Webquest – THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

Introduction

Read the following passage from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white--it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one-- there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage.

This is part of the America from a century ago. Children and adults worked long hours every day in the mines, factories, and sweatshops for pennies a day. Safety in the workplace was not as important as production.

Can you imagine your or your parents working under the conditions described by Upton Sinclair? Child labor caused some children to lose their childhood and spend their youth in a factory working long hours doing repetitive tasks just like a robot. Lifelong injuries were common. They made just enough money to survive.

What has happened to cause so many changes to the working conditions in our factories since Upton Sinclair wrote his book at the turn of the previous century? We have more leisure time, our factories are safer, our foods are produced in healthier environments, our wages have increased and we have child labor laws today. These changes and many others took place during what is now called The Progressive Era.

In this WebQuest, you will describe the lifestyle of you and your family today. You will visit websites and learn what life was like 100 years ago and write about it. Finally, you will complete a paper that will compare your life today with that of 100 years ago.

Please remember that a quest is a search. You will need to search for the information.

Task and Process: This is a three step process.

Step One: Describe your life (20 points)

Directions: Describe your life today in terms of family, living space and work. Include the following information and anything else you would like to provide. Should be minimum of 2 pages.

Describe your family:

Describe your parents/guardians – siblings – self.

Job: include type of work duties, pay, safety and health issues,

hours worked per day/week. What are the working conditions you and your family encounter today?

If you work, does your family depend on your income to survive?

Describe your housing: apartment, home other. Number of people living under one roof. How many bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living rooms, garage, etc. Would you consider it comfortable? Why or why not? Measure your room and your closet. How big is it? Is it comfortable for you? Do you share it with anyone else?

What child labor laws are you aware of?

What material possessions do you own? Any cars, computers, t.v.’s, dvd’s, video games, etc. Try to think of as many things as you can.

Step Two: Life a Century Ago

Directions: Visit the following sites and answer the following questions.

The Triangle Factory Fire

1. Location of the event

2. Describe the event

Describe what it was like to work at the factory? Describe it.

How did the fire start?

Why couldn’t the girls get out? How many died?

3. What was the reaction in New York? What changed as a result of the fire?

Coal Mining in the Progressive Era

1. Read “The Life of a Coal Miner. (You may have to type it into the OSU search bar)

2. Answer the following questions:

1. Why does the boy lie about his age?

2. Hours and pay for the work

3. List four problems/dangers of work as a breaker boy.

4. The door boy is with how many people most of the day?

5. What are three hazards faced by the drivers?

6. Age and job description of a laborer in the mine.

7. What are 3 dangers faced by the miner?

8. Number of men killed? Injured? Average age of those killed?

View the photos:

Give a 2 paragraph description and reaction.

The Campaign to End Child Labor

From the list of occupations on child labor, choose one of the occupations listed and complete the following:

1. Name of occupation you chose.

2. Summarize the pictures and the caption that accompanies the pictures.

(minimum two paragraphs)

Tenement History

1. Click on the photographs at the top of the page and describe the rooms and living conditions. Scroll down and read 97 Orchard place (2 paragraph description)

2. Compare what you see in the photographsand what you read in 97 Orchard Place with your living situation at home. (1 paragraph)

3. Think about number of rooms, location, cleanliness, facilities, and numbers of people

living there, etc. Which would you prefers to live in? Explain why. (1 paragraph)

Hull House Museum

Double click on the photos of Hull House in Chicago. Hull House was established by Jane Addams and was meant toimprove the conditions of poor people.

1. Using the photos, would you consider the conditions at Hull House to be acceptable

by today’s standards as a school or as a community center?

2. Why or why not? Use specific details from the pictures to answer.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

click on young workers

Answer the following:

1. List at least three rights you have as a teenage worker

2. What responsibilities does your employer have?

In the opening paragraph, there will be two words in blue towards the end of the paragraph, click on the blue word: Federal, and read what laws apply to you.

3. Summarize the hours, types of jobs and pay for your age.

Step 3: Final Product

Using the information gathered from your life and the web sites, write a paper that compares your lifewith that of a working teen 100 years ago. Also, write your thoughts on how and why things have changed, or why you think they have not changed. Your paper should be at least two typed pages in length. Your final paper should include specific information gathered and learned from this webquest. You are supposed to use the information from steps one and two. (Hint, you’ve already done the writing, use the information from the packet that you’ve written and your life paper) BE SPECIFIC! USE THE DETAILS FROM YOUR WEBQUEST!

Conclusion: In your concluding paragraph (s) answer the following

If you could travel back in time and live “in the good old days,” would you? Or have things improved enough that the “good old days” weren’t really all that good?

Take a moment and reflect how things could be today if not for the efforts of these people and organizations. Try to think of ways you can be active in making our community a better place.

Changes in America did not take place accidentally. Our lives are much better thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens, churches, civic organizations, and government officials who cared enough to make it happen.

The outline of your paper should follow the outline of the questions:

Your living conditions vs. living conditions back then; your working conditions vs. working conditions back then; what organizations help people today vs. organizations that helped people back then; what labor laws today vs. labor laws back then. USE THE INFORMATION that you’ve gathered!

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