The progressive movement in the United States was a coalition of various groups striving for reform in both the problematic social and political aspects of the lives of Americans. Progressivism grew out from the need of Americans looking to protect themselves and their families from the adverse affects of both these issues. This fight for reform occurred on many different levels and ranged from large-scale violent strikes to small associations taking matters into their own hands, such as the Chicago Women’s City Club. Both Stromquist and Flanagan bring to light the efforts of both the working-class and the Chicago Women’s City Club in their attempts at reform, especially on the local level. Whereas the working-class fought on a more radical level, women of the City Club sought for reform for the sake of health and welfare. Ultimately, though, both parties played a vital role in the movement for progression.
Flanaghan claims that it was the workings of organizations, specifically the Chicago Women’s City club, that proved to be the key influential of the progressive movement. With problems such as housing, public school systems being “understaffed and underfunded,”[1] the collection and disposal of garbage lacking, and the overall safety conditions for Americans woefully unsatisfactory, women turned to the concept of making America “homelike” in the hope of reforming their communities and making them safe for all. Like Mary McDowell stated, issues such as garbage disposal should not be thought of as a business and should be pursued because of the health problems associated with poor disposal.[2] The Chicago Women’s City Club may not have had sole responsibility in the reforms that took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but their effort to provide “for the welfare of its residents,” [3] and their local efforts cannot be doubted to have lead to reform and progress.
[1]. Maureen A. Flanagan, “Gender and Urban Political Reform: The City Club and the Woman's City Club of Chicago in the Progressive Era,” The American Historical Review 95, no. 4 (October 1990): 1034.
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Shelton Stromquist, “The Crucible of Class : Cleveland Politics and the Origins of Municipal Reform in the Progressive Era,” Journal of Urban History 23, no. 2 (January 1997) 204
It's interesting that Stromquist article focuses on the economy (working class) via the political route, while Flanagan focuses reform via a social and local route. Although both articles have valid arguments,I'm led to Stromquist's article due to the fact that it took strikes, riots and violence to finally get the attention of political leaders. It was a forced change, while the Chicago city groups took care of the necessary reform in the city of Chicago with little to no resistance. Good post.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!! I also agree that it was a coalition of different groups that helped lead the reform movements in the United States. These were two great articles to read in regards to this subject due to the fact that they showed completely different sides of the reform movement towards Progressivism. Flanagan shows the calmer side with reform efforts from the Woman’s City Club in Chicago. These women strove to reform society through such ideas as reforming public education, public sanitation and labor issues. There were strikes in Chicago over labor and some of the women did participate, but on the whole they were much calmer than the strikes that Stromquist was speaking of in his article about Cleveland. I completely agree that the Woman’s City Club was trying to make the community more “homelike”, as you mentioned. This is an excellent point due to the fact that they created scholarships for children and strove to make the streets more sanitary through various methods of garbage disposal that they researched thoroughly. You used excellent statements from Stromquist’s article about Cleveland to prove your argument. Sromquist stated that, “. . . it was the intermittent pulse of labor conflict that realigned local politics.” I completely agree that he was trying to point out that it was the workers that started the Streetcar Strike and others involved, namely immigrants, that helped open up the eyes of the politicians in the city and that helped lead them on a path to reform. You did an excellent job in demonstrating that it took all types of groups, from radicals to calm reformists, to lead the reform movement down the path it took to Progressivism. Excellent job! I enjoyed reading it.
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