The Progressive Era was a time of great improvement for workers and the American public as a whole. After many years of being exploited and pillaged by big business, everyday Americans finally got some help from the government. The muckrakers exposed immoral business practices such as the use of child labor and the unsafe working conditions in factories, as well as, the improvement in living conditions. Prohibition was symbolic of the public conscious of the time. People were focused on living as purely as possible and this spilled into political reform. The Nineteenth Amendment granted suffrage to women and was one of the biggest successes for progressives. Religion also played a large part in Progressive ideals. Progressives wished to make the public sphere more pure and moral.
Faces of Lost Youth: Furman Owens, 12-years-old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, South Carolina.
Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older. Washington, D.C.
Boy Running "Trip Rope" in a Mine, Welch, WV September 1908
“Street Arabs," circa 1890 Credit: Museum of the City of New York, The Jacob A. Riis Collection
"A 'Scrub' and Her Bed -- The Plank," circa 1890 Credit: Museum of the City of New York, The Jacob A. Riis Collection