The Progressive Era
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there were many problems in the present american life. On document would be about Jacob Riis, a man who believed the people deserved better even if they lived in the slums. Child labor the fear of parents would allow their child to work and the possibility of them getting hurt. Child labor in the 1800’s to the 1900’s were unsafe for everyone including children. “ The Jungle” was a book of exposing meat packaging system. Expanding Democracy would cause a amendment to be passed, due to issues the people were having with the Senate. The Bosses of the Senate were men who tried to control everyone's business. And finally Susan B. Anthony, a strong minded women who believed all women had
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“Riis argued for better housing, sanitation, and the construction of city parks and playgrounds. ” This quote represents what Jacob Riis believed, the city needed to be changed. The city of NYC was dreadful(causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious). People were not being treated well. Many lived outside, and many were dead in the streets. Jacob Riis created the book “How the Other Half Lives” (1890), to show not only the public what has been going on but also the government. President Theodore Roosevelt responded personally to Riis: “I have read your book, and I have come to help.” Both men believed in "Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness? Wind! says the slum, and the slum is right if we let it be. We cannot get rid of the tenements that shelter two million souls in New York today," This is a quote that Jacob Riis used in the “MAKING OF AMERICA” It also became an important predecessor to the muckraking journalism that took shape in the United States after 1900. The city of New York went from being a horrific place to changing into a home where people can be proud to come from. This would of nevered happened if Jacob Riis didn’t speak up. Riis changed/helped many lives. He got attention from men way above him( Theodore Roosevelt), doing so created a solution for the …show more content…
This benefits their business because children between the ages 10-15 gave them more of an opportunity to use their business for illegal ways. The word Child Labor means- the use of children in industry or business, especially when illegal or considered inhumane. From the years 1890 to 1920 the percent of working children dramatically changed. In 1890 to 1920 the percent of children went from 18.1 to 11.3. Just in a 30 year difference the percent of children working from the ages of 10 to 15 years of age went to 6.8% between the years of 1890 to 1920. Business owners had children working unsafe jobs, and that was a problem. In the 1900’s child labor laws went to effect, Laws came from all corners of the world to make sure children are at the appropriate age to work. By 1899, 28 states had passed laws due to child labor. Then, in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. This changed the age of work for a minor dramastically. 16 for work during school hours, 14 for certain jobs after school, and 18 for dangerous work. Or any job without having to worry about the age. Today all the states and the U.S. government have laws regulating child labor. These laws have cured the worst evils of children working in factories. The laws that were passed down were very helpful for many children, it saved many
How the Other Half Lives Jacob Riis, photojournalist and author of How the Other Half Lives depicts the unbearable living conditions of the New York City tenement taken place during the era of the Progression. How the Other Half Lives was written in first person, therefore, Riis’s research and writings came from events he experienced himself living in the tenements. Jacob Riis made photojournalism popular. He was a Danish immigrant along with being a social reformer and pioneer. Migration was one of the main causes to the overcrowding living situations of in New York City.
Charities as well as financial, housing provisions might not be the best solutions to the increase of crimes: the problem had to be solved where it rooted. As Jacob Riis suggested, the cause of it is most likely because of both legal and illegal immigration: “In New York, the youngest of the world’s great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain” (365). Riis also implied that community gave those people - the “other half” no other choice; yet they had more choice than most: they were living in a city much younger than others, less crowded and many of them were immigrants who moved to New York by choice - conscious choice made rather recently, to say the least. Furthermore, Jacob Riis was quick to discard the fact that having this kind of agency may have been a spark to the riots - the unquenchable desire for better lives coupled with an unwillingness to accept reality as it is.
Nikodem Dupre 5/20/18 After the Fact by James West Davidson is a text on the various methods a historian has at his disposal to help interpret the events of the past. The authors are both historians and History professors specializing in American history, and they draw from the historical backdrop of the Assembled States to give delineations of the ideas they look to depict. One example is how Jacob Riis in Chapter 9 helped shaped the low income working class. Riis had started capturing the insides and outsides of New York ghettos with a glimmer light.
The industry owners got children to work for them because the owners didn’t have to pay them as much money like how they have to pay adult workers a lot more money compared to the children. Weren’t able to go to school like we can today because they had to go to work everyday instead of learning. The child labor problem decreased from the 18.1 in the 1890s to 11.3 in the 1920s. In 1938 congress passed a law called Fair Labor Standards to get rid of child labor in our country. During the Progressive movement our state legislatures were corrupt and only had the rich being able to be chosen to be our state senators not the People.
Due to the fact that industry grew so rapidly and work in factories was the main source of income for majority of families, more and more children were working. Many social reformers and educators spoke out about the detrimental mental and physical effects child labor had on most of America’s youth (Doc C). In 1816, during Wilson’s presidency, the Child Labor Act was passed, outlawing companies from utilizing the skill set of children under the age of fourteen. Activists such as Jane Addams and questions regarding the innocence children in the workfield, helped the Child Labor Act pass with relative ease. Also, earlier within the century, in 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, further ensuring the quality and safeness of American processed foods.
A few states passed laws prohibiting child labor, but the states were placed with restrictions at an economic disadvantage. It was unjust for children 16 and under to work eight hours a day, overnight, or more than six days a week. Congress passed the Keating-Owen Act of 1916 in response to these concerns. This law hindered factories that employed children by ceasing their shipment across state lines.
Jacob Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark in 1849 and he immigrated to New York in 1870. All he had with him while he traveled on a steamship to the United States was $40 and a locket with hair of the girl he loved. He took all sorts of jobs like “ironworker, farmer, bricklayer, salesman”.(Moore) These jobs allowed him to see the American urban environment. In 1873, he became a police reporter for The New york Tribune and dove into the untold horrors of Americans slums which were filled with crime and poverty.
During the 1800 many individuals shaped what we call today the American society and culture. Many settlers’ didn’t know how impactful this would affect in today’s society. Some of the greatest example that changed America was Roger Williams, Alexander Hamilton, Nathanael Greene, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Rolfe, William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, and least but not last Thomas Paine. They became well recognized during the 1800 due to their major judgments such as religious issues, politically, economically, and founding new lands in America. In addition, they also left a legacy for many founded colonies in the United States.
During the time that these two documents were created, America was going through social and economic changes. The Cult of Domesticity was becoming a social norm throughout the Nation. Women were encouraged to not only be responsible for household duties, but also to create a nurturing environment for their family and husband. Women were taking more responsibility in educating their children and providing guidance. During the 1800s there was a unification of the economy.
The dramatic economic expansion that American experienced during industrialization led to the creation of the extremely poor and the extremely rich. During the Progressive Era, New York faced overpopulation distribution and overcrowding of living arrangements in the city due to the migration. Inevitably, the class division in terms of the economy and social amongst the people made it impossible for Americanization of becoming together as a nation. Jacob Riis, and immigrant himself, a photojournalist and most important, a social reformer exposed the abuse and poor treatment of the tenements in New York City through his work How the Other Half Lives. He utilized the use of flash photograph, allowing him to capture and communicate in a very specific
The mid-1820s to 1980s was known as the Progressive Era. In this era, many economic and social changes transformed America. Progressives are people who sought for these changes by documenting, taking pictures, or even radically getting their point across. One such person was a man named Jacob Riis. In this essay we will travel through the life of Jacob Riis; from his birth to his death, his works and impact on society then and now.
As the rate of industrialization in America grew during the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, child labor became more and more common. The rapid growth of the economy and the vast amounts of poor immigrants during the Industrial Age in America justified the work of children as young as the age of three. By 1900, over two million children were employed. However, the risks of involving child labor greatly outweighed the positives; child labor was inhumane, cruel, and caused physical deformities among children. Children typically worked in coal mines, mills, and factories which contained many life-threatening hazards.
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground,
In many countries, employing children or teens, keeps them out of trouble and teaches them to keep a strong work ethic. An obvious reason of child employment would be poverty. In countries where the sole breadwinner only brings home a dollar a day, it 's helpful to have multiple income sources. To expand on that point, Nadira Faulmuller of Oxford University, mentioned in her article that, “The main cause for children doing work is poverty – ‘their survival and that of their families depend on it’.