Extend Your Learning
Historical Interpretations
In this session, we explored some of the key themes and events of the Progressive Era and looked at ways to activate students' existing knowledge about this time in history. Another way to dig into a challenging historical period is to connect it to another period that is more recent and/or already better understood by students.
Tamara Berman, director of Secondary Education, Carteret County, North Carolina public schools, reflects on the connections between the Progressive Era and the late 1960s period in America:
"The Progressive Era was amazingly akin to the late 1960s in America in that a group of highly dedicated and idealistic well-to-do reformers and forward-thinking individuals set out to change the world during both time periods -- and they actually succeeded to a certain extent. The push -- whether it was for workplace reform, scientific and technological advancement, civil and voting rights reforms, child labor laws and protections, etc. -- was all about making America a stronger, better place. Both periods were times of great hope and progress. We had the World's Fair and the White City in the Progressive Era. We sent men to the moon in the 1960s. We fought and won suffrage for women in the Progressive Era, and then reopened the case for women's rights in the late 1960s. We made advances in public education in the Progressive Era and then had a huge renewal in our science education focus in the 1960s (as we raced the Soviet Union into outer space). The list of parallels goes on and on.
"The interesting point in all of this is to acknowledge that, although the Progressive Era seems long ago and far away, it really was just another time in history chock full of issues, problems, accomplishments, and cultural shifts that will cycle back from time to time as we march forward through the decades. Which makes me believe that there is likely another Progressive Era or 1960s-style cultural revolution just around the corner. It's all just 'history repeating.'"
Dr. Jonathan Chu, University of Massachusetts, Boston, also reminds us that it is important for students of history to consider the dual-edged nature of both periods -- the Progressive Era and the 1960s: "Saving Yosemite and losing Hetch Hetchy [Valley] compares to saving snail darters and dealing with the Santa Barbara oil spill; Pullman porters getting out of sharecropping and Plessy v. Ferguson as opposed to Brown v. Board of Education and [radical civil rights activist] H. Rap Brown." Both periods contain a grey area of progress and pathos, positives and negatives that still reverberate to this day.
Present Your Historical Interpretation
Reflect on the types of connections apparent between the Progressive Era and the late 1960s. What other parallels can you identify between these time periods? Consider the events of other time periods or in the present day that connect to the themes of the Progressive Era. Discuss these connections with your colleagues or record them in your journal.