what we owe the progressives worker’s compensation, shorter work days, clean foods and more
TRANSCRIPT
What We Owe the ProgressivesWorker’s Compensation, Shorter Work Days, Clean Foods and More
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
OK Dept. of LaborCreated 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
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
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
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
Women’s SuffrageWomen 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
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
Meat Inspection Act
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Pure Food and Drug Act
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
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
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