1. Georgia and the American Experience
Chapter 10: The Progressive Era
©2005 Clairmont Press

2. Georgia and the American Experience
Section 1: The Progressive Movement Section 2: Southern Politics in Action Section 3: The Continuing Fight for Civil Rights Section 4: Business in Georgia Section 5: World War I
©2005 Clairmont Press

3. Section 1: The Progressive Movement
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
What changes were goals of the progressive movement?

4. The Progressive Movement
Progressive believed that government (local, state, and national) was best equipped to correct ills of society.
The Progressive Movement worked to improve society in three ways.
Help Citizens
Regulate Business
Increase Voter Participation in Government
Progressives justified the disfranchisement of African Americans on the grounds that the black vote could be bought

5. The Progressive Movement
Goal: Progress!
Society
Business
Government
fight poverty
improve working conditions
votes for women
prison reform
outlaw alcohol
break up large corporations
regulate businesses
decrease corporate power in government
greater voice of “the people”
more voters
did not seek to increase participation of blacks in elections

6. Prison Reform 1908: end of convict lease system
Work camps and chain gangs replaced the lease system
Black-and-white uniforms
Chained together
Poor food & housing
No preparation for life after prison
Progressive legislators created the Juvenile Court System

7. Labor Reforms Meatpacking Jungle
Low wages in factories (10¢ per hour)
12 hour work days
Many workers were children
Factory Conditions
Unsafe
Job related accidents and deaths were common in factories and mines
People who tried to form labor unions were punished or fired

8. Labor Unions Low wages in factories (10¢ per hour)
Labor Unions organized workers
Strikes could halt work in the factory
AFL – American Federation of Labor
Georgians didn’t support unions – factories were often in small communities where people knew each other
Mill towns: factory owner owned the workers’ houses – workers feared losing their homes

9. Child Labor Laws (video)
Progressives increased regulation to protect child laborers in the following ways:
Minimum wage
Compulsory school attendance laws
Laws protecting children against work in dangerous places and using dangerous equipment (for example: mines)
In Georgia, most child workers in cotton fields or textile factories
In the North, child workers were in “sweatshops”

10. Section 2: Southern Politics in Action
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What were the goals of the populists in Georgia?

11. The People’s Party Silent Clip-Populist Party
Populism: political idea that supported the rights of the “common” people in their struggle with the wealthy people
Supported: eight hour work day, income tax, restrictions on immigration, and government ownership of railroads, telephone and telegraph services.
Poor farmers and low wage workers were followers of the Populists
Grange and Farmer’s Alliance worked to protect farmers’ rights – joined with unions to create People’s Party
Wanted “Australian ballot” – printed by the
government, not local political parties, then
collected and locked in ballot boxes

12. Tom Watson
Famous Georgia populist, worked for Rural Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free

13. Georgia’s Progressive Era Governors
Hoke Smith: worked to concentrate
political power in the rural counties
instead of larger counties and cities
white supremacist
led passage of law requiring land ownership
before a person could vote – excluded many blacks
better funding of public schools
child labor laws passed
Smith-Lever Act (1914): created Agricultural Extension Service to teach improved farming methods
Smith-Hughes Act: helped establish vocational schools for youth

14. The County Unit System
1917: Neil Primary Act created “county unit system”
Plan designed to give small counties more power in state government
Smaller counties had more county unit “votes” even though they had fewer voters
The 8 most populated got 6 CU votes each = 48 total
Next 30 counties got 4 CU votes each = 120 total
The 121 counties left got 2 CU votes each = 242 total
The 30 largest counties had 2/3 of the states voters, but the smaller counties could decide a state election.

15. The County Unit System
People could be elected to office without getting a majority of votes
Declared unconstitutional in 1962
Click to return to Table of Contents.

16. Questions
What reform supported by the Populist party was eventually implemented and is still in use today?
The Australian ballot
What were the reasons people opposed the county unit system?
Urban citizens—because political power was in the hands of rural counties even though population growth was in cities and urban areas. People elected without majority vote.
What were reasons people supported the county unit system?
Supporters claimed it was fair because it allowed the smaller and less populated counties to have same power and influence as larger ones.

17. Section 3: The Continuing Fight for Civil Rights
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
In what ways did Georgians fight for civil rights during the progressive era?

18. Separate But Equal
Civil Rights: rights a person has simply because he/she is a citizen
“Jim Crow” laws passed to separate blacks and whites
Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court decision which approved Jim Crow laws – decision in place until 1954
Cummings V. Richmond County Board of Education: Supreme Court decision supporting segregated schools in Georgia

19. Booker T. Washington Outstanding civil rights leader of the era
President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
Supported good relations between blacks and whites
Worked to improve the lives of African Americans through economic independence
Believed social and political equality would come with improved economic conditions and education
Famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech (1895)

20. Define the following quotes: a
Define the following quotes: a. “It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours” b. “it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges” c. “The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house.”

21. W. E. B. DuBois Professor at Atlanta University
Believed in “action” if African Americans and whites were to understand and accept each other
Thought Booker T. Washington was too accepting of social in equality.

22. John & Lugenia Burns Hope
Civil rights leader from Augusta, GA
President of Atlanta University
Like DuBois, believed that African Americans should actively work for equality
Part of group that organized NAACP
Hope’s wife, Lugenia, worked to improve sanitation, roads, healthcare and education for African Americans

23. A Loss of Voting Rights (Disenfranchisement)
Laws created to keep African Americans in Georgia from voting
Grandfather clause: only those men whose fathers or grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1867 could vote
Poll tax: a tax paid to vote
Voters had to own property
Voters had to pass a literacy test (which was determined by the poll worker and could be different for different people)
Gerrymandering: election districts drawn up to divide the African American voters

24. Race Riots in Atlanta
1906: various leaders and newspapers created a climate of anger and fear
Two-day riot began with over 5,000 people
Martial law: military forces used to control civilians
21 people killed; hundreds wounded
Lots of property damage

25. African Americans Organize
NAACP (1909): worked for the rights of African Americans
W.E.B. DuBois left Atlanta to work for the NAACP in New York
National Urban League formed in 1910
Worked to solve social problems of African Americans in cities
Assisted people moving from rural South to urban North

26. The Trial of Leo Frank
1913: man accused of killing a 14-year-old employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta
Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York
Little evidence against Mr. Frank, but he was convicted and sentenced to death
Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life imprisonment
Armed men, also known as a mob, took Frank from the prison, and he was lynched
White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn as a result
Click to return to Table of Contents.

27. Section 4: Business in Georgia
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How did Georgia businesses grow during the progressive era?

28. Business in Georgia 1895: Cotton States and International Exposition
800,000 visitors in three months
designed to show economic recovery in the South
encouraged investments in southern businesses

29. Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company
Alonzo Herndon started barber business
1905: Purchased small insurance company and managed it well
Now one of the largest African American businesses in the US
Worth over $200 million and operates in 17 states
Click to return to Table of Contents.

30. Section 5: World War I ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How did Georgians contribute to World War I?

31. Causes of WWI

32. Allied Powers Leading Countries Central Powers Leading Countries
World War I
Allied Powers Leading Countries
Central Powers Leading Countries
France
Great Britain
Russia
(United States joined in 1917)
Germany
Austria-Hungary
President Woodrow Wilson declared the US would be a neutral country.

34. The United States Enters the War
President Wilson worked to keep the US out of the war = neutral
1915: German submarine sank passenger ship Lusitania; killing 128 Americans
Lusitania
1917: sub attacks resumed sinking American ships
Zimmerman telegram: Germany tried to get Mexico to attack the US
Wilson finally joined the Allied powers

38. Georgia and World War I
±100,000 Georgians volunteered to join the US armed forces
Training in Georgia at
Camp Benning
Fort McPherson
Camp Gordon
Camp Hancock
3,000 young Georgians killed in the war
Ended November 11, 1918

39. Contributions: Textile Mills: made fabric for uniforms
Railroads: carried arms, ammunition, and soldiers to ports where ships waited to sail for Europe
Farms: grew more food crops and raised livestock
Victory Gardens: small gardens raised by town residents to save food
Red Cross: women volunteered to help
Click to return to Table of Contents.