Members from the committee helped to expose working conditions of young workers, get support for child labor laws, as well as to create Compulsory Educations laws which require children to go to school instead of working.
Health and Safety
The problem: During the early 1900's, there was no way to tell if you were eating contaminated foods or safe medicines. This was because there were no laws in the United States that regulated what was being sold in the country.
The progressive: Author Upton Sinclair wrote a novel called the Jungle. In his book, Sinclair talked about how the meat industry lacked sanitation and safety for the workers. His book helped bring attention to the lack of safety in meat packing plants, which made people wonder what is in the meats they are eating.
Alice Hamilton saw a lack of healthcare at the time. Alice Hamilton, a doctor at the time, helped factory workers. She noticed that some of the workers were becoming weak and some even died from lead poisoning. She taught factory workers how to make their factories safer and keep the air cleaner.
Lillian Wald, a nurse at the time, had the idea of sending nurses to people who were too sick or poor to go to a hospital. She created a Visiting Nurse Program in New York City so that nurses can help sick people in their homes. She also had the idea of putting nurses into public schools. People liked the idea and soon enough, all of the New York schools had nurses.
The change: In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act and signed the Pure Food and Drug Act. These acts helped to ban the sale of impure foods and medicines.
Poverty
The progressive: Jacob A. Riis was a photographer who took photos of these slums. His photographs were released to the wealthy and were used to expose the horrible conditions of the slums. After seeing these photos many people decided to help and try to reform laws and improve the living conditions for those living in the slums.
The change: Jane Addams was a main part to helping people get out of the slums. Her and her friend Ellen Starr helped by purchasing a house. Once they bought the house, they transformed it into a settlement house for the poor people of the community. Eventually, other settlement houses were made and established in the other urban areas. These houses provided opportunities such as english classes, child care and work training.
The problem: Due to the rise of immigration, many families couldn't afford houses, so they had to resort to unsafe options such as tenements. These tenements were not good housing options and lacked many basic needs such as running water, electricity and sanitation. Eventually, these tenements turned into Urban Slums.
Worker's Rights
The progressive: The workers decided that if no one was going to help them, than they would help themselves. They started to work together and try and make their jobs better by creating labor unions. The way the unions worked was they asked for anything such as safer conditions, a higher pay, or shorter work hours. If the employers were to say no, the workers would not work until they got what they wanted. This was known as a strike.
The change: In 1886 Samuel Gompers started the American Federation of Labor. This Federation worked to make a change in the working situation. After a short period of time, they began to see laws formed decreasing the work hours and increasing the pay.
The problem: After the Civil War, factory workers were being paid in low wage, in unsafe and unsanitary conditions while having long work days. These workers were not making enough money for them to support their families, which led to children having to be factory workers as well.
Conservation
The progressive: Theodore Roosevelt had seen a large reduction in the number of natural resources. He decided to camp out with John Muir in Yosemite. Roosevelt loved Yosemite so much that he wanted to help preserve the area for future generations to come. He also created the Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island, Florida as well as established National Parks in the United States. When Congress refused to create more parks, Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act to create monuments instead so he could protect the Grand Canyon and petrified forests in Arizona.
The change: Roosevelt created Federal Laws that would encourage businesses and companies to obey laws regarding the use of natural resources. These laws limited the number of trees that could be cut down as resources for businesses/companies.
The problem: At the time, there were a loss of natural resources.
