During the period between 1890 and 1920, the unsatisfying social conditions in America has led to the emergence of many reformers and progressives. They voiced their opinions on several aspects of the US society that needed revolution. Some of the progressives have pointed out the most pressing issues, which were successfully addressed by the federal government within years.
The idea of many others took much longer to realize, showing that their thinking was way ahead of their times. Overall, the reformers brought significant changes to American society, in terms of racial equality, gender equality, and environmental awareness. Such changes also show a progressive trend, which is dependent on the development of society and civilization.
The problem of racial inequality had haunted America long enough. Even centuries after emancipation, the incidences of inequality were still frequently seen. Ida B. Wells pointed out in 1895 that suppression and social injustices had been accumulating for centuries [Doc. A].
Primarily, the law in America was not protecting the right indiscriminately for all races. Secondly, the law was not properly enforced in many places, giving rise to social injustices. The voices of those advocating racial equality were echoed from within the government. W.E.B. DuBois said in 1903 that it had been a legacy of President Washington to promote racial equality, which is the right granted by God [Doc. D]. What the government did in the following decades were in general effective in eliminating racial inequality.
Gender issues were another major social problem in America, especially after women became a major workforce during the wars. The push for equal rights from both racial and gender perspectives furthered in 1913, as colored women paraded for their rights to vote [Doc. E].
In addition, they also demanded the right to go be enrolled into institutions of higher education. Such protests were not answered until decades later. In the Equal Rights Amendment proposed in 1972, the struggles of women were finally addressed, saying,” Equality of right under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex” [Doc. G].
The environmental problems were not at their peak in the Progress Era, making the voices somewhat predictive. Many reformers had foreseen the trend of blind pursuit for wealth in American society, with devastations to mother nature. They pointed out the danger of such a trend.
For example, John Muir condemned the action of destroying forests that were centuries old [Doc. B]. Somehow, the government has lost the sense of rationality and pushed for urbanization and economic gains at the cost of destroying nature. After decades of effort, environmental awareness has finally been established with multiple zones of forest protection set up [Doc. H]. This is after environmental problems have caused billions of dollars for the government.
Discussions of the three points above have shown the successes of the reformers in bringing the most pressing issues to the table. However, limited by their power and knowledge, most of them fail to propose any constructive solutions to the issues.
It is only after decades of effort that the problems have been properly addressed. From observations of the US society nowadays, none of the above issues were truly dismissed. Problems of racial & gender stereotyping, as well as the exploitation of nature persists, which require reformers of the modern age to address the issues and come up with solutions.