Progressivism Definition A large social movement that arose

Progressivism Definition A large social “movement” that arose to expose and fix social problems

Who Were the Progressives? ■ ■ Most progressives were white, Protestant, middle to upper class, young, and educated professionals. Many were women concerned with issues such as poverty, child labor, immigrant living conditions, spousal abuse, alcohol, women’s equality & voting rights and racial and ethnic prejudice.

What did Progressives Worry About? 1. Cities are Crowded and Dirty

Test Question: What did most of the major cities of the Industrial Progressive Era all have in common geographically?

They were by WATER!!! Duh!

Cities Were Crowded and Dirty

A. Specific 1. Children and Families Problems? lacked clean air and open spaces to play in.

Tenement Housing: hastily built, crowded apartments for immigrants

Ethnic Enclaves: tenement city neighborhoods characterized by the ethnic immigrant groups that settled within them. Polish Detroit, 1900

Detroit’s Ethnic Enclaves ■ ■ ■ Corktown (Irish neighborhood – west side – by old Tiger Stadium) Germantown (east of Woodward Ave. – by Ford Field) Greektown (most visited commercial area within Detroit – restaurants & bakeries) Poletown (old west side of Detroit around Michigan Ave. & Modern Hamtramack) Mexican Village (southwest Detroit- popular gathering spot for suburbanites)

Corktown (Detroit’s Oldest Enclave) Old Tiger Stadium

Greektown (Detroit)

Mexicantown (SW Detroit)

2. Basic services are not provided (running water, sewage, trash pick-up, etc. . )

3. Cities were dangerous places to live

Cramped Sleeping Quarters, 1889

Urban Saloon, 1890

B. How did Progressives expose the problem? Progressives used many methods to draw attention to the problems in the cities. We will focus on then new use of technology— photography.

Jacob Riis (c. 1890) A Danish-born immigrant who taught himself photography to document the problems in the tenements. ■ Published How the Other Half Lives (1890) ■ "I came to take up photography. . . not exactly as a pastime. It was never that for me. I had to use it, and beyond that I never went. " ■

Jacob Riis, 1888 -1892 *

Jacob Riis, 1888 -1892 *

Jacob Riis, 1888 -1892 3 Jacob Riis, 1888 -1892 *

■ ■ Hine showed the human side of social problems by photographing immigrants and laborers His photos helped show the problem of child labor. Lewis Hine (c. 1910)

Lewis Hine, 1908 -1909 *

Lewis Hine, 1908 -1909 *

Lewis Hine, 1908 -1909 *

Lewis Hine, 1908 -1909 *

Lewis Hine, 1908 -1909 *

Besides photography what other ways do you suppose Progressives used to expose the problems of the late 1800 s & early 1900 s? ? ? Newspaper articles / editorials ■ Wrote books exposing problems ■ Held meetings & rallies ■ Organized marches ■

Question for Today: How do modern day progressives draw attention to social problems?

Michigan’s own and often controversial filmmaker, Michael Moore, creates documentary films to highlight what he believes are social problems plaguing our society

C. How did Progressives try to fix the city problem? 1. 2. 3. Demanded Fire safety codes Demanded Government regulation over businesses (pollution control), housing (safer & affordable), and city services (trash pick up, sewage) Started campaigns to build new public parks for recreation

D. Were the Progressives Successful? ■ ■ Urban Living Conditions improved significantly Public parks, sewers, transportation lines, and housing were built Government regulation brought new safety laws and sanitary codes But some Progressives helped to segregate Black and White, Rich and Poor, Immigrant and Native born Americans

Conditions Improved

City Services Offered (Sewer, c. 1920) Crappy Job?

Parks Built and Maintained (Belle Isle in Detroit)

But Poverty and Segregation remained

Why do you think some Progressives promoted (favored) segregation?

The End