Chapter+23+-+Pre+World+War+I

Before the Great War

Before the Great World War had begun, the United States experienced a period of economic revival. The Progressive Era had begun. The Progressives fought to achieve numerous reforms that would aid the country in the long run.

Two African American activist leaders, WEB Dubois and Booker T. Washington, sought to help out their race in different ways. Dubois' approach was for African Americans to gain political and social rights as a prerequisite to economic independence. Washington believed that they should focus on learning industrial skills in order to gain better wages. At the end of the 19th century, about nine in ten African Americans lived in the south. During 1910-30, about a million African Americans migrated to the north in search of better jobs. This became known as the //Great Migration//.

The Progressive Era became known as a time of increased activism and optimism for a new generation of feminists. Carrie Chapman Catt become the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). They strived to gain equality, but slowly died down after gaining the right to vote in 1920 (Nineteenth Amendment).