Turn-of-the-Century Reform Movements

1
Turn-of-the-Century Reform Movements

• Social and Political Change in the United States
• at the Turn-of-the Century

2
Life in 1903

• Average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47
• Only 14 of the homes had a bathtub.
• Only 8 of the homes had a telephone.
• Three minute call from Denver to NY city cost
  eleven dollars.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only
  144 miles of paved road.
• Maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph.

3

• Average U.S. worker made between 300 and 500
  per year.
• More than 95 of all births in the U.S. took
  place at home.
• Sugar cost .12 cents a pound. Eggs were .14 cents
  a dozen. Coffee cost .15 cents a pound.
• Most women washed their hair once a month and
  used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

4

• There were 230 reported murders in the entire
  U.S.
• Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from
  entering the country for any reason.
• American flag had 45 stars.
• Canned beer and iced tea hadnt been invented.
• No Mothers Day or Fathers Day.

5

• One in ten U.S. adults couldnt read or write.
• Only 6 of all Americans had graduated from high
  school.

6
Progressive Movement

• Progressives wanted to change society for the
  better
• Women voting
• Labor Reform
• African American Rights
• Stop drinking

7
Settlement House Movement

• Well-educated young women and men hoped to
  relieve the effects of poverty by providing
  social services for people in the neighborhood.
• Most famous of this experiment was Hull House in
  Chicago opened by Jane Addams in 1889

8

• Houses taught English to immigrants, pioneered
  early childhood education, taught industrial
  arts, and established neighborhood theaters and
  music.
• By 1910 over 400 settlement houses.
• These houses provided foundation for professional
  social worker.
• Also political activists who crusaded for
  child-labor laws, housing reform and womens
  rights.

9
Progressive Issues
10
Civil Rights

• Minorities were ignored for the most part.
• From 1900 to 1905 an African-American was lynched
  almost every other day!
• Racial discrimination increased during the early
  20th century.
• Two key problems faced by African-Americans
• Money issues and no rights in society (second
  class citizens)

11
Racial Segregation

• Based on Race
• Directed primarily against African Americans, but
  other groups were kept segregated

12
Jim Crow Laws

• Made discrimination legal
• Unequal opportunities in housing, work,
  education, and government

13
Two Leaders Emerge

• Booker T. Washington Believed equality could be
  achieved through vocational education accepted
  social separation

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ shows/race/art/w
ashington.jpg
14

• W.E.B Du Bois believed in full political,
  civil, and social rights for African Americans

www.americaslibrary.gov/.../ aa_dubois_subj_e.jpg
15
Womens Movement

• By late 19th century the new woman was
  emerging. More time outside the home 10 never
  married and divorce rising.
• Older generation of Susan B. Anthony and
  Elizabeth Stanton were Suffragists.

16
(No Transcript)
17
What did they want?

• Increased educational opportunities
• The right to vote
• Equality

18
Labor (Work) Reform

• Wanted to change the following bad things in the
  workplace
• Child Labor (wanted to place restrictions)
• Low wages and long hours (wanted to reduce work
  hours and increase pay)
• Unsafe working conditions (wanted to improve the
  safety conditions)

19
Anti Trust Movement

• Sherman Anti Trust Act 1890
• The act declared illegal "every contract,
  combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or
  conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce
  among the several States, or with foreign
  nations."
• Criminal penalties were provided for violators of
  the law, and aggrieved persons were entitled to
  recover three times the amount of losses suffered
  as a result of the violation.

20
Temperance Movement

• People wanted to ban the making and consuming
  (drinking) of alcohol.
• Supported the 18th Amendment which prohibited
  (didnt let) people manufacture (make), sell, or
  transport alcoholic beverages.