Topics that should be covered with each PROBLEM:
Cities – sanitation, housing, safety (fire codes, streets), Tenement Act
Labor – unions, child labor, wages, hours conditions, department of labor, immigrant workers
Consumer – FDR, Meat Inspection, muckrakers, Upton Sinclair
Women’s Rights – voting, public office, juries, jobs
Government Corruption – 17th Amendment, referendum, recall, initiative, Square Deal, elections
Muckraking – Jacob Riis, tenements, Upton Sinclair and The Jungle, Lincoln Steffens, workplace reform
Racism – NAACP, ADL, veterans, Native Americans, other minorities
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Problem #1: Cities |
Cities grew rapidly with the promise of jobs in factories and offices. With the rapid growth in population cities were faced with multiple problems, some of which were life threatening. |
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Problem #2: Labor |
With the rise of big business, many people including women and children began working for large companies. Relationships between business owners and workers was much more impersonal and therefore problems were not dealt with in a timely manner, if at all. |
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Problem #3: Consumer |
With the growth of cities, the demand for large quantities of food increased. Consumers typically grew their own food or bought it from a small store. Companies were now mass producing food and shipping it long distances. |
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Problem #4: Women’s Rights |
Women had been denied equal rights since our founding fathers wrote the Constitution. Some states were beginning to take steps in the right direction, but many inequalities still existed. |
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Problem #5: Government Corruption |
Government had become increasingly influenced by public interest groups in the years following the Civil War. Many public office holders at every level of government were frequently bribed and elections were often unfair. Big businesses were at the heart of this controversy. |
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Problem #6: Progressive Muckrakers |
The rapid growth of industry caused tremendous hardships on the poor. Who were the Muckrakers and what did they do to help expose the injustices of society? What problems did they expose? |
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Problem #7: Racism and Discrimination |
African-Americans, Jews, Native Americans and other minorities were faced with consistent racism in many forms in the post-Civil War years and into the 1900’s. |
