Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 481
Compare Jane Addams’s reform efforts with the women’s club activities Mary White Ovington describes in Document 18-4. What similarities do you see in their approach to reform and in the challenges they faced?
What response do you think The Jungle would have elicited from such different reformers as Jane Addams and Marie Ganz? How might each have interpreted the evidence of workplace abuse Sinclair presented in novel form?
Why do you think Progressive-Era reformers adopted the strategies they did? What methods did they believe would achieve the most lasting effect? Were their methods successful? Did they have in mind similar audiences?
After having read and analyzed the multiple perspectives presented in this chapter, describe the ways in which working-class Americans responded to the challenges of the industrial city. Which tactics seemed to work best, and which hindered or did not have much effect on their struggle?