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What is Progressivism? How does it fit with the history of the Gilded Age?

The Progressive Era began in 1900 and ended in 1919. Progressives were often not a unified movement but were religiously driven with majority being women. They were Anti-Trust and Anti-Big Business and aimed to end government corruption as well as improve social welfare. While the Progressives aimed to reform, they ignored specific segments of the population like farmers and minorities. Furthermore, they had to contend with differing viewpoints regarding immigration. Businesses loved the cheaper labor immigrants brought, but labor did not want immigration because worker competition created lower wages.

During the Gilded Age there was a lot of racial tension with 90% of the 5,000-people lynched being black. Along with the tension from the Gilded Age, the Progressive era brought with it an increase in race riots from fear of immigrants taking jobs and soldiers frustrated after retuning home post-war. Many blacks were killed during the 25 race riots that occurred across the country in 1919. The most notable one was in East St. Louis 1917. They estimated around 250 blacks were killed by angry whites. The whites also burned the “Negro Section” of St Louis attempting to destroy their ‘competition.

One man, Leo Frank, was a Jewish man accused of murdering Mary Phagan (13 years old). He was not found guilty and an angry mob lynched him. From this event, the KKK resurged. The film, “The Birth of a Nation”, represented the KKK’s frustrations and desire to preserve their race and themselves. Various branches of the KKK emerged from this and led to an era where whites would freely pose in pictures with innocent black men they killed. This heinous and atrocious behavior was seen in the Gilded Age and demonstrates how the Progressive movement may have sparked the fire for continued and widespread racial hatred in the U.S..