å Change is Coming - Looking at the Progressive Era in Books

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CHANGE IS COMING
Looking at the Progressive Era in Books

Introduction | Background Knowledge | Activities | Extensions | Standards

A wealthy banker holds the reins of his horse drawn carriage in New York City.

Introduction

Progress means to move forward or onward. In the era after Reconstruction, the United States began to move forward. The goal was a better society, and many social and political reforms made progress toward the goal. The tale of two Americas also characterized this era. A small concentration of wealthy citizens continued to accumulate wealth while the challenges of being poor in America were exposed. Many tourists can visit the opulent homes built during the Gilded Age. Many workers in present-day America enjoy working conditions that were shaped by labor reforms of the Progressive Era. These reforms, along with the growth and expansion of businesses, shaped America until the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression.

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Teddy Rosevelt

Background Knowledge

As Reconstruction drew to an end in the South, the North and West began an age of rapid growth. During the Gilded Age, wealthy Americans grew wealthier while poor Americans grew poorer. Corruption ran rampant as corporations grew. Immigration numbers swelled as people flocked to the United States, many through Ellis Island in New York City. This age of growth and prosperity ran from 1870 to 1900 and sparked the Progressive Era, which was from 1890 to 1929.

The Progressive Era was a response to the excesses and inequities of the Gilded Age. Many progressives, known as “muckrakers,” sought to expose those inequities. Names of the rich - John Jacob Astor, George Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie - are as well known as those of those who worked against the wealth of the time - Jane Addams, Frances Perkins, Jacob Riis. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson led the country during this time, with Roosevelt being a champion of the labor movement.

Four major Constitutional amendments emerged from the Progressive Era. The 16th Amendment, passed in 1909, authorized Congress to levy income taxes. This tax helped fund many of the reforms. In 1912, the 17th Amendment allowed for the direct election of Senators. The short-lived 18th Amendment, also known as Prohibition, was ratified in 1919 and later repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. The manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcohol were prohibited. A major amendment - the 19th Amendment - was passed in 1919 and ratified in 1920, and granted women the right to vote. These amendments highlight the focus on social reform in America during the Progressive Era.

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Frances Perkins

ACTIVITIES

Selective List of Picture Books

  • Jacob Riis's Camera: Bringing Light to Tenement Children by Alexis O’Neill (ISBN 9781629798660)
    • Jacob Riis was a photojournalist in New York City during the Progressive Era. He used his camera to bring awareness to the plight of tenement houses and the children who lived there. His photographs helped bring about reform of conditions in tenement houses.
    • Visit the author’s website to see a Q&A with Alexis O’Neill as well as a book talk from the author.
    • The Museum of the City of New York offers lesson plans for grades 2-12. These plans have excellent primary source analysis activities as well as project-based application activities
    • Learn more about tenement life from the Tenement Museum, being sure to visit their digital exhibits.
    • Encourage your students to look at their school through a lens.
      • Technology Approach: Use iPads or digital cameras to walk around the school and take pictures. Use primary-source analysis questions (see pages 4 and 5 of this lesson plan) to analyze the pictures.
      • Non-technology Approach: Make toilet-paper binoculars or give students one toilet-paper or paper-towel tube. Walk around the school and look through the binoculars or the tube. Have them sketch what they see. When you return to the room, have them take one sketch and draw a full picture. Use the primary source analysis questions to discuss what they saw through their smaller lens.
  • The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull (ISBN 9781481491518)
    • Frances Perkins served as the first Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She worked her way to that position during the Progressive Era, helping to protect workers across the country.
    • While this discussion guide is for a different title, the discussion questions and resources apply to The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America. This guide also includes a Readers’ Theater script.
    • In 1911, Frances Perkins led an investigation into the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The investigation led to a list of demands that she would eventually give to FDR. Ask students what they would change about school conditions and why.
    • Help your students to better understand the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire by sharing the TeachersFirst Reading Trek: Uprising. The teacher guide and maps include many lesson activities and extensions.
    • The New York Times has higher-level activities that can be adapted for younger students related to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
  • Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children by Jonah Winter (ISBN 9780449812914)
    • To protest child labor conditions, Mother Jones led a march from Philadelphia to President Theodore Roosevelt’s summer home on Long Island, NY.
    • Read about unions on Duckster. There is also a 10-question quiz at the bottom of the article.
    • Have students create a banner that they would have carried if they were marching with Mother Jones.
      • Technology Approach - Use Canva (reviewed here) or Google Slides (reviewed here) to create a digital poster.
      • Non-technology Approach: Give each student a piece of poster board or construction paper to create posters. Add a ruler or a yardstick to the back for students to hold their signs.
  • Dangerous Jane: The Life and Times of Jane Addams, Crusader for Peace by Suzanne Slade (ISBN 9781682632062)
    • Jane Addams dedicated her life to helping others and created the social settlement house known as Hull-House.
    • Take a virtual tour of Hull-House.
    • Engage students with theater games curated by the Hull-House Museum.
    • Make zines (or homemade publications) about public health in the Progressive Era.
      • Technology Approach: Create digital magazines with Marq (reviewed here)
      • Non-technology Approach: Follow Brightly's directions on how to make a zine.

Virtual Field Trips

Videos to Watch

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Women's Auxiliary Typographical Union

EXTENSIONS

  1. Take Action in Your School or Community
    • The Progressive Era was characterized by social reform. Encourage students to make a difference in the school or community. Work in small groups to identify a concern in the school or community that the students would like to address. After identifying the concern, they can work toward action through letter-writing, discussions with decision-makers, or organizing students to continue the conversation.
  2. Around the World in 72 Days
    • Learn more about journalist Nellie Bly and her 72-day journey around the world.
    • Use actual maps or Google Maps (reviewed here) to follow her journey.
    • Use a timeline creation tool, such as MyLens (reviewed here), to create a visual timeline of Nellie Bly’s journey or a comparison of Nellie’s journey vs the fictional 80-day route of Phileas Fogg.
  3. Conservation Station
    • Gather recycled materials, cardboard, and clay. Ask students to design their own "National Park" or wildlife sanctuary. They must include elements such as safe habitats for animals, hiking trails for visitors, and rules to keep the park clean and well-preserved.
      • Technology Approach: Use one of these TeachersFirst-curated video creation tools to create a video promoting the new National Park.
      • Non-technology Approach: Have students write about their creation. Consider creating marketing materials such as posters or brochures using Genially (reviewed here).
  4. Conduct “conversations” with prominent persons from the Progressive Era
    • Use a safe AI tool such as SchoolAI (reviewed here) to find or create “Spaces” to converse with figures such as Nellie Bly, Theodore Roosevelt, and Andrew Carnegie. Have students prepare a list of questions to hear different perspectives on living during the Progressive Era.
    • Incorporate Project Zero Thinking Routines (reviewed here) into your preparation for conversations to help students consider and plan to address the different perspectives and viewpoints of the conversation participants.

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Child Selling Newspapers

CORRELATION TO STANDARDS

  • AASL National School Library Standards
    • Inquire Shared Foundation, Think Domain - Learners display curiosity and initiative by:
      • 1. Formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic.
      • 2. Recalling prior and background knowledge as context for new meaning.
    • Inquire Shared Foundation, Share Domain - Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes:
      • 1. Interacting with content presented by others.
      • 2. Providing constructive feedback.
      • 3. Acting on feedback to improve.
      • 4. Sharing products with an authentic audience.
    • Include Shared Foundation, Share Domain - Learners exhibit empathy with and tolerance for diverse ideas by:
      • 1. Engaging in informed conversation and active debate.
      • 2. Contributing to discussions in which multiple viewpoints on a topic are expressed.
    • Include Shared Foundation, Grow Domain - Learners demonstrate empathy and equity in knowledge building within the global learning community by:
      • 1. Seeking interactions with a range of learners.
    • Engage Shared Foundation, Think Domain: Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by:
      • 1. Responsibly applying information, technology, and media to learning.
      • 2. Understanding the ethical use of information, technology, and media.
    • Engage Shared Foundation, Create Domain: Learners use valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge by:
      • 1. Ethically using and reproducing others’ work.
      • 2. Acknowledging authorship and demonstrating respect for the intellectual property of others.
      • 3. Including elements in personal-knowledge products that allow others to credit content appropriately.
    • Engage Shared Foundation, Grow Domain: Learners engage with information to extend personal learning by:
      • 1. Personalizing their use of information and information technologies.
      • 2. Reflecting on the process of ethical generation of knowledge.
      • 3. Inspiring others to engage in safe, responsible, ethical, and legal information behaviors.
    • Collaborate Shared Foundation, Think Domain - Learners identify collaborative opportunities by:
      • 1. Demonstrating their desire to broaden and deepen understandings.
      • 2. Developing new understandings through engagement in a learning group.
      • 3. Deciding to solve problems informed by group interaction.
    • Collaborate Shared Foundation, Create Domain - Learners participate in personal, social, and intellectual networks by:
      • 1. Using a variety of communication tools and resources.
      • 2. Establishing connections with other learners to build on their own prior knowledge and create new knowledge.
    • Collaborate Shared Foundation, Grow Domain - Learners actively participate with others in learning situations by:
      • 2. Recognizing learning as a social responsibility.
    • Explore Shared Foundation, Think Domain - Learners develop and satisfy personal curiosity by:
      • 1. Reading widely and deeply in multiple formats and writing and creating for a variety of purposes.
    • Explore Shared Foundation, Create Domain - Learners construct new knowledge by:
      • 1. Problem solving through cycles of design, implementation, and reflection.
    • Explore Shared Foundation, Share Domain - Learners engage with the learning community by:
      • 3. Collaboratively identifying innovative solutions to a challenge or problem.
    • Explore Shared Foundation, Grow Domain - Learners develop through experience and reflection by:
      • 1. Iteratively responding to challenges.
      • 2. Recognizing capabilities and skills that can be developed, improved, and expanded.
      • 3. Open-mindedly accepting feedback for positive and constructive growth.
  • ISTE Standards for Students
    • Empowered Learner 1.1
      • 1.1.b. Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
      • 1.1.c. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in various ways.
    • Digital Citizen 1.2
      • 1.2.c. Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.
    • Knowledge Constructor 1.3
      • 1.3.d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.
    • Innovative Designer 1.4
      • 1.4.d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
    • Global Collaborator 1.7
      • 1.7.c. Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.

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