Summary
Highlights
The Progressive Era, often viewed positively for its efforts to fix societal wrongs, also had a darker side. While aiming to improve working lives, health, and economic disparities, some progressives believed that certain individuals had to sacrifice their freedoms for the nation to thrive. This lecture will examine who bore the cost of these 'positive' changes.
Despite the push for reforms, pre-existing nativist and racist ideas, rooted in pseudo-science and creating a racial hierarchy, persisted. Long-held beliefs in white Anglo-Saxon superiority did not disappear overnight. Therefore, groups not considered white Anglo-Saxon often became subjects of control and lost freedoms.
Progressives often looked to the past with nostalgia, believing societal problems like prostitution and alcoholism were new. They correlated the rise of these issues with the influx of immigrants, particularly from Southern and Eastern Europe, leading to the false conclusion that immigrants were the cause and restricting them was the solution.
Eradicating prostitution was a laudable goal, but some progressives wrongly blamed Southern and Eastern European immigrants. This led to a series of immigration laws: the 1903 law taxed these immigrants and allowed for deportation, the 1907 law introduced the concept of 'undesirable women' for exclusion, and the 1910 law prohibited entry for 'immoral purposes.' These ambiguous laws disproportionately targeted specific immigrant populations, yet prostitution persisted.
Statistics revealed that the majority of prostitutes were native-born white women, not foreign women. To reconcile this with their racial hierarchy, progressives invented the concept of 'white slavery,' suggesting that 'corrupted' Southern and Eastern European men were tricking 'naive' white women into prostitution. This narrative ignored economic realities that forced many white women into the profession.
To combat 'white slavery,' the Mann Act of 1910 was passed, prohibiting transporting females across state lines for 'sexually immoral purposes.' This ambiguous law was often enforced discriminatorily, leading to the arrest of non-white men traveling with white women, under the assumption of human trafficking.
Movies in the early 1900s depicted urban life, including immigrant populations, crime, and 'promiscuous' working-class women. Progressives feared that non-white audiences, believed to lack the mental capacity to differentiate fiction from reality, would emulate these behaviors. This led to state-level movie censorship laws, starting with Illinois in 1907, to promote 'moral' films.
Boxing matches were popular, and filmed prizefights were circulated. However, the fight between black American Jack Johnson and white American Jim Jeffries on July 4, 1910, caused uproar. Johnson's victory, a knockout of a white opponent, challenged white supremacy. This resulted in widespread race riots and the censorship of the film, as authorities feared it would inspire black Americans and undermine the belief in white inferiority.
Jack Johnson, a wealthy and defiant black man, deliberately challenged racial norms in the South by flaunting his riches and having relationships with white women. This infuriated many white Americans. He was eventually arrested under the Mann Act for crossing state lines with a white woman, leading to his exile and eventual decline.
Fueled by fears of 'race suicide' and the belief that 'inferior races' were prone to vices, the eugenics movement gained traction. President Theodore Roosevelt himself encouraged white Americans to have more children to prevent white racial decline. The movement advocated for selective breeding to create a 'perfect race,' epitomized by the Nordic ideal of blue-eyed, blond-haired individuals.
To curb 'unfit populations,' sterilization laws emerged. Indiana passed the first such law in 1907, with 27 states following by the 1930s. These laws often targeted individuals labeled 'feeble-minded.' Black women, often without their knowledge or consent, were disproportionately subjected to involuntary sterilization during medical procedures, leaving thousands unable to have children.
Despite calls for integration from some progressives like Jane Addams, political leaders like Theodore Roosevelt avoided challenging segregation for fear of losing votes. As a result, black Americans were largely excluded from progressive reforms and instead faced increasing racial violence and Jim Crow laws.
The Progressive Era was marked by intense race riots in both the North and South. The 1900 New Orleans riot, triggered by a self-defense incident involving Robert Charles, resulted in his death and indiscriminate violence against black citizens. The 1908 Springfield, Illinois, riot, in Lincoln's supposed progressive hometown, saw white mobs attack black communities after a false accusation of rape, leading to deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction. These events fueled the formation of the NAACP.