Important Examples of Progressive Reforms
(Progressive Era: approx. 1890s-1920)
Settlement House Movement � White, upper-middle class, college-educated women who wanted to make a difference in society created and worked at settlement houses, which were like community centers in inner-city, immigrant neighborhoods.� They wanted to improve the lives of slum-dwellers by providing education and child care, teaching English and other basic skills, helping the immigrants get better jobs and housing, and uplifting them culturally (art & music appreciation.) Part of the mission of the settlement house workers was Americanization of immigrants � to teach the immigrants WASP middle-class values. The most famous settlement house was Hull House in Chicago, led by Jane Addams.� Black middle-class women ran separate settlement houses for fellow African-Americans � illustrating the racial segregation of the Progressive movement.
Housing and Sanitation Reforms � Progressive reformers urged cities to pass legislation which set standards for housing (to try to eliminate the worst tenements) and such sanitation matters as garbage pick-up and sewage systems.� The legislation would require the hiring of inspectors to see that these standards were met.� Many of the inspectors first hired by city governments under these reforms were women, such as Jane Addams.
Beautification Campaigns � Some reformers wanted to improve the urban environment by making it more pleasant and attractive. This, like the housing reforms, was based on their idea that an improved environment meant improved people. (This idea was a rejection of Social Darwinism.)� Some of their reforms included parks, civic centers, and better transportation systems.� Some historians argue that these were superficial reforms enacted to please the middle-class inhabitants or tourists of cities, but did not really address the dire problems of the masses who lived in the slums.
Anti-Prostitution Campaign � Progressives were responsible for the Mann Act (1910), which� prohibited interstate transportation of women for �immoral purposes.�� By 1915, nearly every state had outlawed prostitution.
Woman suffrage � This was the movement to secure for women the right to vote. Many different kinds of women (race, class, and ethnicity) joined the campaign to win the federal amendment, but the movement was mainly led by WASP middle and upper-class women.
Factory Safety Regulations, Limits on Working Hours (mainly for women), Workers� Compensation for injuries, Restrictions on Women and Child Labor - �While labor unions sought these measures by organizing workers to bargain with their employers, a tense alliance between some middle-class and working-class reformers also sought these reforms by passing laws (government intervention instead of collective bargaining.)� These reformers were successful in convincing most states to pass factory inspection laws, workers comp, and minimum age of employment laws.� Some states passed laws limiting the number of hours women (but not men) could work.� These regulations were usually difficult to enforce; many employers found ways to evade them.�
Another problem was that some working-class families wanted their women and children to work in order to make as much money for the family as possible (in order to survive) and did not appreciate reforms that restricted women and child labor.� Many middle-class reformers did not understand this reaction.� Many middle-class reformers believed that the working class should adopt WASP middle-class values, which included the value that women and children should not work for wages.�
Moreover, even though they wanted to improve conditions for workers, many middle-class reformers were suspicious of (or hostile to) labor unions because they felt threatened by the idea of working-class autonomy, or working-class solidarity.� They were much more comfortable with the idea of the middle class generously bestowing labor reforms upon the downtrodden workers, which is a paternalistic attitude.� Working-class reformers, including socialists, recognized this condescending attitude and were uneasy about working with middle-class reformers to ahiceve labor legislation, though they often swallowed hard and did anyway. There were, however, some examples of fairly harmonious organizations that brought working-class and middle-class reformers together to help workers.
Temperance, then Prohibition � Progressive reformers focused their fight against the consumption of alcohol on the saloons.� Saloons were a major center of immigration
