Progressive Era

1. Progressive Era
Muckrakers,
Activists, &
Reformers

2. Upton Sinclair
•American writer & muckraker known
for his book The Jungle that he
published in 1906.
•Exposed the unsanitary conditions in
the US Meatpacking Industry.
•His work led to the passage of the
Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 & the
Meat Inspection Act
•He also worked to expose “yellow
journalism”
•Pushed for a code of ethics for
journalism

3. Jacob Riis
•Muckraker & social reformer from Denmark
•Pushed for American urban reform
•Used photojournalism to help improve living
conditions in New York City’s tenement
houses.
•Wrote about the quality of life in the “slums”
• Published “How the Other Half Lives” in
1890
• Included 19 photographs and
descriptions of tenement living
• Thought that if he exposed the middle
& upper classes to the living
conditions of the poor, they would
improve.

4. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
•American suffragist & social activist
• Participated in the abolitionist movement &
women’s rights movement
•Wrote a “Declaration of Sentiments” which was
presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held
in 1848
• Given credit for initiating the first organized
women’s rights & suffrage movement.
•Her focus was on women’s rights to the
following:
• Property, voting, parental/custody, divorce,
employment & income, & birth control
•She was also an outspoken supporter of the
Temperance Movement

5. Jane Addams
•American activist & social reformer
•Notable figure in the history of social work
• Co-founded Chicago’s Hull House
• Settlement house that worked to
provide social and educational
opportunities for immigrants and
working poor.
• Provided recreational and art programs
for young children
• Stressed the importance of
community playgrounds
•Involved in the women’s suffrage movement
•Active in the push for child labor laws &
creation of the juvenile court system

6. Ida B. Wells
•American investigative journalist & early
leader of the civil rights movement
• One of the founders of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP)
•Born into slavery In Mississippi, was freed by
the Emancipation Proclamation
• Worked to expose racial segregation,
inequality, & the use of lynching in the
south
• Argued that lynching was barbaric practice
used by whites to intimidate and oppress
African Americans to prevent economic
and political competition.

7. Ida Tarbell
•American muckraker, writer &
investigative journalist
•Best known for her book “The History
of Standard Oil” written in 1904
•Her work exposed the character and
negative/illegal business practices of
John D. Rockefeller
•Led to the dissolution of Standard
Oil, the creation of anti-
trust/monopoly laws like Clayton
Antitrust Act, and the creation of the
Federal Trade Commission.

8. Booker T. Washington
• Educator, reformer, and civil rights leader
• Known for his speech the “Atlanta Compromise”
• Called for black progress through education and
entrepreneurship rather than fighting against Jim
crow segregation and disenfranchisement
• Founder of the National Negro Business League &
the Tuskegee Institute
• Tuskegee institute:
• Historically black college in Alabama
• Originally opened to train teachers, he also
taught practical skills needed for farming and
other typically southern trades.
• Attracted scholars & professors like George
Washington Carver
• Became home to the Tuskegee Airmen during
World War II

9. W.E.B. Du Bois
•American civil rights activist
•One of the founder of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP)
•Fought for equal rights for African
Americans as part of the Niagara Movement
•Opposed Booker T. Washington’s
Atlanta Compromise
• Wanted African Americans to fight
for full civil rights and an increase in
political representation rather than
submitting to segregation and
discrimination.

10. Carrie Nation
•American activist/reformer of the Temperance
Movement
•Created a local branch of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Movement
• Remembered for attacking alcohol-serving
establishments with a hatchet (see picture)
• Would smash bar fixtures & bottles of
alcohol
• Was arrested more than 30 times between
1900 and 1910.
• Argued that alcohol had negative impacts on
health, personality, and family life.
• Wanted a legislative ban on the sale and
consumption of alcohol
• 18th Amendment passed in 1920: Prohibition

11. Theodore Roosevelt
•American politician, conservationist,
naturalist, and writer
•Became president after the assassination
of William McKinley in 1901
•He made conservation a top priority
during his presidency
•Established five new national parks and
forests
•Created the United States Forest
Service
•He placed 230,000,000 acres of land
under protection using executive
orders