The Era of the Progressive Movement

Response 3

The era of the progressive movement helped reform and improve working conditions for the nation. Out of this movement came the muckrakers. They were freelance journalist that would expose political corruption, terrible work conditions, and the gap between the wealthy and poor (Power Point, Age of Reform). A prime example of muckraking would be Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” (Power Point, Age of Reform). “The Jungle” was about a meatpacking plant and how they did things. This was all before there were any safety and health regulations. So, the meat you would buy from the store could have anything from rat feces to dirt in it. It was not until President Roosevelt read this book that regulations started coming to be.

The progressive movement brought reforms to improve the working conditions in the US. The National Consumers’ League (NCL) was formed and fought against sweat shops and child labor (Power Point, Age of Reform). This was a huge deal in this time. To have an organization that backed the working class in their strikes and protest was a massive turning point in getting safer conditions and better pay. The NCL also fought largely against sweat shops and child labor. The children of this time were worked to death, and in some instances literally worked to death. In these working areas for children they were very unsafe and small. These kids were also using power tools and giant machinery that was extremely dangerous for men. Not only were children put into harsh working conditions but women too.

It took years for women to start making some ground in the equal rights race against man. In a way, it took a huge factory disaster in the 1900’s to turn the tide. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory burned down and killed 145 women workers (Triangle Shirtwaist Fire). This factory was a disgrace of a building. The young women would work 12 hour days, in a building that had only one functional elevator, two stairways that weren’t usable, and a plethora of sewing machines that cramped the work space (Triangle Shirtwaist Fire). No wonder so many died, this factory was a standing death trap. This incident was so famous because of how eerie it was to watch. You would here all the screams of the trapped woman and eventually the body’s falling to the ground from them jumping to escape the fire (Triangle Shirtwaist Fire). This incident helped bring light on reforms over all US sweatshops or factories to create safer working conditions.

Certain women like Crystal Eastman fought for rights to contraceptives (birth control). She was one of the few that believed feminism now needed to focus more on birth control. Most feminist in this time were all for right to vote and safer working conditions, but were still uninformed about birth control. Eastman argued that the women who still want children and love should be able to dictate the terms of when (Women’s Right to Birth Control).  No matter how talented and dedicated they are to fulfilling their dreams, having children requires them to put extra work in comparison to men with the same talents (Women’s Right to Birth Control).