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The Progressive Era

Decent Essays

The Progressive Era was a plentiful time period when Americans wanted to make America better. According to Brinkley, “Not even those who called themselves progressives could agree on what the term meant, for it was a phenomenon of great scope and diversity” (Brinkley 487). These progressives were tired of America’s stereotypes, such as women only being mothers and African Americans being seen as slaves. This generation fought for what they believed in, and for the most part, eventually succeeded. My strong beliefs would lead me to be a rights of labor, women’s suffrage, and immigration progressive. The rights of labor movement covered a wide range of laws that needed to be enforced in the workplace. Some of these laws included striking …show more content…

Being a woman had restrictions in many different areas like voting, education, and professions. One main challenge that women faced during the progressive era was “exclusion from emerging profession” (Brinkley 493). There were many different forms of women’s suffrage movements. Women were concerned about more than just themselves, according to Costain, “women's rights activists are also fundamentally concerned with the advocacy of nonviolence” (Costain). Women wanted more than just jobs, voting, and higher education. They wanted to be seen as equal. They wanted stereotypes such as “the housewife” to stop.
While some women made their opinion known by “joining women’s clubs”, others wanted broader statements to be made by forming and joining the “National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), lead by Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Chatt that grew from about 13,000 to over 2 million members in 1917” (Brinkley 494, 495). Women’s clubs were a smaller way of women coming together. These clubs started as a small idea, but rapidly expanded. Brinkley states, “In 1892, when women formed the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, there were more than 100,000 members in nearly 500 clubs. By 1917, there were over 1 million members” (Brinkley 494). Women’s Clubs were harmless. According to Costain, “This reinforces the tactical decision of nearly all women's advocacy groups to employ exclusively nonviolent methods” (Costain). Women’s clubs were widely known as

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