The Long Essay Experiment

    This essay was originally in written form (I wrote along with my class while they wrote) They had a choice between two prompts; I wrote the first prompt in 3^rd period and the 2^nd in 4^th.  We are sharing our corrected essays this week, showing different scored essays on the document camera and discussing different parts of the rubric.  I show different essays, some with good thesis, some with good synthesis, others that show good supporting detail.   I will also share my essay as well.

    I am presenting this to you in typed form so that you can read it and I also because I don’t know how to use the scanner that well, lol! This is also unedited, as we only had 35 minutes to write.  I have a lot more sympathy for my students now that I see my writing as I was writing fast and I look back much of it was poorly worded and had obvious grammar mistakes. I will also stress to my students to go back and fix what they can as I didn't take the time to do so, and most students do not take the time to do so in class either.

#2 Prompt: Analyze the roles that women played in the Progressive Era reforms from the 1880s through 1920.  Forcus your essay on TWO of the following: Politics, Social conditions, labor and working conditions.

                From voting rights to working with immigrants, women have played a large role in making changes in the American Progressive movement through 1920.

                Since the Seneca Falls Convention, women’s desire to be considered “equal” in the eyes of the voting population was announced.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were major players in the movement for the women’s right to vote.  Largely it was thought to be a movement for the federal government to change this law but ultimately it was the states that were making these changes first.  The movement for women to vote slowly began in the west and moved eastward pushing for the federal government to make the same change.  If it weren’t for women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, women would not have the leadership to guide them through this process and ultimately pass the 19^th amendment.

                Women also unite?(can’t read my own writing) within their city and state governments to change how voting regulations would work such as recall and initiatives so there would be less corruption within these government institutions.  If there was, they could purge them from office.  The initiative process also allows the people to bring laws to vote from the people, which was not there before. 

                As women worked tirelessly for political change, they also wanted to make sure home life and lives of other was supported as well.  Margaret Sanger felt it was the right for women to protect their bodies from unwanted pregnancies.  Many women’s bodies were in danger from multiple births and had no control.  With birth control illegal it became very dangerous to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies.  Margaret Sanger fought the stigma and shame associated with birth control and finally birth control was justifiably legal.

                There was also a huge immigration population coming into our cities that needed to be protected.  Many needed health care, help with children and jobs.  Jane Addams bought such help in Chicago at the Hull House.  This place gave sanctuary to immigrants looking for jobs and a place of refuge for their families.  Many Sanctuary houses were set up for immigrants around the country, modeled after Addams Hull house; hoping to prove a safe place for the new Americans.

                We saw women taking a prominent role in the Progressive Era both in politics and in the social aspect and we see another jump for women’s rights in the 1960s.  Women like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem worked tirelessly to fight for equal pay and rights for women in the work force and still do today.  It may still be unequal but we are getting there.