Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to BEFORE BROWN, THERE WAS MENDEZ: THE 1947 CASE THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR DESEGREGATION
Similar to BEFORE BROWN, THERE WAS MENDEZ: THE 1947 CASE THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR DESEGREGATION (7)
More from jmindy
More from jmindy (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
BEFORE BROWN, THERE WAS MENDEZ: THE 1947 CASE THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR DESEGREGATION
- 1. THE LASTING IMPACT OF MENDEZ V. WESTMINSTER IN THE STRUGGLE FOR DESEGREGATION By Maria Blanco MARCH 2010 Copyright © March 2010 PERSPECTIVESIMMIGRATIONPOLICY CENTER A M E R I C A N I M M I G R A T I O N C O U N C I L BEFORE BROWN, THERE WAS MENDEZ BEFORE BROWN, THERE WAS MENDEZ: THE LASTING IMPACT OF MENDEZ V. WESTMINSTER IN THE STRUGGLE FOR DESEGREGATION BY MARIA BLANCO MARCH 2010
- 2. ABOUT PERSPECTIVES ON IMMIGRATION The Immigration Policy Center’s Perspectives are thoughtful narratives written by leading academics and researchers who bring a wide range of multi‐disciplinary knowle dge to the issue of immigration policy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maria Blanco serves as the Executive Director for the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute at Berkeley Law, University of California. She served as executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. She brings more than 20 years of experienc e as a litigator and advocate for immigrant rights, women's rights and racial justice. As executive director of the L awyers' Committee, Blanco launched initiatives to increase minority access to higher education, provide legal counsel for students in substandard schools, and convene African American and Latino community leaders to discuss the impact of immigration reform. She regularly contributes to national and local media on school integration, the importance of an independent judiciary, and civil rights challenges in today's security climate. Blanco is also the co‐chair of the California Coalition for Civil Rights, a group dedicated to building a progressive nat ional agenda for civil and human rights. ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION POLICY CENTER The Immigration Policy Center, established in 2003, is the polic y arm of the American Immigration Law Foundation. IPC's mission is to shape a rational national conversation on im migration and immigrant integration. Through its research and analysis, IPC provides policymakers, the media, and the general public with accurate information
- 3. about the role of immigrants and immigration policy on U.S. society. IPC reports and materials are widely disseminated and relied upon by press and policymakers. IPC st aff regularly serves as experts to leaders on Capitol Hill, opinion‐makers, and the media. IPC is a non‐partisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for office. Visit our website at www.immigrationpolicy.org and our blog at www.immigrationimpact.com. PHOTO CREDITS Large: Students from Lincoln Elementary School for “Mexican” children in Orange County, California. 1930s, courtesy of “Fire in the Morning” Collection, Yolanda Alvarez and Steve Demara Small 1: Felícitas and Gonzalo Méndez, courtesy of “Fire in the Morning” Collection, Yolanda Alvarez and Steve Demara. Small 2: Untitled, 1949, courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin. S mall 3: George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. N abrit, following Supreme Court decision ending segregation. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (9) Reproduction # LC‐USZ62‐111236. INTRODUCTION Years before the U.S. Supreme Court ended racial segregation in U.S. schools with Brown v. Board of Education, a federal circuit court in California ruled th at segregation of school children was unconstitutional—except this case involved the segregation of Mexican American school children. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reached this historic decision in the case of Mendez v. Westminster in 1947—
- 4. seven years before Brown. Historic in its own right, Mendez was critical to the strategic choices and legal analysis used in ar guing Brown and in shaping the ideas of a young NAACP attorney, Thurgood Marshall. Moreover, the Mendez case—which originated with LULAC but benefited from the participation of t he NAACP—also symbolized the important crossover between different ethnic and racial groups who came together to argue in favor of desegregation. From a legal perspective, Mendez v. Westminster was the first case to hold that school segregation itself is unconstitutional and violates the 14th Amen dment. Prior to the Mendez decision, some courts, in cases mainly filed by the NAACP, held that segregated schools attended by African American children violated the 14th Amend ment’s Equal Protection Clause because they were inferior in resources and quality, not because they were segregated. From a strategic perspective, Thurgood Marshall’s participation in Mendez paid critical dividends for years to come. Marshall, who later would successfully argue the Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court and eventually become the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court, participated in the Mendez appeal. His collaboration throughout the case with the Mendez attorney, David Marcus, helped ensure that the case would be an important legal building block for Marshall’s successful assault on the “separate but equal” doctrine. Although Marshall and Marcus differed in aspects of their legal approach to the segregation involved in the Mendez case, their exchanges about the stigma attached to segregation and the psychological damage
- 5. caused by it undoubtedly played a large role in the Mendez litigation. “…[the] Mendez case was critical to the strategic choices and legal analysis used in arguing Brown … [it] also symbolized the important crossover between different ethnic and racial groups who came together to argue in favor of desegregation.” The link between Mexican Americans and African Americans in the struggle for desegregation has been obscured with time. Revisiting that link is important not only to understand the historic underpinnings of Brown, but also to realize one of the g reat truths in the struggle for equality: the consecutive and continuous movements to cast off the many varied mechanisms of subordination result from an iterative process of developing a nd connecting strategies and struggles between and among different peoples. 2 THE HISTORY By the 1930s, roughly
- 6. 80% of California school districts placed Mexican children in separate “Mexican” schools. This was not a consistent practice until the late 1920s and early 30s, when Mexican Americans emerged as a large minority population in C alifornia. Together, with school segregation, came housing segregation and the exclusion of Mexican Americans from many public spaces. At times, depending on the city or county, the se gregation of Mexican Americans was prescribed by law (for example, by restrictive real estate co venants); other times it was a practice carried out by public and private entities. In this regar d, it differed from the de jure segregation of African Americans and the legally enforced discrimination and segregation of Asians and Native Americans. “… the Mendez plaintiffs did not argue that their segregated schools were unconstitutionally inferior; instead they opposed segregation itself as violating the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause. In essence, the case challenged the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
- 7. Gonzalo Mendez, the named plaintiff in Mendez, arrived in California from Mexico when he was six. His future wife, Felicitas, came to the U.S. with her family from Puerto Rico, recruited to pick cotton in Arizona by the Arizona Cotton Growers Association. Through hard work in the citrus groves of Orange County, the couple was eventually able to buy and run a restaurant in Santa Ana, California. However, in a historical turn that dramatically weaves together many stories of discrimination and bigotry, the Mendez family moved from Santa Ana to Westminster to operate a farm owned by the Minemitsu family, Japanese Americans who leased it to the Mendezes in order to prevent its loss when interned under Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.1 The location of the Minemitsu farm placed the Mendez family within close proximity of the “White” school in Westminster, but the Mendez children—Sylvia, Gonzalo, Jr., and Geronimo—were denied enrollment and informed they must attend the Mexican school. Unwilling to go along, the Mendez family and other parents organized protests and demanded an investigation into, and an end to, the segregati on. When their efforts were unsuccessful, including a bond measure to fund an integrated school, Gustavo and Felicitas Mendez, along with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), contacted other Mexican American parents in neighboring Orange County distri cts—some of whom had already hired attorneys—and decided to file a class‐action lawsuit. They hired David Marcus, a Los Angeles attorney who had successfully argued other public‐facility desegregation cases in Southern California, to represent them.
- 8. The Mendezes and four other families filed Mendez v. Westmin ster in federal court in 1945, against the Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El Mod ena school districts on behalf of their children and 5,000 people of “Mexican and Latin descent.” In contrast to other lawsuits of that period which challenged the school segregation of African Americans, the Mendez 1 In 1946 the Mendez family returned to Santa Ana when the M unemitsu family came back from their internment to their farm. 3 plaintiffs did not argue that their segregated schools were uncon stitutionally inferior; instead they opposed segregation itself as violating the 14th Amendmen t’s Equal Protection clause. In essence, the case challenged the doctrine of “separate but equal. ” To do so, Marcus relied on social scientists whose testimony challenged stereotypes about Latino students and attested to the psychological damaged caused by segregation. In response to the charges of discrimination, the school districts contended that the segregation was not racially based and that the practice of placi ng Mexican American children in separate schools was in reality a practice of placing non‐Engl ish speaking children in separate schools until they acquired proficiency in English. This argume nt in defense of segregation was common throughout the Southwestern U.S. In addition,
- 9. the practice was justified by racist claims about the mental inferiority of Mexicans and the health dangers they presented to White children if they attended the same schools. THE DECISION … “equal protection is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, text books and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children … segregation fostered antagonisms in the children and suggests inferiority among them where none exists.” After a lengthy and complex trial with more than 70 witnesses—including social scientists and witnesses who testified about the impact of segregation, often students themselves—Judge Paul McCormick dismissed the linguistic rationale and held that “the clear purpose of the segregation by the school districts was to discriminate against pupils of Mexican descent.” He pointed to the fact that only students of Mexican ancestry were placed in the non‐English speaking schools and he noted that many of the children spoke English, including the Mendez children. In a holding that augured the Brown decision, McCormick concluded that “equal protection is not provided by
- 10. furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, text books and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children … segregation fostered antagonisms in the children and suggests inferiority among them where none exists.” A seven‐member panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision and, in a published opinion which lists Thurgood Marshall as counsel for the NAACP below David C. Marcus for the plaintiffs, stated that “enforcing the segregation of children of Mexican descent v iolated the 14th Amendment and denied them equal protection.” The Mendez case is also historically important for other connections to Brown v. Board of Education. In addition to the Marshall name and the innovative arguments buttressed by scientific evidence accepted by the trial court in Mendez and later in Brown, the cases also share the involvement of Earl Warren, who was Governor of Cal ifornia at the time. After the 4 Ninth Circuit struck down the segregated Mexican schools in Orange County, the California legislature passed legislation in 1947 which repealed all school segregation. That law was signed by Earl Warren, who would later become the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and preside over the Brown court. Many have speculated, and it doe s not seem farfetched, that Warren’s exposure to the Mendez case, and to the legislative deliberations that lead to the
- 11. repeal of all school segregation in California, educated and prim ed him for the Brown challenge to de jure segregation and the overturning of the infamous Pless y v. Ferguson case which had created the deeply flawed doctrine of ““separate but equal.” CONCLUSION Today, we take for granted Brown v. Board of Education’s legac y that there can be no moral or legal justification for racial and ethnic segregation. At the time , however, Brown represented this country’s most radical rupture from the history of slavery a nd its legal justifications and consequences. Despite the deep racial, ethnic, and economic di sparities that persist in the U.S., the legal battle against racial superiority has been won. It was not easy. It took courageous parents and communities, creative and collaborative thinking, a nd a long view about the arc of history. Reminding Americans of the connective tissue that links the Mendez and Brown cases is more than just a history lesson. The story of these two cases shows how individuals from vastly different backgrounds, races, and
- 12. ethnicities were brought together to overturn a history of discrimination and segregation. Reminding Americans of the connective tissue that links the Mendez and Brown cases is more than just a history lesson. The story of these two cases shows how individuals from vastly different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities were brought together to overturn a history of discrimination and segregation. Neither decision would have been possible without the involvement of this broad and complex coalition of lawyers, organizations, and individuals—all devoted to advancing civil rights protections in the U.S. Throughout the process, they collaborated with each other and learned from each other. These same connective tissues exist today in issues ranging from immigration reform, educational equality, access to healthcare, and other areas where it is necessary to dismantle various forms of discrimination. Understanding the dynamic between Mendez and Brown offers a lesson in shared opportunities, where the struggles and strategies of one group can inform and energize the next. Mendez and Brown tog ether stand for the proposition that we must look for opportunities to share knowledge and strat egies, understanding that we raise the other up in the process. 5 << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false
- 13. /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /None /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated 050SWOP051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error /CompatibilityLevel 1.4 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages true /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.0000 /ColorConversionStrategy /CMYK /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 100 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true /PreserveCopyPage true /PreserveDICMYKValues true /PreserveEPSInfo true
- 14. /PreserveFlatness true /PreserveHalftoneInfo false /PreserveOPIComments true /PreserveOverprintSettings true /StartPage 1 /SubsetFonts true /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve /UsePrologue false /ColorSettingsFile () /AlwaysEmbed [ true ] /NeverEmbed [ true ] /AntiAliasColorImages false /CropColorImages true /ColorImageMinResolution 300 /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleColorImages true /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /ColorImageResolution 300 /ColorImageDepth -1 /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1 /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeColorImages true /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterColorImages true /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /ColorACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /ColorImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >>
- 15. /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000ColorImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 300 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /GrayImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30
- 16. >> /JPEG2000GrayImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict << /K -1 >> /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
- 17. 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False /CreateJDFFile false /Description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f043e043b043704320430043904420435002 004420435043704380020043d0430044104420440043e0439043a 0438002c00200437043000200434043000200441044a043704340 4300432043004420435002000410064006f006200650020005000
- 23. 0065006100640065007200200035002E0030002005D505D205E 805E105D005D505EA002005DE05EA05E705D305DE05D505E A002005D905D505EA05E8002E> /HRV (Za stvaranje Adobe PDF dokumenata najpogodnijih za visokokvalitetni ispis prije tiskanja koristite ove postavke. Stvoreni PDF dokumenti mogu se otvoriti Acrobat i Adobe Reader 5.0 i kasnijim verzijama.) /HUN <FEFF004b0069007600e1006c00f30020006d0069006e01510073 00e9006701710020006e0079006f006d006400610069002000650 06c0151006b00e90073007a00ed007401510020006e0079006f00 6d00740061007400e100730068006f007a0020006c00650067006 9006e006b00e1006200620020006d0065006700660065006c0065 006c0151002000410064006f00620065002000500044004600200 064006f006b0075006d0065006e00740075006d006f006b006100 7400200065007a0065006b006b0065006c0020006100200062006 500e1006c006c00ed007400e10073006f006b006b0061006c0020 006b00e90073007a00ed0074006800650074002e0020002000410 020006c00e90074007200650068006f007a006f00740074002000 500044004600200064006f006b0075006d0065006e00740075006 d006f006b00200061007a0020004100630072006f006200610074 002000e9007300200061007a002000410064006f0062006500200 0520065006100640065007200200035002e0030002c0020007600 610067007900200061007a002000610074007400f3006c0020006 b00e9007301510062006200690020007600650072007a006900f3 006b006b0061006c0020006e00790069007400680061007400f30 06b0020006d00650067002e> /ITA <FEFF005500740069006c0069007a007a0061007200650020007 10075006500730074006500200069006d0070006f007300740061 007a0069006f006e0069002000700065007200200063007200650 0610072006500200064006f00630075006d0065006e0074006900 2000410064006f00620065002000500044004600200070006900f 900200061006400610074007400690020006100200075006e0061 0020007000720065007300740061006d007000610020006400690 0200061006c007400610020007100750061006c0069007400e000
- 25. 006100690020007000720069007400610069006b0079007400690 02000610075006b01610074006f00730020006b006f006b007900 620117007300200070006100720065006e006700740069006e006 90061006d00200073007000610075007300640069006e0069006d 00750069002e0020002000530075006b007500720074006900200 0500044004600200064006f006b0075006d0065006e0074006100 69002000670061006c006900200062016b0074006900200061007 40069006400610072006f006d00690020004100630072006f0062 00610074002000690072002000410064006f00620065002000520 065006100640065007200200035002e0030002000610072002000 760117006c00650073006e0117006d00690073002000760065007 200730069006a006f006d00690073002e> /LVI <FEFF0049007a006d0061006e0074006f006a0069006500740020 0161006f00730020006900650073007400610074012b006a00750 06d00750073002c0020006c006100690020007600650069006400 6f00740075002000410064006f006200650020005000440046002 00064006f006b0075006d0065006e007400750073002c0020006b 006100730020006900720020012b0070006101610069002000700 0690065006d01130072006f007400690020006100750067007300 74006100730020006b00760061006c00690074010100740065007 30020007000690072006d00730069006500730070006900650161 0061006e006100730020006400720075006b00610069002e00200 049007a0076006500690064006f006a0069006500740020005000 44004600200064006f006b0075006d0065006e007400750073002 c0020006b006f0020007600610072002000610074007601130072 00740020006100720020004100630072006f00620061007400200 075006e002000410064006f006200650020005200650061006400 65007200200035002e0030002c0020006b0101002000610072012 b00200074006f0020006a00610075006e0101006b0101006d0020 00760065007200730069006a0101006d002e> /NLD (Gebruik deze instellingen om Adobe PDF-documenten te maken die zijn geoptimaliseerd voor prepress-afdrukken van hoge kwaliteit. De gemaakte PDF-documenten kunnen worden geopend met Acrobat en Adobe Reader 5.0 en hoger.) /NOR
- 31. 0432043e04400435043d045600200434043e043a0443043c04350 43d0442043800200050004400460020043c043e0436043d043000 20043204560434043a04400438044204380020044300200041006 30072006f006200610074002004420430002000410064006f0062 0065002000520065006100640065007200200035002e003000200 4300431043e0020043f04560437043d04560448043e0457002004 3204350440044104560457002e> /ENU (Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents best suited for high-quality prepress printing. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.) >> /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ << /AsReaderSpreads false /CropImagesToFrames true /ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue /FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false /IncludeGuidesGrids false /IncludeNonPrinting false /IncludeSlug false /Namespace [ (Adobe) (InDesign) (4.0) ] /OmitPlacedBitmaps false /OmitPlacedEPS false /OmitPlacedPDF false /SimulateOverprint /Legacy >>
- 32. << /AddBleedMarks false /AddColorBars false /AddCropMarks false /AddPageInfo false /AddRegMarks false /ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK /DestinationProfileName () /DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK /Downsample16BitImages true /FlattenerPreset << /PresetSelector /MediumResolution >> /FormElements false /GenerateStructure false /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles false /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite) (2.0) ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK /PreserveEditing true /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile /UseDocumentBleed false >> ] >> setdistillerparams << /HWResolution [2400 2400]
- 33. /PageSize [612.000 792.000] >> setpagedevice Of the People McGerr, Lewis, Oakes, Cullather, Summers, Townsend, Dunak © 2018 Volume II Since 1865 © 2018 Chapter 19 A United Body of Action 1900—1916 © 2018 The Hull House Choir in Recital, 1910 Chapter 19 American Portrait: Helen Keller Daughter of a wealthy family Graduated college Blind and deaf from illness Rejected individualism, became a reformer Disability rights activist
- 34. © 2018 Toward a New Politics © 2018 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Disasters often galvanized support for new laws. After the March 25, 1911, fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in Greenwich Village killed 146 young workers, many of whom jumped from the seventh, eighth, and ninth stories of the building to escape flames, New York finally enacted legislation on factory safety. The Insecurity of Modern Life Anonymity of urban life felt insecure Chemicals in food and water Patent medicines were unregulated Unsafe tenement housing Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Gov’t corruption © 2018 Population in Cities © 2018 Percentage of the Population Living in Cities, 1890–1920 Cities
- 35. and towns underwent dramatic growth around the turn of the century. Offices, department stores, and new forms of mass entertainment—from vaudeville to professional sports—drew people to the city center. Railroads and trolleys allowed cities to spread outward, segregating residents by class. Source: Paul Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (New York: Random House, 1987), p. 200. The Decline of Partisan Politics Participation in elections declined Literacy tests Campaigns were more educational, less participatory Rise of voluntary and professional associations NAACP, Salvation Army, Sierra Club © 2018 Social Housekeeping Professional women energized reform Many college graduates “New women” Florence Kelley, Margaret Sanger Women’s professional organizations, social clubs National American Woman Suffrage Association National Woman’s Party © 2018 Voter Participation © 2018
- 36. Voter Participation, 1896–1920 After the intense partisanship and high-stakes elections of the 1890s, campaigns became more “educational” and voters lost interest. Evolution or Revolution? Growth of the Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Collective ownership of industry Encourage cooperation rather than competition Social Gospel Industrial Workers of the World, William “Big Bill” Haywood © 2018 The Progressives © 2018 The Hull House Choir in Recital,1910 Chicago, according to Lincoln Steffens, was “loud, lawless, unlovely, ill-smelling, new; an overgrown gawk of a village.” Addams and other settlement workers sought to tame this urban wilderness through culture and activism. Social Workers and Muckrakers Settlement houses Jane Addams, Hull House Social science techniques Reform working conditions
- 37. Muckraking journalists Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair 10-cent magazines © 2018 Struggles for Democracy Public Response to The Jungle Critique of conditions in Packingtown Pro-socialism Outraged consumers Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act © 2018 © 2018 Meat Inspectors Hogs receive a final inspection at Swift & Co., Chicago, 1906. Dictatorship of the Experts Rise in influence of social sciences, professions Faith in scientific advances Eugenics Indiana Plan Distrust of democracy © 2018 Progressives on the Color Line Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- 38. Anti-lynching campaign Reform groups didn’t want to divided over race Eugenics endorsed white supremacy W.E.B. DuBois The Souls of Black Folk Niagara Movement, NAACP © 2018 Ida B. Wells-Barnett with Her Children Ida Wells-Barnett, journalist and activist, made lynching an international issue through her writ- ing and speaking tours. Progressives in State and Local Politics © 2018 Daniel Burnham’s City Plan for Chicago, 1909 Through comprehensive planning, Burnham sought to save cities from “the chaos incident to rapid growth.” He drafted designs for Washington, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Manila. Redesigning the City Aldermen acted as bosses Bribery and corruption Commission governments were appointed, not elected Driven by middle and upper class professionals Targeted “vice” primarily in working class neighborhoods © 2018
- 39. Reform Mayors and City Services Reform mayors cleaned up cities Eight hour day Bought or regulated utilities City Beautiful movement Slum clearance City planners © 2018 Progressives and the States Urban reform was popular in the east Southern progressivism refined segregation, disfranchisement Western states experimented with gov’t Initiative, recall, referendum Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette © 2018 A Push for “Genuine Democracy” and a “Moral Awakening” © 2018 Growth of Public Lands Responding to a national conservation movement, Roosevelt set aside public lands for use as parks and managed-yield forests. The National Park Service was founded in 1916. The Executive Branch Against the Trusts
- 40. Assassination of William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive Believed in the power of gov’t to make change Department of Commerce and Labor, revitalized the Sherman Act Reform laws intended to keep big businesses responsible, not break them up © 2018 The Square Deal Coal strike of 1902 Owners refused to deal with unions Roosevelt threatened the owners into compromise Direct action made the federal government a force in labor disputes © 2018 Conserving Water, Land, and Forests Roosevelt stretched the limits of presidential power Gifford Pinchot, conservation Efficient management of resources Newlands Reclamation Act, 1902 Favored big corporations over small business John Muir, naturalist © 2018 TR and Big Stick Diplomacy Global trade, communication united civilized nations Willing to interfere with uncivilized nations Panama Canal
- 41. Encouraged Panama to secede from Colombia Roosevelt Corollary Economic and military intervention © 2018 Taft and Dollar Diplomacy Direct election of senators, income tax, corporation tax, antitrust enforcement Used economic power for diplomatic purposes Payne-Aldrich Tariff, 1909 © 2018 American Landscape The Hetch Hetchy Valley Spring Valley Water Company monopolized San Francisco’s water Mayor wanted to dam the Hatch Hetchy and ship its water into the city Gifford Pinchot John Muir, Sierra Club Conservation vs. environmentalism © 2018 © 2018 United States in the Caribbean © 2018
- 42. United States in the Caribbean US troops intervened repeatedly in the Caribbean and Central America to protect investments and guard against perceived threats to order. Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic were under nearly constant US occupation until the mid-1920s. Source: Thomas Paterson et al., American Foreign Relations (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1995), vol. 2, pp. 55, 40. Rival Visions of the Industrial Future © 2018 The Election of 1912 The election pitted rival visions of progressivism against each other. The decentralized regulation of Wilson’s “New Freedom” had more appeal than Roosevelt’s far-reaching “New Nationalism.” The New Nationalism Elimination of corporate campaign contributions, regulation of industrial combinations, tariffs set by commission, graduated income tax, banking reorganization, national worker’s compensation program Roosevelt vs. Taft for Republican nomination © 2018 The 1912 Election Woodrow Wilson was an economist, favored executive power Considered himself a progressive Louis Brandeis New Freedom
- 43. Individualism rather than collective interest © 2018 The New Freedom Lower tariffs, increased competition, antitrust enforcement Underwood-Simmons Tariff, Tariff Commission Federal Reserve Act of 1913 Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act Warehouse Act © 2018