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 journalist 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.
Ties social history and the experiences of women to one of the most important periods in American History: the Progressive Era
Includes illustrations that document the everyday life of and attitudes toward women in the Progressive Era
Documents firsthand the daily lives of women in the Progressive Era via reproduced primary sources
Tells the story of key events such as the triumph of the suffrage movement from the lives of everyday American women
Brings to life the real women who lived during a period that is well known for its political events but less understood in terms of daily life
