The Progressive Era and Historical Narratives.

In class, we discussed the Progressive Era, reforms, social changes and historical narratives.

The first thing is The Progressive Era itself. The definition for this time period is huge and it's a period of time where there was so much going on but it's a time where people didn't want big government, they wanted a more laizze-faire approach to things.

During this time many Progressives combined their beliefs into social life itself. There was an implementation of Christianity, people were doing charity work because it was the Christian thing and there might have been some that did it out of the kindness of their hearts but there were others who did it for other reasons to make a point.

There was a point where some progressive reforms sought social control and it was during this time where history sees laws and acts implemented to control people's behavior. Some of these laws include film censorship, prohibition and no work on Sundays just to name a few.

On top of these laws and acts, there was other social, economic and political changes during this time as well. 

The Maternity Act was passed and it set up federal and State funds for women to get the healthcare they needed during their pregnancy because at the moment there was still a high death rate for mothers and infants during this time. However, due to pressure from the American Medical Association this Act is dead by 1929.

On top of discussing social reforms, we also discussed more about historical narratives.

A Historical Narrative is history which involves a story and it is told in a story based form.

Traditional Narratives are in chronological order and they are event driven. A example would be Henry VIII of England died on January 28th, 1547 afterward, his son Edward VI took the throne at the age of nine on February 20th, 1547.

Modern Narratives use structures and general trends. There is a pattern to them. Historians want to know why and exactly why an event occurred. This would fit into more of Micro-history which I've discussed in an earlier blog post.

Voice uses 3rd person to describe events.

The one act I want to focus on for this blog post is the Maternity Act. It amazes me how far society has come in terms of women's rights but at the same time, I know that society still has a long way to go before there is truly equality achieved.

(Pictured above: Nurse visiting a family and checking on a baby during Maternity Act period)

The Maternity Act or the Sheppard-Towner Act benefited women who were unable to get the healthcare they needed and it only lasted a few years before it was killed off. Women were then unable to get the healthcare they needed for a healthy pregnancy. 

To this day, women are still be denied certain rights and it's almost like society is stuck in the 1920s. There are furious debates about whether or not it should be legal to get an abortion and whether birth control should be covered by health insurance. I would think that after about 80s, society would've opened it's eyes and realize that we're not in the 1920s, times have changed.