1. What We Owe the Progressives Worker’s Compensation, Shorter Work Days, Clean Foods and More

2. Child Labor Wages in the factories were low so oftentimes parents brought their children to work with them to keep them close and for the extra income End of the 1800s nearly 20% of children (10-16) worked rather than went to school

3. OK Dept. of Labor Created by the constitution (state’s) in 1907 Can’t work under 14 (with few exceptions like “paper routes” and helping on family farms) Restrictions for number of hours on school days and non-school days Beyond 16 there is no maximum number of work hours Children now have to attend school until 16--compulsary

4. Working Conditions Industrial workers worked long hours usually in poorly ventilated facilities with hazardous fumes and dangerous machinery After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fires in NYC, Americans took notice of the conditions workers had to endure (146 workers died—mostly young women) NY passed laws trying to make the workplace safer

5. New Laws in the Workplace Worker’s compensation- these laws protect workers who are injured on the job and pay them while they recover (if possible) Maternity leave Sick Leave FMLA

6. Women Seek Equal Rights Women wanted to expand their role in society and in their communities—beyond taking care of husbands and having babies Education was key! Women’s colleges prepped women for careers as nurses, teachers, and social workers Many women couldn’t afford an education and took factory jobs They had to hand over their paychecks to their husbands

7. Women’s Suffrage Women wanted to expand their role in society and in their communities—beyond taking care of husbands and having babies Education was key! Women’s colleges prepped women for careers as nurses, teachers, and social workers Many women couldn’t afford an education and took factory jobs They had to hand over their paychecks to their husbands

8. Discrimination and Civil Rights With the decision in Plessy V. Ferguson, states across the country passed segregation laws Generally speaking, these laws were popular Many Progressives were prejudiced against nonwhites, non-Protestants, and the non-middle class African Americans began demanding reform for themselves Jim Crow laws will make their way into the Oklahoma Constitution

9. Meat Inspection Act Pure Food and Drug Act

10. Twin Territories Within the Twin Territories, Progressives wanted to help all these people (the poor, blacks, women, farmers, etc.) by developing a constitution for a new state William H. Murray and Charles N. Haskell were Democrats who wanted to create a new state of Indian Territory called Sequoyah—they even wrote a constitution when they met with others in Muskogee

11. Sequoyah wasn’t meant to be… Sequoyah would have been a Democratic state and since T. Roosevelt was a Republican he didn’t want that, so the Republican controlled Congress proposed that Indian Territory (Dem) and Oklahoma Territory (Rep) combine This action was approved as the Oklahoma Enabling Act in 1906

12. Oklahoma is Born Create the longest and most progressive constitution As progressive as it was, it also had Jim Crow laws embedded into it, including literacy tests and “Grandfather clauses” The previous conditions of servitude. or the status of having been slaves, excluded classes from voting