Dear Family
Over the coming weeks, our United States history class will be studying the Progressive Era. The following information will give you some background to the content your student will be studying.
At the end of the nineteenth century, new challenges faced American society as a result of industrialization, urbanization, and increased immigration. In response to these challenges, the idea of Progressivism emerged to help the United States balance social advance with social justice. Progressive reformers struggled against corruption in government and poor living and working conditions in cities. Journalists and other writers know as muckrakers played an important role in bringing public attention to the many problems facing the United States during this period. Photographer Jacob Riis published images of shocking urban poverty, and novelists Upton Sinclair and Frank Norris produced novels that reveled the corruption of and abysmal working conditions in American industries.
Progressivism sought to improve the conditions in many different areas of American life. In the early 1900s, reformers fought to end child labor and to provide educational opportunities to all children. Educators such as John Dewey introduced revolutionary ideas regarding teaching methods and curricula. At the same time, suffragists fought to gain the right to vote for women, and African American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and others led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
During the early 1900s, United States Presidents began to execute changes based on Progressive ideals. President Theodore Roosevelt implemented programs to regulate big business and to protect natural resources. President Woodrow Wilson introduced legislation to protect workers’ rights and sought to increase the federal government’s role in the economy by centralizing oversight of the banking industry.
In the weeks ahead, your student may wish to share what he or she is learning with you. Please participate in your child’s education through discussion and involvement.
Sincerely
Paul Goike
Over the coming weeks, our United States history class will be studying the Progressive Era. The following information will give you some background to the content your student will be studying.
At the end of the nineteenth century, new challenges faced American society as a result of industrialization, urbanization, and increased immigration. In response to these challenges, the idea of Progressivism emerged to help the United States balance social advance with social justice. Progressive reformers struggled against corruption in government and poor living and working conditions in cities. Journalists and other writers know as muckrakers played an important role in bringing public attention to the many problems facing the United States during this period. Photographer Jacob Riis published images of shocking urban poverty, and novelists Upton Sinclair and Frank Norris produced novels that reveled the corruption of and abysmal working conditions in American industries.
Progressivism sought to improve the conditions in many different areas of American life. In the early 1900s, reformers fought to end child labor and to provide educational opportunities to all children. Educators such as John Dewey introduced revolutionary ideas regarding teaching methods and curricula. At the same time, suffragists fought to gain the right to vote for women, and African American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and others led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
During the early 1900s, United States Presidents began to execute changes based on Progressive ideals. President Theodore Roosevelt implemented programs to regulate big business and to protect natural resources. President Woodrow Wilson introduced legislation to protect workers’ rights and sought to increase the federal government’s role in the economy by centralizing oversight of the banking industry.
In the weeks ahead, your student may wish to share what he or she is learning with you. Please participate in your child’s education through discussion and involvement.
Sincerely
Paul Goike