Famous People of the Progressive Era

John Muir

(1838-1914) Naturalist who believed the wilderness should be preserved in its natural state. He was largely responsible for the creation of Yosemite National Park in California. Fought for conservation of resources by writing articles that led Teddy Roosevelt to expand national parks

Frances Willard

(1839-1898) She founded the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). This group was concerned about the destructive effects of alcohol. This group would be instrumental in pushing for the 18th amendment that prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

Thomas Nast

(1840-1902) A political muckraking cartoonist. He helped turn public attention to the corruption of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. He refused bribes to stop criticism. Came up with political party symbols and Santa.

Carry Nation

(1846-1911) After her husband died from heavy drinking, she wanted to get rid of any kind of liquor. One thing she did to prove her point was smashing beer kegs and liquor bottles with a hatchet in saloons.

Jacob Riis

(1849-1914) A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.

Booker T. Washington

(1856-1915) African American progressive who supported segregation and demanded that African American better themselves individually to achieve equality. Founded Tuskegee institute. elt that African Americans should work for equality slowly and patiently.

Ida Tarbell

(1857-1944) Investigative journalist; she wrote a report condemning the corrupt business practices of John D. Rockefeller in McClure's magazine. These articles became the basis for her book, The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904.

Florence Kelley

(1859-1932) An investigator for sweatshop conditions, first inspector for the state of illinois. Her main concern was child labor, and organized a boycott of products made with child labor. In 1893 she helped persuade Illinois to prohibit child labor and limit the number of hours women worked; helped found the National Child Labor Committee

Carrie Chapman Catt

(1859-1947) A suffragette who was president of the National Women's Suffrage Association, and founder of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Instrumental in obtaining passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Jane Addams

(1860-1935) Founder of the settlement house movement. Created the Hull House to help the inner-city poor and immigrants. Provided health care, and education to those in need.

Ida B. Wells

(1862-1931) Activist for anti-lynching laws and co-founder of the NAACP (with W.E.B Dubois). An African American journalist that published articles & statistics about lynching. She urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcars or shop in white owned stores.

W.E.B Du Bois

(1868-1963) An American civil rights activist. He became the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910, becoming founder and editor of the NAACP's journal The Crisis.

Upton Sinclair

(1878-1968) Published a book called The Jungle in 1906 with gruesome details about a meatpacking factory in Chicago. His book led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Alice Paul

(1885-1977) Founded the National Woman's Party in 1916 which pushed for women's voting rights. She tried a more aggressive tactic in protesting by going on hunger strikes and chaining herself to the gates of the White House.

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

Teddy Roosevelt

26th President, from 1901-1909, passed two acts that purified meat, took over in 1901 when McKinley was shot, Went after trusts, formed the "Bull Moose Party", wanted to build the Panama canal, and make our Navy ( military stronger )

William Taft

27th president of the U.S.; he angered progressives by moving cautiously toward reforms and by supporting the Payne-Aldrich Tariff; he lost Roosevelt's support and was defeated for a second term.

Woodrow Wilson

28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize

Marcus Garvey

African American leader durin the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. Was deported to Jamaica in 1927.

Lucy Burns

Alice Paul's partner, campaigned for 19th amendment' a fierce activist for women's rights in the United States as well as in the U.K., very good friends with Alice Paul with whom she founded the National Women's Party; (most of the stuff we saw in the movie was true: imprisonment, attending Oxford University (amongst other schools: Vassar, Columbia, Yale))

Margaret Sanger

American leader of the movement to legalize birth control during the early 1900's. As a nurse in the poor sections of New York City, she had seen the suffering caused by unwanted pregnancy. Founded the first birth control clinic in the U.S. and the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood.

Terence Powderly

He led the Knights of Labor, a skilled and unskilled union, wanted equal pay for equal work, an 8hr work day and to end child labor. (social reform)

John Dewey

He was a philosopher who believed in "learning by doing" which formed the foundation of progressive education. He believed that the teachers' goal should be "education for life and that the workbench is just as important as the blackboard."

Samuel Gompers

He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.

Eugene V. Debs

Head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike; he was imprisoned along with his associates for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. While in prison, he read Socialist literature and emerged as a Socialist leader in America.

Lincoln Steffens

United States journalist who exposes in 1906 started an era of muckraking journalism (1866-1936), Writing for McClure's Magazine, he criticized the trend of urbanization with a series of articles under the title Shame of the Cities.

Robert M. La Follette Sr.

fought large trusts, especially corporations

Susan b anthony

social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Assosiation