Social Issues During The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was a time when a diverse group of critics and reformers came together to solve the issues within America. During this period of time there were tensions between the ideals of social justice and the urge for social control, but because of these tensions many achievements can now be associated with this.
The main groups during this period of time were the Muckrakers, Women Reformers, and African Americans. The Muckrakers were small groups of investigative reporters that wrote for the middle-class readers in a magazine called McClure’s. These journalists wrote about economic, social, and political evils that were affecting America. When the middle-class Americans read what was being published in this magazine they were outraged, …show more content…
The government was becoming corrupt on all levels and it started to affect society; the cities were filling with immigrants, slums were becoming popular places for living and they were becoming places of crime and poverty, which was spreading at an extreme pace. Progressives sought out to solve these problems by ending the abusive powers and by getting rid of unfair privileges, to do so they started the social justice movement. Many women were on the front lines of this movement, they wanted to see changes in the factories, abolish child labor, improve living conditions, and achieve women’s suffrage; some key women that were involved were Florence Kelly, Jane Addams, and Sidney Hillman. Florence Kelly wanted to make factories safer and wanted to improve the working conditions, she was the advocate of consumer protection legislation. Jane Addams was a social worker and she founded the Hull House, a place that would help and benefit many immigrants. The Hull house offered a day care for working mothers who were unable to take care of their children, a kindergarten so these children could be educated, and a boys club for the older children. The hull house was beneficial for the neighborhood because it provided a safe place for children to go and to keep them off the …show more content…
Unfortunately the Progressives did not accomplish enough and didn’t conquer some of the major issues, although it wasn’t their faults because the courts had rejected many of the reforms, though many of the reforms regarding politics were in place people were afraid to use them because no one wanted to get involved and challenge political figures. The Senate had not changed; the political machines conformed to the new systems. The reformers also didn’t become involved enough with the tariffs or the railroads, they put their own agenda before the people’s opinion. Another major downfall of the progressive reformers was the fact that they never got involved with the issues minorities were dealing with, like the Asian and Native Americans. They sought out to only help people but only when it was beneficial to them, leaving the African Americans, Asian and Native Americans to fend for themselves. They did accomplish great things like, ending the abusive powers, getting rid of unfair privileges, making factories safer, abolish child labor, improve living conditions, and improve the meat packing industry. Although they had accomplished many reforms they did not solve the major issues that were going on, they wanted to improve America and make it an equal place for all to inhabit but