Choose the Progressive Era (~1890-1920) reformer you would most like to meet:
1) Name him or her.2) Give a short biography of that person (birth, death, etc.) in your own words . . . that means summarize it.
3) Describe what he/she said/did during the progressive era that made him/her a progressive . . . what was he/she fighting to change?
4) Describe where and when you would like to meet him/her (time travel can happen . . . ask your Physics teacher!), explain why you would like to meet him/her, and describe what you would talk about.
5) Evaluate this person's achievements . . . is the world a better place today because of what your person fought for? If so, how? If not, why not?
- Comment to this post with your first name, last initial, and class period.
- This is a 10 point assignment, due by 11:59pm on Tuesday 2/22/12.
- Make sure your choice is unique . . . you know the drill . . . go to Option #2 if someone has already chosen your Option #1!
Good Luck . . . .
39 comments:
The progressive era reformer I would most liek to meet is Therodore Roosevelt. He was born October 17, 1858 and died Janurary 6, 1919. He was the 26th President of the United States and was known for his progressive political ideals in the Republican party. During the Progressive Era, he passed laws like the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure Food And Drug Act. These banned the mislabeling of drugs and food (especially meat) claiming to be free of certain chemicals. He was also the leader of the American School Hygiene Association from 1907 to 1908, which promoted healthy, sanitary living conditions, especially in urban areas. Another progressive reform was the Gentleman's Agreement of 1907, that prohibited segregation of the Japanese in American schools. I would like to meet him now, in 2012 because I would like the know what his opinion of modern progressive movements like Occupy Wall Street was. We would probably talk about politics and if he agrees with the way Washington, and the world, are run today. In my opinion, the world is a much better place becayse of Theodore Roosevelt, because without him, there would be a serious lack in quality in the food business, and America would be a much less sanitary place. In addition, his service the America in the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American war helped lead us to victory. If he had not existed, America would definitely be a different place, and probably much worse than it is now.
A progressive era refomer I would most like to meet would be Upton Sinclair. Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968)was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Sinclair had wealthy grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight the the gap between both the rich and the poor during the late nineteenth century. He attended City College of New York. He became an author and a one-time candidate for governor of California. Sinclair wrote close to one hundred books in many different genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). His liteary work The Jungle was evidence that helped spurr the passing of the Meat inspection act of 1906 and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The Jungle depicted the working condidtions and horrors of a Chicago meat-packing factory. His fine detail in describing the atrocities happening made the reader feel nauseated due to the grotesque behaviors happening in the factory. The book had accurate descriptions that went for the stomach rather than the heart. I would like to interview him one on one this way i could find the logic and realism behind his reasoning with the writing of "The Jungle". I would ask him questions about the book and what he witnessed from the facilities. I think that the world is a better place from Sinclair Without hte development of his story the meat packing companies could still be doing the same things to the food which was both unsanitarty and dangerous. The food industry is safer due to Sinclair's actions.
I would most like to meet William Taft. He was born on September 15, 1857 and died on March 30, 1930. Originally a judge in Ohio, Taft gained notoriety as the chairman of the Second Philippine Commission and eventually the first civilian governor of the Philippines. Theodore Roosevelt brought Taft back to the US in order to become his Secretary of War and later supported Taft in his bid for the presidency in 1908. Taft became the 27 president, (1909-1913) but only served one term after alienating Roosevelt and other Republicans who founded the Bull Moose Party in opposition to Taft for the 1912 election. After leaving the presidency Taft became the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921 and served in that capacity until a month before his death (1930). Taft was a progressive because he continued many of Roosevelt's social policies and was especially notable for his "trust-busting". I would like to meet Taft in 1913, after he lost the presidential election. I would ask him how he felt about his friend Roosevelt running against him and possibly costing him the election. I believe that Taft made the country a better place, both through his work as a judge and as a president. He tempered some of the excesses of the Roosevelt administration while still carrying out the reforms necessary to improve sanitation and resource management across the country. He also broke up amny of the trusts that were detrimental to businesses and consumers.
The progressive era reformer I would most like to meet would definitely be Jane Addams. She was born on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, the youngest of eight children. She was really close with her dad as a kid and he wanted to her to pursue higher education so she went to Rockford Female Seminary in Rockford, Illinois. She died on May 21, 1935. She was fighting to change the terrible living conditions of the poor in America's cities and did so by establishing Hull House, which actually still exists today. On top of that, she was a leading advocate of women suffrage and world peace. I would like to meet her at Hull House back when it was bursting with people in the twentieth century and have her give me a tour of it. I would like to meet Jane Addams specifically because she is considered to be one of the most prominent and well-known reformers of the era. She is really nothing short of iconic in my opinion. We would talk about the living conditions of the European immigrants in the cities and what their lives were like before Hull House was introduced into it. Jane Addams was a woman of many achievements and was actually the first woman to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. Hull House helped many people and by 1911 it had expanded to thirteen buildings. The world is most definitely a better place today because if not for helping out the immigrants, making them feel welcome and improving their living conditions, Chicago wouldn't have the same wonderful culture that it still does. She was inspiration for many other reformers of the era and so her ability to help others expanded exponentially even beyond all she did with Hull House.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_House
The progressive reformer I would like to meet is Robert M. La Follette. He was born in Primrose, Wisconsin on June 14, 1855 and he died on June 18, 1925. During the Progressive Era he became the governor of Wisconsin. While in office he set up the first worker’s compensation system, railroad rate reform, open government, women’s suffrage, minimum wage, and more. He also set up a cooperative atmosphere between the government and the University of Wisconsin. This idea became known as the Wisconsin Idea. He was a huge leader against corporations and while governor he took good amount of control from the corrupt corporations and returned it to the people. If I could meet him at anytime I think I’d meet him in 1891 after he had decided to reform his party after Philetus Sawyer tried to bribe him to fix a case. I’d want to meet him then because it would really cool to meet someone right when his or her resolve is strengthened. I’d talk to him about his future plans and why he was against the corporations (I agree with him completely I just want to know his reasoning). I think he did make a difference because he made Wisconsin one of the first states to make major progressive changes.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._La_Follette,_Sr.
And “The American Pageant”
The reformer that I would most like to meet would be Ida B. Wells. She was a black woman born on July 16th, 1862 in Mississippi. Both of her parents were slaves, and so she wanted to devote her life to racial equality. From her parents, Ida learned determination and became interested in politics. After Emancipation, she attended Shaw University because her parents stressed education. At Shaw, she noted the lack of negro literature being read. In 1878, the yellow fever epidemic ravaged her family: killing both of her parents and a younger sibling. Ida returned to her family, despite being warned against it, to take care of her remaining siblings. She took care of her family and got a job a few miles away from their home. In 1884, while riding a train, Ida was asked to move to the smoking car. When she refused, the conductor tried to use physical force to get her there. Ida just got off the train instead. She wrote about this for a black magazine and was asked to write more contributions. After 3 of her close friends were killed by an angry white mob, Ida decided to take on the problem of lynching. She began to tour, giving her anti-lynching sentiments to all who listened. Ida even toured through England, Scotland, and Wales. In 1895, Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, an activist like herself. In 1910, Ida founded the Negro Fellowship League (NFL). The NFL was a "settlement house" for black people in the South, providing religious services and shelter. Following a life of activism, including co-founding the NAACP and the first black woman's suffrage club, she died March 25, 1931. I would like to talk to Ida B. Wells when she met with Frederick Douglass to write a pamphlet on lynching. I believe at this point, she was young to be exuberant and excited about what she was spreading but also extremely knowledgeable in her area of expertise. We would talk about the reasons why white people lynch the black and how this could be remedied. Ida B. Wells undoubtedly helped our world be a better place today, through the founding of woman's suffrage clubs and the NAACP, she helped expedite the process of equality for all.
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/idabwells.html
My favorite progressive reformer would have to be Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11th, 1884 in New York City. On March 17th, 1905, Eleanor married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who oddly enough was her fifth cousin. Eleanor became active within the American Red Cross Association with the United States' entry into WWI. She also volunteered in many Navy hospitals during this time. In 1921, when her husband Franklin Roosevelt became seriously stricken with polio, Eleanor was forced to become more active in politics to cover for her husband, which gave her the opportunity to assert her own goals and to work towards them through her husband's administration. She participated in the League of Women Voters, joined the Women's Trade Union League, and worked for the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Committee. Eleanor aided in establishing Val-Kill Industries, a non-profit furniture factory in Hyde Park, New York, and taught at the Todhunter School, a private girls' school in New York City. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt was most greatly known for her work within the areas of women's rights and African-Americans' rights. She worked to change poor living conditions for the disadvantaged, advocated for the poor, and strived for equality for minority groups in general. She even resigned from her position in the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution, a highly prestigious organization) because she morally disagreed with the organization's decision to not allow an African-American singer to perform in their auditorium. I would like to meet Eleanor Roosevelt between the years of 1941 and 1942 when she was working as Assistant Director of Civilian Defense in England and the South Pacific because I'm interested in foreign policy and that issue. It would be very interesting to observe her, a woman, serve in a political position of high importance and learn how she did it and what she did well. We would talk about what area of reform is most important to her and what the hardest thing she's ever had to do during her time as first lady was. Yes, the world is a better place because of Eleanor Roosevelt. She fought hard for improvements within the lives of many groups of people whom otherwise are too often overlooked. How did she do tihs? Through active participation in many reform groups and her establishing of her own groups: particularly those regarding women's rights and those which helped the poor. She died on November 7, 1962.
Woodrow Wilson definately tops the charts with being a great progressive president. I would like to have met him at his adress to congress in 1913 to see the start of his progressive plan begin, that was called "The triple Wall of Privelege," Whichbattledthe tariff, banks, and trusts. These three things were what was holding down the middle d lower classes of society, who were being conned and deceived by the richer class that controlled the huge trusts and banks. Wilson was born in 1856 and died in 1924, and won in an election against of of the U.S.'s most famous presidents, Teddy Roosev. Originally a Princeton professor, Wilson soon became one of America's leading progressive presidents. Wilson was known for his level head, progressive motives in dealing with banks, ariffs, and also for his anti-imperialistic intentions. He was an amazing example of a pogressive.mpacts that he left in our country, such as the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. Woodrow Wilson would definately be a great progressive to meet, due to his extreme intellegence, and passion for the common man in the United States of America.
The man of the Progressive Era that I would love to meet the most would have to be Mr. W.E.B. Du Bois. Born in 1868, the man lived his life during the period of "black freedom." To him, however, this idea that the former slaves were truly free was misguided and overall false. Graduating at Fisk University in 1888, he went on to Harvard and became the first African American to obtain a Ph. D. In history from that school.
His impact on the progressive era came in his vigorous fight for equality. In 1903, The Souls of Black Folk detailed the lack of positive intervention in racial inequality on the part of Washington. Throughout the early 20th Century, he became an icon among equality-seeking African-Americans. Throughout that time he became a powerful name in the search for racial equality.
To meet the man, I would probably head back to the late 1940s when he was winding down his own involvement. This way I could discuss his achievements at length as they are fresh in his memory. I would ask him about his idea of Utopia as well as discuss ideals in other issues of the Progressive Era (i.e. Labor/work issues) as his opinions on racial issues are well-defined.
Is the world a better place because of him? More or less, yes. I feel as though he was an indirect leader in the charge towards modern racial equality. His ideal society was built around black teachers teaching black students as well as higher education for African-Americans. While the ideals are wonderful, his system meant segregation. Walter White rounded out the edges of Du Bois' ideal system into something more welcome to the modern idealist. Was Du Bois a perfect leader? No, but he certainly made a positive difference.
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_dubois.html
I believe that William James Mayo would be the most interesting progressive reformer to meet in person. Born on June 29, 1861, Mayo became famous for his innovations and reform in the medical industry. The Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN, is named after him and his reforms. He died on July 28, 1939. The Mayo Clinic, which he founded, is a not for profit hospital which is world-renowned for their surgical procedures. Even in today's world, not for profits are extremely rare, and the Clinic was way ahead of it's time. I would want to meet with Mr. Mayo in the late 1970s at Rochester High School because my dad was a native of Rochester, graduating from Rochester High School in 1980. We would walk around the school together talking about his reforms and what inspired him to turn his business into a not for profit organization, while also experiencing my father's high school life (a little kill two birds with one stone deal). I believe that Mr. May has left an immense impact on the world today because his clinic is still world famous for medical treatment. Also, his clinic provided comedy in the class movie "Airplane!", which is one of my favorite movies of all time.
John Muir - farmer, inventor, sheepherder, naturalist, explorer, writer, and conservationist - was born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland. Until the age of eleven he attended the local schools of that small coastal town. In 1849, the Muir family emigrated to the United States, settling first at Fountain Lake and then moving to Hickory Hill Farm near Portage, Wisconsin. John became more and more the loving observer of the natural word. He also became an inventor, a carver of curious but practical mechanisms in wood. He made clocks that kept accurate time and created a wondrous device that tipped him out of bed before dawn. In 1868, he walked across the San Joaquin Valley through waist-high wildflowers and into the high country for the first time. By 1871 he had found living glaciers in he Sierra and had conceived his controversial theory of the glaciation of Yosemite Valley. He began to be known throughout the country and he began to write of about his new landscapes and the destruction that was quickly coming to his haven. Through a series of articles appearing in Century magazine, Muir drew attention to the devastation of mountain meadows and forests by sheep and cattle. In 1892, he and a number of his supporters founded the Sierra Club to, in Muir's words, "do something for wildness and make the mountains glad." Muir served as the Club's president until his death in 1914. In 1901, Muir published Our National Parks, the book that brought him to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, Roosevelt visited Muir in Yosemite. There, together, beneath the trees, they laid the foundation of Roosevelt's innovative and notable conservation programs. I would have liked to meet with Muir in the Yosemite valley and talked with him about the beauty of the American landscape, and the role it should play in peoples lives. He was an interesting man on an interesting mission. John Muir will be forever remembered as the man of the woods, who is the soul reason we have so many beautifully preserved national parks, and to remind us of the wild, from whence we all came.
The reformer that I would like to meet most is John Muir. This man founded the Sierra Club in 1892, which was a club dedicated to preserving the wilderness. By forming this club John said he was, “Do{ing} something for wildness and mak{ing} the mountains glad.” After Yellowstone became a National Park Muir pushed to add Yosemite as a National Park. After a long struggle he was one of the key reasons why Yosemite did indeed become a National Park. Thanks to Muir’s love for the Wilderness many people today are able to experience the great beauty of this country, and I can only hope we do the same for generations to come.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Taylor! As i was working on mine you published yours on the same person... Mr. H does this mean i have to do another one??
Jacob Riis was one of the most famous progressives of his time, and the one who I would most like to meet. He was born in Ribe, Denmark on May 3, 1849, and lived until May 26, 1914. He then immigrated to the United States at the age of 21, and lived in New York as a poor man who worked odd jobs. He eventually obtained several jobs working for various newspapers, and began to take up photographing the New York slums. These were published in the New York Sun Times and he began to publish them regularly. Riis also began public speaking, continued writing newspaper articles, and wrote several books, including How the Other Half Lives, but his photographs were the most famous. By writing of the terrible conditions facing the lower class in these slums he worked and succeeded in opening the eyes of many people to the plight of the poor. I would like to meet Jacob Riis on Thursday, preferably during school, at Central Park in New York. This is because he was credited with the openings of several parks in the city, so that I could ask him what he thinks of New York today, and how much he thinks it has improved. I believe that the world is certainly a better place today because of his actions, since it helped to begin the nation on a quest to make itself safer and more hospitable to all of its people. Without his work, a greater majority of the poor might still be living in conditions far worse than those of today with no real hope of survival.
One of my favorite progressives is Susan B. Anthony. She was born in 1820 in Massachusetts into a Quaker family that had been activists for generations. She taught for 15 years before joining the temperance movement, when she found out that she couldn’t speak at the temperance rallies because she was a woman. This caused her to take up the banner of women’s suffrage. She withstood must abuse from society to stand up for what she believed in, and traveled around advocating votes for women until her death in 1906. Sadly, she didn’t live to see women get the vote. Though she’s known for her actions in the woman’s rights movement, she also campaigned for educational reform, abolitionism, the right of women to own property, and labor rights. She was very progressive, even before the technical progressive era, and definitely in it, because she was trying to change women’s status in society. I would like to meet her about a year before her death, I don’t particularly care where. I would like to tell her that women do have the vote now, and talk to her about what made her so willful to fight for what she believed in. I suppose we would talk about how to be an activist properly. The world is a better place today because of her, because votes for women could have taken quite a bit longer to achieve, and since I like democracy, I think it’s better to have a larger sample from the population when voting. And on a personal note, I would like to be able to vote.
http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php
The Progressive era reformer I would most nearly like to meet would have to be without a shadow of a doubt, the immensely creative Thomas Nast. Born to a trombonist in 1840 Germany, Nast showed aptitude for drawings at a young age. His family immigrated to the US in 1849, and after having much difficulty during his schooling because of his German background, he managed to find work drawing for some local newspapers. He eventually moved on to bigger and better things, including Harper's Weekly, and he soon came into prominence as a political cartoonist. During the Progressive Era, Nast targeted specifically the New York crime boss, Boss Tweed. Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall political machine was taking millions away from the city on a yearly basis. Nast drew many cartoons bringing these issues to light, and in 1871 almost all of his cartoons were targeting Boss Tweed. They always painted him in a bad light, often as an overweight man wearing a suit, and sometimes as a tiger running rampant causing havoc. Nast ultimately wanted Boss Tweed out of New York for good - even when Boss Tweed offered Nast $500,000 to stop targeting him he told him no. Boss Tweed was sent to jail in 1877, largely a result of Nast's muckraking cartoons. Nast moved on to much more prominent positions in his later years, and while on a diplomatic mission in 1902, he contracted yellow fever and died. If I could meet Thomas Nast at any point in his life, I would want to meet him in 1877 after he had heard of Boss Tweed's conviction. I would want to hear how elated he was at his success at bringing one of the biggest criminals in the entire country to justice. The world is a much better place because of Thomas Nast, not only because of his impact on New York and the Tammany Hall political machine, but because of his impact on political cartoonists. Many cartoonists still replicate his images today, such as the Uncle Sam figure, the Republican elephant, and the Democrat donkey. These cartoons display political situations in creative and easy to understand ways, which helps the general public understand the overall political system better. Overall, Thomas Nast's impact on US society cannot be overstated.
Gifford Pinchot is the reformer that i would choose to be my favorite reformer of the progressive era. Born in 1865 gifford was a naturalsits. He loved nature and all that it was. He then became the cheif of forestry and pioneered the way for Roosevelt and others who were naturalists, he dided on october 4, 1946. he fought to change how people looked at nature and helped conserve natural recousrces. i would like to have meet him back when he was saving the yosemite valley and talk to him about how we could do so much more to save what we could. i would say on a scale of 1-10 that he was a 8 for what he was trying to accomplish.
Personally, my favorite progressive reformer me.
Because I know whats up!
Vote for me for President in 2032. I know whats wrong and I will fix it because I am sick
WE MISSSS GP!!!
The progressive era reformer that i would most like to meet would definately be Ray Stannard Baker. He was born 4/17/1870 and died of a heart attack on 7/12/1946. The things he tried to change were the suppression against the black race during this time period. He attempted to share why these things should change through his book, Folllowing the Color Line. I would like to meet him now because i would like to know how he feels the circumstances have changed towards the black race. We would probably talk about what drove him to write about the suppressions and if he thinks things should or not change now. America would definately be a different place if Stannard had not convinced people to eliminate the suppresion of the African-American Race.
My favorite progressive reformer is Ida M. Tarbell. During this era, she was one of the leading "muckrafkers", which were investigative journalists. She was born on November 5, 1857 in Hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania, and died on January 6, 1944. She is best known for her 1904 book The History of the Standard Oil Company which was aimed at taking down John D. Rockefellers monopoly. She wrote this book in collaboration with Henry Demarest Lloyd, who also wrote against John D. Rockefeller in, Wealth Against Commonwealth. I would like to meet her most in 1900 when she began her research against the Standard Oil Company. I would want to see how she dug up the dirt and found out what was neccessary to make a statement to the public. I would talk to her about what her views were against monopolies. The world is truly a better place thanks to Ida M. Tarbell because she helped in the takedown of monopolies to ensure true competition in business.
The progressive era reformer I would like to meet would be Henry Ford, who is famous for pioneering the assembly line manufacturing strategy while creating his Model Ts. Ford (July 30, 1863-April 7, 1947) conceived the idea for his assembly line while visiting one of the meatpacking warehouses in Chicago and looking at the deadly efficient disassembly line. His efforts to reform manufacturing succeeded and the assembly line is still a major component of building things today. I would like to meet him in his prime in about 1915 so he could show me the ingenious process his trailblazing company utilized. I would also take some business tips from him as well, because he became very wealthy through his company. He definitely made the U.S. and the world a better place because he made quick transportation available to everyone. This revolutionized how we would travel, deliver things, etc. If he had not popularized the assembly line, mass produced goods would be non existant. If it were not for him, most people would still be driving carriages instead of cars in the 20th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_ford
The progressive era reformer I would most like to meet would be Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was born in Scotland on November 25, 1835. He started out as a factory worker, he later worked at a telegraph company and he eventually created the Carnegie Steel Company, becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world. He died of bronchial pneumonia in Massachusetts on August 11, 1919 at the age of 83. Andrew Carnegie became a philanthropist in his later years and took particular interest in aiding education in America. He founded Carnegie Mellon University and established other schools, universities and libraries in the U.S. and other countries. I would like to meet Mr. Carnegie at his home after he sold Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan. I would ask what he plans to do now with his life, and I would like to hear how he made such a successful company. Andrew Carnegie undoubtedly made the world a better place because he established many libraries and universities around the world for the betterment of education. His book, The Gospel of Wealth, stressed that it is the responsibility of all wealthy people to distribute their money for the benefit of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie
Louis Dembitz Brandeis was born in 1816 in Louisville Kentucky. His parents were Jewish immigrants. He graduated Harvard law school at the age of 20 with the highest grade point average in the history of the college. As a lawyer he fought for the people he even published a book called Other people’s Money and how bankers Use It the book talked about ways to take power away from the big banks and trust and give it to the people. Some people even called him the “Robin Hood of law”. In 1916 he became a Supreme Court justice in his most famous cases he fought against railroad monopolies and defending labor conditions he also worked to create the Federal Reserve. If I could meet him I would go back in time and they bring him Back To the Future so then he could see the influence he has made on today’s society. We would probably go out to dinner maybe catch a movie, talk some politics. I would defiantly want to hear his opinions on the upcoming election. All in all I would definitely say Mr. Brandeis changed the world for the better. He is a big part of the reason that there are no more huge monopolies and working conditions are better.
If I could meet a progressive reformer, I would want to meet Florence Kelley. (Actually, that's a lie, I would want to meet Upton Sinclair. I've read his book a billion times and I love his message and writing style, but he was already taken.) In her younger adult years, Florence spent most of her time translating books to be published in America. This went on until she married. Her marriage, however, was unsuccessful and she ended up moving to Chicago to find a better purpose for herself. There, she joined a group of women in the famous Hull Houses, and set out to establish better working conditions for women and children, and a set minimum wage. She was a strong woman at convincing people to join her cause, adn got a lot of voices behind her that even aided in pushing for prohibition. This alone made her a progressive. I would want to meet her simply to ask how she did it. At her time, women had little respect and little power, yet she was able to convince millions that what she said was the best for the country. I think that the world is a better place because of her. If it weren't for her encouragements, children of today still may be working in sweat shops for a dollar an hour. She implemented morals into all of us that many would have otherwise turned their cheeks to.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWkelley.htm
The progressive reformer I would most like to meet would be Florence Kelley. She was born on September 12, 1859 to William D. Kelley who was a U.S. Congressman. She attended Cornell University and The University of Zurich. While in Zurich, she began to study the teaching of Carl Marx. She then came back to America only to be divorced by her socialist husband. Finally, she settled down in Chicago in Jane Addam's Hull House. The rest of her life was spent advocating progressive reform. Kelley believed strongly in socialism, which is very similar to progressivism. She was mainly focussed on worker's rights, racial issues and women's suffrage. She helped to start the National Consumer's League which advocated better hours and working conditions for women and children. She also helped to form the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, which helped spread socialist and progressive views across America. Her last major contribution was to racial equality by helping to establish the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. Florence had her foot in many key social issues facing America during the progressive era as evident by her involvement in so many organizations. I would most like to meet Florence at a Chucky Cheeses in 1994. I think we would have a lot of fun because Florence loves children, but not in a weird way. The 90s were a period of great prosperity, so it would be fun to see her have fun for once (she seemed too serious). In general, I don't believe Florence Kelley's actions really improved the world that much. Other people such as TR and Wilson did so much more in terms of actual policies that are still in existence today. That aside, I still find Florence Kelley to be very fascinating and would love to meet her.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWkelley.htm
The progressive reformer from the early 1900’s that I would want to meet is August Vollmer. Born in the year 1876 in New Orleans, Vollmer was a typical, under-educated Southerner. At age 15, Vollmer moved to Berkeley, California with his family where we started his own coal and feed store and was a volunteer fireman. As time progressed, Vollmer maintained his dedication to public service and joined the Army at the start of the Spanish-American War where he participated in 25 engagements while on duty. After coming back to Berkeley, Vollmer became a mailman and later the Town Marshal for Berkeley. Four years after being appointed the Town Marshal (1909), Vollmer became the Chief of Police for the City of Berkeley. During his command, Vollmer made revolutionary changes that affected the course of law enforcement, society and law and also molded law enforcement into its current state. During his tenure, Vollmer made such changes as placing police officers on bicycles (1910), motorcycles (1911) and in patrol cars (1913), instituting the use of science in criminal investigations (1907), using radio-based communications in policing for the first time (1914), ridding the system of police brutality for confessions, creating a police school and numerous others—all in the name of “professionalizing law enforcement.” If that wasn’t enough, Vollmer traveled across the country working with other departments in modernizing policing making it a more efficient and public-service oriented organization. If given the chance to meet with Mr. Vollmer, I would like meet with him today (in the now) over a nice sandwich somewhere and discuss the how successful his new theories, philosophies and actions are because today they are being utilized in society to solve crimes and protect the citizens. This one man’s achievement transformed law enforcement into what we know it as today by reforming it into “professional” organization and by instituting theories and practices that are still in use today, thus making the world a better (and safer!) place for all.
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/01/27/remembering-august-vollmer-the-berkeley-police-chief-who-created-modern-policing/
http://www.prospector-utah.com/vollmer.htm
**Just a little bit more!
Vollmer died on November 4, 1955 after committing suicide consequence to his cancer at the age of 79.
I would most like to meet Ellen Gates Starr. On March 19, 1859 Ellen was born in Laona, IL. Ellen did not grow up learning any particular religion but it always interested her. She was influenced by her aunt who was Roman Catholic. While attending school at Rockford Seminary, she met Jane Addams. The two remained close friends. On a trip throughout Europe Jane confided to Ellen that she always wanted create a settlement house. The two returned home and founded the Hull House. Addams was the primary founder but she relied very heavily on Starr. She also found great need in changing child labor laws. In 1920 she officially converted into the Catholic Church. In 1929 she became paralyzed and on Feb 10, 1940 Ellen died in New York. I would like to meet Ellen during the building of the Hull House in Chicago. I would find it interesting to hear her excitement for the upcoming project. She was doing something she truly believed in which I find admirable. I would want to hear about their plans and stories of how it came to be. I think Starr has made the world a better place by her achievements. Although she is often not mentioned she helped Jane Addams greatly in founding the Hull House. She worked hard to make changes in places she saw fit.
http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss64_bioghist.html
John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas were influential in education and social reform. He was an early developer with the philosophy of pragmatism and a founder of functional psychology (pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory, and functional psychology is a psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaptation to a person's environment). Dewey was a representative of progressive education and liberalism. He considered schools and civil society fundamental elements in his advocacy of democracy. He said that complete democracy is to be obtained by not only extending voting rights, but by having a fully formed public opinion accomplished by effective communication among citizens, experts, and politicians. I would like to meet Dewey during the time when he is working on one of his reforms. Why? I would prefer to meet him in his natural state of mind where I will be able to see him working at perhaps his greatest extent. I don't really mind where the place would be, as long as it's not at the edge of a cliff, over a steaming boiler, or anywhere near molten steel in a steel factory! I would like to talk to him with regards to education, because he had writings such as Democracy and Education (1916) and Experience and Education (1938) where he argues that education and learning are social and interactive processes, and so the school itself is a social institution where social reform should occur. The reason I want to talk to him about education is because my current education may not have been what it is now had it not been for Dewey. One great achievement of Dewey is that his ideas went on to influence many other experiential (pertaining to or derived from experience) models and advocates. Based on this, I would say that what he worked for did make the world a better place today because his ideas did influence others; researchers are even crediting him with the influence of Project Based Learning (PBL) where it places students in the roles of researchers, which is what we find ourselves doing quite so often (and sometimes too often, but not in this class Mr. H!, as I'm talking about other classes here).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
Since all of the other Progressive Era reformers are being conversed with at the moment, I'd like to speak with the unsung hero, William James Mayo. Along with his brother, Charles Horace Mayo and five others, he created the Mayo Clinic at the end of the Progressive Era, in 1919. He was born June 29th, 1861 and died July 28th, 1939. Despite his degree from the University of Michigan (ew), he still managed to create this clinic with help from his father, William Worrall Mayo. By creating this clinic he allowed the nation to take another enormous step towards the medical powerhouse it became as a result of the Progressive Era.
I would use Mrs. Thakur's time traveling machine to go meet Mr. Mayo in his revered clinic. I would love to discuss modern issues with the healthcare system and get his take on it. I feel he would have powerful insight and worldly knowledge I could share with my fellow 21st century humans.
Were the Mayo brothers and the Mayo Clinic good for the world? Yes, absolutely. It advanced the medical community into the future and is still around today. Without it, the nation, and the world, would very likely be a little less healthy.
The progressive reformer that I would most like to meet is John Spargo. This man was born on January 31, 1876 in the United Kingdom, and died 1966. John enrolled at Oxford University, and later became a Socialist. After being inspired by Henry Meyers Hyndman, he was elected president of the Barry Trades and Labor Council. About five years after this Spargo published a best selling book called, The Bitter Cry of the Children. Drawing attention to the terrible treatment of children, and the dreadful conditions they lived in. This was important because like Jacob Riis he drew attention to people who were poor and led lives of sorrow. I would like to meet Spargo in 1905 just after he released his best selling novel. I would like to meet him then because I would like to see like the life of a best selling author is like, and how people responded to this book. I think that John’s books did make a difference too many people because it helped draw attention to many people that even if they were living a good life other might not be.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAspargo.htm
The Progressive Era reformer I'd like to meet is Lillian Wald. Wald was born in Cincinnati in 1867 and became interested in becoming a nurse when her younger sister had gotten sick. Wald went to nursing school and one of her final assignments was to design a plan for a nursing home for immigrants. It was then that she observed the horrible conditions of the immigrants while doing research for her project. She lived until she was 73 when she died in 1940. During the Progressive Era she made outstanding contributions to the society around her. After seeing the conditions of immigrants, Wald set up a clinic that all the immigrants of New York could come to. In 1895 the clinic became too small to serve that amount of people that came there so Wald moved it to Henry Street, where it would stay for fourty more years. She and her staff of nurses gave help to whoever need it: blacks, whites, Catholics, to Jews. Wald wanted to make health care accessible to every person who needed it. She also set up the Henry Street Settlement which helped to educate mothers and daughters about health precautions. I’d like to meet Wald anywhere really, as long as it was tomorrow. I’d probably prefer to have lunch with her at Panera or something. I’d like to meet her to ask about her observations of the immigrants in New York. I think it would be incredibly interesting to hear a firsthand account of the conditions. We’d talk about how the immigrants lived, and how she lived. Then, I would tell her about all the steps immigrants have taken and she’d probably be very interested in Obamacare and our health care system in general. I believe that Lillian Wald did make the world a better place. Many people were interested in reforming the working conditions for the workers, but not as many paid attention to how those workers would get help if the conditions yielded a disease. Wald was one of the first to bring to light the importance of personal health awareness and universal medical help for people in need.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/wald.html
The progressive era reformer that I would most want to meet is Herbert Hoover. Hoover was born on August 10, 1874 and died on October 20, 196. He was the 31st President in the United States, but his progressiveness was seen in his political views as well as his mining/engineer career. He felt that the economy was full of inefficiency and waste. He felt that the solution to this problem was public volunteerism and felt that the rich should donate to the poor. He was the first of two presidents to donate all of their salary to the public (Kennedy being the 2nd) and he supported public works projects such as the Hoover Dam (well past 1920, but still a progressive movement). I would meet him and say, "I’ve wanted to meet you for so long to ask you two questions. 1. How exactly did you make all of your money being a mining engineer? And two. What has driven you to accept your progressive ideas that the economy is full of waste and that the government should hire experts to rid the US of this waste? I would ask these questions in a coalmine in the center of his business. Because Hoover recognized that the government and economy was not even close to efficient, the world became a better place. He donated allot of money to charity and was always improving the country through endorsing public projects.
The Progressive Era reformer that I would like to meet the most is Lincoln Steffens. He was born in 1866 in San Francisco, attended a military academy, and graduated from the University of California. He died in 1936 in California, but not until he accomplised great things in the Prgressive Era. Licoln Steffens was, by Teddy Roosevelt's definition, a muckraker. In 1902 he was a reporter for "McClure's" in New York and he published a series of articles titled "The Shame of the Cities". In his articles, he discussed the underlying corruption in the cities, removing the cover to show how big business had a corrupt alliance with the government. All though he did not attack Standard Oil personally, he sparked the idea for others to do so. Because Ida M. Tarbell read his articles, she was inspired to take on Standard Oil, furthering Steffens' research. Without people like Steffens there to stir up the pot, reformers would not have had nearly as much sucesses. I would like to meet Lincoln Steffens by going on a report with him, digging up some dirt. I would like to talk to him about why he did what he did, for fame or if he truly was concerned about the public knowledge of corruption. Also, I would like to ask him about his tricks for "sneaking around". The world is a better plavce because of what Lincoln Steffens fought for. Without people like him, muckrakers who stirred the pot, the reformers, like Ida M. Tarbell, would not have been as inspired to do the great things that they did. Although he was not directly responsible for the solution to the problem of corruption, he, like many other muckrakers, got the ball rolling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Steffens
I would be Mr. Hofffman because he is the greatest teacher in the world!
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