African Americans and Women in The Progressive Era

 

African-Americans:

        Generally did NOT benefit from changes of progressive period

        Wilson issued order to segregate post-offices and federal buildings

        Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 sanctioned public segregation

        Racist tension and lynchings increased during the Progressive period

        Progressives failed to act because:

                they shared prejudices of the times

                they considered other more broad based reforms as more critical

 

Booker T. Washington: Atlanta Exposition Address

        Head of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and former slave

        Need for education and economic progress are foremost

        Concentrate on learning industrial skill for better wages

        Political and social equality would eventually follow economic equality

 

W.E.B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk 1903

        Northern born, Harvard educated

        Demanded equal rights for all Americans

        Political and social rights are prerequisites for economic independence

       

Migration 1910 to 1930:

        90% of blacks lived in the south in 1900

        millions began moving northward because of:

                deteriorating race relations

                boll weevil’s destruction of cotton crops

                job opportunities in north created by World War One draft

        1940 to 1970 4 million more African-Americans moved north

 

Organizations:

        1905 W.E.B. DuBois formed Niagara Movement to discuss program for

                protest and action

        1908 the Niagara Movement along with a group of white progressives

                formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored

                People (NAACP)

        NAACP's goal was to eliminate segregation and increase educational

                opportunities

        National Urban League 1911 was formed to help those migrating from

                the south with an emphasis on self-reliance and economic

                advancement

 

Women:

        renewed period of activism for feminism in the younger generation of

            women

        not wholly endorsed by progressive men (Wilson refused call for

                suffrage amendment until the end of his presidency) 

        not wholly endorsed by all women either 

        Carrie Chapman Catt led the National American Women Suffrage

                Association (NAWSA)

        Catt argued that the vote would broaden democracy and empower

                women to more actively care for their families, sought

                constitutional amendment for suffrage

        Militant suffragettes used parades, mass pickets, and hunger strikes:

                Alice Paul in 1916 formed the National Women’s party

        19th Amendment: brought about because of women’s contributions to

                the war effort and repeated demonstrations at the White House

        Catt then formed the League of Women Voters dedicated to keeping

                voters informed about candidates and issues

        Other issues included educational equality, liberalizing marriage and

                divorce law,reducing discrimination in workplace, recognizing right

                to own property