Chapter 17

1. Chapter 17 The Progressive Movement World War I The Great Depression

2. Question • 1. Why did the Progressive Movement begin?

3. Progressives • In the late 19th century, cities were growing and workplaces were changing. • Problems started to arise in overcrowded cities and in the various workplaces. • The middle class objected to paying taxes to corrupt city governments, and… • Desired better city services • The Progressive Movement begins Crowded city scene from the 1900s

4. Question • 2. What were the goals of the Progressive Movement? • 3. Who helped the Progressives locally & nationally?

5. Progressives • Wanted to • Reform corrupt government, • End the monopolies of Big Business • Improve the conditions of the industrial working class • Address the problems of both immigrants and migrants • Started at the city & state level with progressive mayors & governors • Gained support at the national level with the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt John D. Rockefeller was America’s first billionaire and was often accused of having a monopoly in the oil business.

6. Question • 4. What is a “muckraking” journalist?

7. Progressives Muckraking magazines like McClure’s tried to “expose” government corruption, even if there wasn’t any. • Progressivism reached a large audience through the work of ‘muckraking’ journalists. • Sensationalized stories of the corruption & evils of American Society • They were able to form a national political party under the leadership of Roosevelt. • However, the Progressive ideals were often in conflict with the cultural values of those whom they attempted to reform.

8. “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair: • There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them, they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. • http://college.cengage.com/history/us/resources/students/primary/meat.htm

9. Question • 5. Why did the Progressives support temperance & prohibition? • Temperance- urging reduced use of alcohol • Prohibition-national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol

10. Progressives • Examples of this conflict are: • Progressives supported temperance & prohibition as a way to improve morality • people’s belief of what is right and wrong • Conflicted with the cultures of many of the immigrants groups that they wanted to ‘help’ such as the Italians, the Irish and the Germans. • Progressives also supported limitations on child labor, but working class families needed their children to bring needed income to the family. Child labor was a large problem in the US. Many parents kept their children out of school to work because they needed the money.

11. Question • 6. Why did some southerners (like Tillman) consider taking voting rights away from African Americans a Progressive Movement?

12. Progressives • South Carolinians were not interested in promoting the rights of African Americans or in solving the problems of new immigrants, since few came to the state. • For Southerners, such as Ben Tillman, disfranchising the African American was seen as a progressive reform • Such an act removed from politics a group viewed as being inferior to whites and not able to make intelligent decisions. Political cartoon from 1897 that portrays African American disfranchisement as a step back towards slavery.

13. Question • 7. What were the major issues of the Progressives in South Carolina?

14. Progressives • The major issues of the progressives in SC included… • child labor, fair treatment for workers, temperance, women’s suffrage, and improving education. • Like with the Populist Movement, Progressive South Carolinians did not want to join the national movement or party but instead, worked within the Democratic Party. Poster showing how child labor hurts the children in the long run.

15. Question • 8a. In SC, who supported child labor reform? • 8b. In SC, who opposed child labor reform?

16. Progressives Child laborers in textile mills • Although the North was focused on the cities & the South was focused on the mill villages, both regions supported reforms. • Like Northern muckraker journalists, newspapers in South Carolina supported child labor reform, as did women’s groups of both races. • Mill owners were opposed because child labor laws took away a cheap source of labor.

17. Progressives • Progressives were able to pass some child labor laws that, at first, set the minimum age to work at ten • Later it was raised to twelve. • Progressives were also focused on issues of health • diseases spread through mill villages • Literacy • mill workers remained largely illiterate Child laborers working on a textile machine.

18. Question • 9. What did the women of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia do to reform hospitals in SC?

19. Progressives • Although, there was an already existing in SC state hospital for the mentally ill that had been around since the early 1800s, there was a need for more hospital reforms. • The women of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia established the first tuberculosis treatment center in the state on the outskirts of Columbia. 1900s SC hospital ward and nurse

20. Question • 10. How did women’s groups in SC bring about reform?

21. Progressives • Nationally, many young educated women took a leading role in promoting social reform during the progressive movement. • In South Carolina, • Women’s clubs who were part of the SC Federation of Women’s Clubs & their national federation promoted prohibition • Encouraged civic responsibility • Helped create the state’s education reforms, including a mandatory attendance law and increased funding Women’s club from 1922

22. Question • 11. What was the goal of African American clubs and institutions?

23. Progressives • Money was raised by women’s leagues to build libraries in places such as Darlington and Newberry. • However, there were separate facilities for African-American and white citizens, which reflected the social views of the time. • African American women formed clubs that promoted better health and education in their communities. African American women’s club from New York

24. Question • 12. Why did SC push for a Prohibition Law?

25. Progressives • The state, and nation, pushed for a prohibition law (banning the sale of alcohol)… • In order to help stop socially unacceptable behaviors that were caused by alcohol • In 1892, Governor Tillman created the State Dispensary system because he thought that total prohibition would cause too many problems. • The dispensary became a very corrupt organization and was used by good government progressives to prove their point. Bottle from the SC Dispensary

26. Progressives • By the early 1900s, local governments addressed the issue and over 20 out of the 43 counties in SC had passed prohibition laws and were “dry” counties. • In 1915, the state passed a prohibition law • In 1918 the 18th amendment changed the United States Constitution to outlaw the sale and distribution of alcohol. • Many South Carolinians engaged in making, distributing or drinking illegal alcohol, as did people throughout the United States. Prohibition propaganda posters

27. Question • 13. What effects did the failure of prohibition have on SC?

28. Progressives • Prohibition was a failure in SC, just as it was in the rest of the country • It created a social phenomenon • It led to an increase in crime and corruption as ‘bootleggers’ and ‘moonshiners’ violated the law. • Conservatives were outraged by the moral decline and violation of the law from the bootleggers. • Blue laws were strictly enforced • The Ku Klux Klan found a new target in the immoral bootleggers and immigrant groups who continued to drink. Moonshine stills

29. Progressives • African-American club women and institutions such as the Urban League and the National Association for the Advanced of Colored People (which included such progressives as W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells Barnett) wanted to improve conditions for African Americans. • However, other progressives wanted to reform politics and society by limiting the rights of African Americans. W.E.B. Dubois Ida Wells Barnett

30. Question • 14. Women’s right to vote did not bring about any radical change in SC - Why?

31. Progressives • South Carolina’s Equal Rights Association of women continued to pushed for women’s suffrage, however, few women in the state participated. • President Woodrow Wilson finally recognized women’s contributions to the war effort by supporting a suffrage amendment to the Constitution. • SC legislature did not ratify the 19th amendment until 1967, but women in SC could vote because other states ratified the law. • However, this did not bring about any radical political change since women tended to vote as their husbands did. Women’s suffrage activists

32. Question • 15. What did each SC governor do to support the Progressive Movement?

33. Progressives Robert Cooper • Several state governors also played a role in promoting reforms in South Carolina. • Governor Robert Cooper 1919-1922 • Supported raising taxes to increase spending on public education • Supported a law that increased the amount of time students were to spend in school to 7 months • South Carolina high school graduation rates, especially African American high schools, were extremely low due to a limited numbers of high schools provided by the state. African American schoolhouse near Aiken SC

34. Progressives • Coleman Blease 1911-1915 • Followed in the tradition of Ben Tillman and used racist rhetoric to become governor. • Efforts to establish law and order and limit lynching were undermined by Governor Blease. • He was a Progressive but • Protected the rights of the mill workers (who resented people telling them when to send their children to school or that they should get vaccinated against disease) against the “do-gooder” middle class progressives. Governor Coleman Blease

35. Progressives • Governor Richard Manning 1915-1919 • A Progressive governor with a Progressive General Assembly. • He helped to establish a fair tax system that enforced income taxes for all South Carolinians, established schools, improved the administration of hospitals, and paved South Carolina’s roads. • The South Carolina Highway Department was created in 1917 and the government supported the construction of new roads for increased automobile traffic. Governor Richard Manning

36. World War I • Many South Carolinians embraced the idea that good government could improve the lives of the state’s people. • World War I brought an end to the progressive movement but not an end to the problems the movement had tried to address. The sinking of the Lusitania passenger ship in 1917 began the American involvement in World War I and was the force behind many enlistments

37. Question • 16. What did both white & black South Carolinians do to support WW1?

38. World War I • When the US entered World War I in 1917, there was a revival of patriotism in South Carolina. • Both white and African American South Carolinians… • Signed up for the draft • Contributed to bond drives • Did their part to conserve food and fuel for the front Uncle Sam was first seen on a US recruiting poster during World War I.

39. Question • 17. Why did African Americans join the service during WW1?

40. World War I • Many South Carolinians served in the American Expeditionary Force with distinction. • African Americans volunteered for service in World War I to prove their patriotism and make a claim to equal treatment under the law. • However, all wartime activity remained segregated. Above: The American Expeditionary Force’s officers Right: Lt Charles Hamilton

41. World War I • National distrust of Germans were reflected in local decisions. • A German language newspaper in Charleston was shut down. • The German-named town of Hamburg was changed to North Augusta. • Although some South Carolinians opposed the war, their voices were silenced by the sedition act. WW I anti German propaganda

42. Question • 18. How did SC benefit from the creation of new military bases in Columbia, Spartanburg, and Greenville?

43. World War I • Economically, SC benefited from the war. • New military bases were constructed at Camp Jackson in Columbia, and in Spartanburg and Greenville. • These bases led to jobs and improved the local economy • The Charleston Navy Yard and the United States Marine Corps base at Parris Island grew to meet the needs of wartime. Camp Jackson and Major General Charles J. Bailey, Commanding General, Camp Jackson, 1917.

44. Question • 19. Why did crop prices increase during the war? • 20. What were many South Carolinians (especially black) doing for work?

45. Social Changes • Crop prices increased as a result of World War I. • Crops were needed to feed the soldiers in Europe, which caused South Carolina’s farmers to gain more money. • Even though the farm economy improved, many South Carolinians, especially African Americans, found jobs in industries of the North. • Between 1900 & 1910, over 200,000 African Americans migrated from the South to the North. Map of states’ emigration. Blue states lost the most people, pink states gained the most people.

46. Question • 21. What did African American South Carolinians who served in the war experience?

47. Social Changes • African American emigration (moving to a different place within a country) continued as many were moving to industrial jobs in the North. • African American emigrants found a degree of independence, community, and economic opportunity that allowed their culture to flourish. • However… • African-American South Carolinians who had served their country in the ‘war to make the world safe for democracy’ returned to a racist South Carolina. Segregated water fountains were allowed if they were “separate but equal.”

48. Question • 22. What happened in Charleston in 1919 following a meeting held by African Americans to protest the Jim Crow Laws?

49. Social Changes • In early 1919, a convention of African Americans met in Charleston to protest against Jim Crow and restrictions on voting, and to ask for improvements in schools. • Later in the year, a race riot in Charleston, sparked by a white attack on African American citizens, claimed the lives of 3 African Americans. • Similar riots occurred in other parts of the country. Throughout the South many African Americans, some still in their army uniforms, were lynched in the year after the war ended. Tuskegee University documented the amount of lynchings that took place from 1882-1968.