Progressive Era

Public domain.

Jane Addams dedicated her life to improving the living and working conditions of immigrants, especially those living in poverty in large cities.  She believed through voting women could help pass laws that would improve conditions.  In her speech, “The Modern City and the Municipal Franchise for Women,” Addams focused on the need of cities to clean up through “civic housekeeping.”  This speech, delivered at the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention in 1906, encouraged women to become more active in civil life in order to bring about change in human-welfare. 

Public domain.

Ida B. Wells fought hard to shed light on the racism that still existed in the country after abolition.  While living in Memphis, Tennessee, Wells wrote many essays on the terrible treatment of freed African Americans.  This editorial focused on the lynching of three men that occurred in Memphis in 1892, after which Wells was told not to come back to Memphis because her life was in danger.  Since Wells could not return home, she wrote about the events leading up to the lynching.  In this collection of writings, Wells also wrote on the different treatment of individuals based on their race.