W. W. Norton & Company | Inventing America, 2 ed.

Chapter 22: The Progressive Era (1900-1916)

Images

Postcard of Country Club Plaza in Kansas City

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- Postcard of Country Club Plaza in Kansas City Worksheet
The increased use of automobiles inspired planners and architects to devise new commercial spaces. A primary example is Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. Developed by J.C. Nichols and opened in 1924, Country Club Plaza is widely believed to be the first shopping mall designed to serve automobile traffic. As the automobile allowed workers to commute from areas outside cities, suburban, decentralized shopping areas with separate parking lots became common. What other architectural changes took place as the result of automobiles, and what were some of the social consequences?
Photo of Alice Ramsey in car – first woman to cross country in auto

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- Photo of Alice Ramsey in car Worksheet

In 1909, Alice Ramsey, in the company of three friends, became the first woman to drive across country. Hired by a car company as a publicity stunt, Ramsey finished the 3,800 mile journey from New York to San Francisco in fewer days than any men before her. In 1909, roads were primitive, and cross-country driving required frequent tire changes and other repairs. Ramsey’s adventure represents the new freedom that automobiles offered those who could afford the vehicles. Some controversy surrounded the idea of women at the wheel; yet, even at a time when women could not vote, some applied for driver’s licenses. In 1906, when New Jersey first began requiring licenses, more than one hundred women applied. For many middle and upper-class women, the automobile provided increased mobility and independence. What impact would the automobile have on the lives of the working class?
Anti-Saloon League, Atlantic City, 1915 Convention and NAACP, Cleveland, 1929 Convention.

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- Anti-Saloon League, Atlantic City, 1915 Convention and NAACP, Cleveland, 1929 Convention. Worksheet

Trains and cars, as well as enhanced communication, made it easier for reform-minded organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Anti-Saloon League, to organize nationally and hold major conventions in cities. What do you think were the effects of these national gatherings?
Pictures of Hull House interiors

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- Interior: Hull House Worksheet

- Nursery: Hull House Worksheet
- Children of Hull House Worksheet
Recent university graduates and reformers established settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, in the l890s. Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House, became a national figure and leader in the Progressive movement during the first decades of the twentieth century. In 1931, Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize. She and her fellow reformers, including Florence Kelley, urged an end to prostitution, saloons, and sweatshops. They lobbied in Washington for labor regulations, health and housing codes, and women’s suffrage. These illustrations of Hull House reveal Progressive reformers’ belief in the environment as an important influence on behavior. The nursery walls at Hull House featured classical Renaissance paintings and art, as did other rooms. What impact did Addams and her fellow settlement workers expect the art to have on children and other Hull House visitors?
"The $100,000.00 Typewriter"

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- "The $100,000.00 Typewriter" Worksheet

World’s Fairs, such as the San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exhibition in 1915, typically displayed new technology and trends. This 21-foot wide Underwood Typewriter, pictured with female models performing the typing, demonstrated a recent and important change in American business. The typewriter, first manufactured in the late 1870s, was important to every office by 1915, the year of the fair. In addition, women typists also played essential roles in most establishments. In the nineteenth century, the term “secretary” was an honored title for a male business assistant; in the early twentieth century, women workers were taking over this role and challenging previous boundaries between the sexes. What other social and cultural changes emerged as women entered the office place?
Suffragette picture and Audio of Mrs. Daniels

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- Suffragette Worksheet

Risking public humiliation and jail, numerous groups of women during World War I picketed the White House in an effort to put pressure on President Wilson for women’s suffrage. In this photo, female students, wearing banners indicating their college locations, protested the long wait for the vote. Their efforts were rewarded when on August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted. Some women opposed suffrage. Also provided here is an audio of Mrs. Josephus Daniels, the wife of Wilson’s Secretary of the Navy. Mrs. Daniels notes that she has four sons, who “vote for her.” Proponents of suffrage argued that women’s votes would bring greater reform; yet, the Progressive Movement is said to have declined after World War I. What was the impact of women’s suffrage?