mutual aid
society
An urban organization that served
members of an ethnic immigrant
group, usually those from a particular
province or town. They functioned as
fraternal clubs that collected dues
from members in order to pay
support in case of death or disability.
tenement
A high-density, cheap, five- or sixstory housing unit designed for
working-class urban populations. In
the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, they became a
symbol of urban immigrant
poverty.
vaudeville
A professional stage show popular in
the 1880s and 1890s that included
singing, dancing, and comedy routines;
it created a form of family
entertainment for the urban masses
that deeply influenced later forms, such
as radio shows and television sitcoms.
ragtime
A form of music that became wildly
popular in the early 20th century among
audiences of all classes and races and
ushered in an urban dance craze. It was
an important form of crossover music,
borrowed from working-class African
Americans by enthusiasts who were
white and middle class.
yellow
journalism
A derogatory term for newspapers
that specialize in sensationalistic
reporting. It is associated with the
inflammatory reporting by the
Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers
leading up to the Spanish-American
War in 1898.
muckrakers
A critical term, first applied by
Theodore Roosevelt, to
investigative journalists (such as
Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair) who
published exposés of political
scandals and industrial abuses.
political
machine
A complex, hierarchical party
organization, such as NYC’s Tammany
Hall, whose candidates remained in
office on the strength of their political
organization and their personal
relationship with voters, especially
working-class immigrants who had little
alternative access to political power.
National
Municipal
League
A political reform organization that
advised cities to elect small councils
and hire professional city managers
who would direct operations like a
corporate executive. This approach
originated in Galveston, Texas after
the city was devastated by a
hurricane that killed 6000 in 1900.
progressives
A loose term for political reformers—
especially those from the elite and
middle classes—who worked to
improve the political system, fight
poverty, conserve environmental
resources, and increase government
involvement in the economy.
“City Beautiful”
Movement
A turn-of-the-twentieth-century
movement that advocated
landscape beautification,
playgrounds, and more and better
urban parks.
social
settlements
Community welfare centers that
investigated the plight of the urban
poor, raised funds to address urgent
needs, and helped neighborhood
residents advocate on their own
behalf. They became a nationally
recognized reform strategy during the
Progressive Era.
Hull House
One of the first and most famous
social settlements, founded in 1889
by Jane Addams and her companion
Ellen Gates Starr in an impoverished,
largely Italian immigrant
neighborhood on Chicago’s West
Side.
Pure Food and
Drug Act
A 1906 law regulating the
conditions in the food and drug
industries to ensure a safe supply of
food and medicine.
Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire
A devastating fire that quickly spread
through a factory in New York City on
March 25, 1911, killing 146 people. In
the wake of the tragedy, fifty-six state
laws were passed dealing with such
issues as fire hazards, unsafe machines,
and wages and working hours for
women and children.
National
Consumer
League
Begun in New York, it became a
national progressive organization
that encouraged women, through
their shopping decisions, to support
fair wages and working conditions
for industrial laborers.
Jacob Riis
Danish-born journalist who included
photographs of tenement interiors in
his very influential 1890 book, How
the Other Half Lives. He took police
commissioner Theodore Roosevelt on
tours of the NYC tenements to show
him the impoverished living
conditions.
Jane Addams
A college-educated middle-class
woman who founded Hull House with
Ellen Gates Starr. She saw her work
at the settlement house as a “bridge
between the classes,” a help to the
poor and the middle classes idealists
who sought to bring social change.
Margaret
Sanger
Raised in a Catholic home, she
became a nurse, volunteering in a
NYC settlement house in 1911. She
was indicted for violating obscenity
laws by promoting birth control in
her newspaper column, “What
Every Girl Should Know.”
Upton Sinclair
Muckraking journalist who exposed the
exploitation of laborers and the
appalling conditions in Chicago’s
meatpacking plants in his novel, The
Jungle.
Florence Kelly
A Hull House worker and former Illinois
factory inspector who founded the
National Consumer League to advocate
for worker protection laws.
Scott Joplin
The son of former slaves who grew
up along the Texas-Arkansas border
who introduced ragtime music to
national audiences at the Chicago
World’s Fair in 1893.