Daily Life of Women in the Progressive Era

by Kirstin Olsen

Overview

This book illustrates the social change that took place in the lives of women during the Progressive Era.

The political and social change of the Progressive Era brought conflicts over labor, women's rights, consumerism, religion, sexuality, and many other aspects of American life. As Americans argued and fought over suffrage and political reform, vast changes were also taking place in women's professional, material, personal, recreational, and intellectual lives. In this installment of Greenwood's Daily Life through History series, award-winning author Kirstin Olsen brings to life the everyday experiences, priorities, and challenges of women in America's Progressive Era (ca. 1890–1920).

From the barnstorming "bloomer girls" who showed America that women could play baseball to film star, tycoon, and co-founder of the Academy of Motion Pictures Mary Pickford, and from the highly skilled "Hello Girls"—telephone operators who helped win World War I—to the remarkable jourbanalist and civil rights activist Ida Wells-Barnett, women led both famous and ordinary lives that were shaped by and helped to drive the dramatic social change taking place during the Progressive Era.

All of this and more is described in this book through topical sections as well as stories and profiles that reveal to readers the daily lives of America's women who lived during the Progressive Era. Readers will benefit from Olsen's characteristically sharp eye for detail, power of description, and breadth of historical knowledge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440863288
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/24/2019
Series:	The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series
Pages:	472
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.35(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kirstin Olsen is a history educator and an independent scholar in Santa Cruz, CA. She is author of the award-winning All Things Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's World and many other books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: "Maidenhood, Wifehood, and Motherhood" xiii

Timeline of Events xix

Glossary xxxiii

1 Domestic Life: "She has Become a Woman" 1

1 Document: Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge, M.D., "The Young Mother in the Home: How One Mother with Five Children Regulates Her Day" (1907) 75

2 Document: Kathleen Norris, The Treasure (1914) 78

3 Document: Emma Duke, Infant Mortality (1915) 80

2 Economic Life: "Working … Since I Knowed What Work Was" 83

1 Document: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics (1898) 143

2 Document: A Negro Nurse, "More Slavery at the South" (1912) 146

3 Intellectual Life: "The Ladies' Course" 149

1 Document: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Solitude of Self: Address Delivered by Mrs. Stanton Before the Committee of the Judiciary of the United States Congress" (1892) 166

2 Document: G. Stanley Hall, 'The Ideal School as Based on Child Study" (1901) 170

4 Material Life: "Life in a Cottage" 173

1 Document: W. O. Atwater and Charles D. Woods, Dietary Studies with Reference to the Food of the Negro in Alabama (1897) 197

2 Document: Arthur Goss, Dietary Studies in New Mexico in 1895 (1899) 200

3 Document: Mrs. Burton Kingsland, The Book of Weddings (1907) 201

4 Document: "Home and Farm," The Herald and Presbyter (1919) 203

5 Political Life: "Shall I Fold Some More Leaflets?" 205

1 Document: Frances Willard, Address Before the Second Biennial Convention of the World's Woman's Temperance Union (1893) 234

2 Document: L. Frank Baum, The land of Oz (1904) 235

3 Document: Jane Addams, "The Modern City and the Municipal Franchise for Women" (1906) 236

4 Document: M., "Women Do Not Want the Vote Despite Cry of Suffragists" (1912) 237

5 Document: Emma Goldman, "Woman Suffrage" (1917) 238

6 Document: Margaret Murray Washington, "Club Work Among Negro Women" (1920) 240

7 Document: Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom (1920) 241

6 Recreational Life: "I Am Very Fond of … All Sorts of Pleasure" 245

1 Document: Senda Berenson, "The Significance of Basket Ball for Women" (1901) 293

2 Document: "At the Social Settlement Saturday Night Dance, Back of the Yards. In the Dance Halls," Chicago Tribune (1910) 294

7 Religious Life: "A Most Active and Potent Factor in the Churches" 297

1 Document: C. H. Yatman, "Scripture for Women" and "Good Women," The Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times (1892 and 1893) 329

2 Document: Mary Cagle, "My Call to the Ministry" (1905) 331

Notes 333

Bibliography 379

Index 413

Editorial Reviews

This strong, informative resource is recommended for larger college and university libraries.” —Booklist

From the Publisher