Ch:7 Charting A New Course (Before)Think about all the things in your life that help you live an

enjoyable life. Take 1 minute and share your thoughts with your partner.

Now imagine life without some of those luxuries like electricity, the privilege of going to school, a comfortable home, etc… Take 1 minute and share your thoughts with your partner.

In this lesson, you will learn about some very important people that spent their life making changes in Alabama so that you can enjoy the life you have today.

Chapter 7: Charting A New CourseALCOS 10. Describe significant social and educational changes in Alabama during the late nineteenth

and early twentieth centuries. • Identifying Alabamians who made contributions in the fields of science, education, the arts, the military,

politics, and business during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

OUTCOMEUse a graphic organizer to identify progressive Alabamians and describe how the contributions

made my these Alabamians affect our lives TODAY

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseLesson 1 Chart (During Activity)

ALCOS 10. Describe significant social and educational changes in Alabama during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• Identifying Alabamians who made contributions in the fields of science, education, the arts, the military, politics, and business during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Directions: The topic of our lesson today is “Progressive Alabamians”. As you learn about Alabamians that worked for positive change, complete the chart below.

Alabamian

Contribution

Affect Life Today?

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseThe Constitution of 1901

Lesson 1 (pages 202-203)

∙ A new constitution had just been written in 1875, but to keep the poor white farmers and blacks voting the Democrats out of office, the Democrats in office decided that the state needed a new constitution. They hoped to take away their right to vote (disfranchise).

∙ They planned to require that all voters be able to read and write, own property, and pay a fee in order to vote (poll tax). This would keep most poor white farmers and blacks from voting.

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseThe Constitution of 1901

Lesson 1 (page 203)

∙ The Democrats knew that this constitution (with all the new voting requirements) would never actually be voted for, so they stuffed the ballot boxes and won (put illegal ballots in the box so the outcome was in their favor).

∙ Within 2 years after the constitution went into effect, more than 40,000 white voters could no longer vote, and almost every black voter in Alabama was disfranchised (couldn’t vote).

The Democrats would be in power for a long time…all because of the new constitution of 1901.

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseProgressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 205)

∙ Even though the Democrats had taken away the right to vote for many, there were some people that worked hard to improve the lives of others. These people were called …

PROGRESSIVES

Progressives wanted to do more than improve education. They wanted to end child labor and get children into schools and out of the textile mills. They wanted to improve the health care of the people. They thought women should have the right to vote. They also wanted to use technology to raise the standard of living in Alabama.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Progressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 204)

John Tyler Morgan- He had a physical disability as a child which made

walking difficult. This made attending school rather difficult. He learned a little from school, but was educated by his mother.

- He grew up to be an lawyer. He fought in the Civil War and became a general. After the war, he became involved in Alabama politics and later a U.S. senator.

- As senator, one of his goals was to have a canal cut through the Isthmus of Panama. He believed that this would allow the South’s cotton and cloth to be shipped throughout the world. He is known as the “Father of the Panama Canal”.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Progressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 205)

Julia Tutwiler- She worked hard to improve

educational opportunities for women, especially educating women to become teachers.

- Because of all her efforts, the state legislature set up Alabama Normal College (now University of West Alabama in Livingston) where women could be trained to be classroom teachers.

- She also thought it was wrong for the University of Alabama to admit only men. She worked hard to persuade the trustees.

- Auburn admitted women in 1892, and as a result of Julia’s efforts, two women enrolled in the University of Alabama in 1893

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Progressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 206)Booker T. Washington

- He was born a slave in Virginia, but was able to get an education after he was freed from slavery (emancipation).

- As a young man, he moved to Alabama to open a school.

- In Alabama, he built Tuskegee Institute, which soon became one of the best schools for African Americans in the nation.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Progressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 206)

George Washington Carver- He served for many years on the Tuskegee

faculty- His research with the peanut earned him

fame and gave southern farmers something to grow besides cotton.

- The peanut oil your family uses to cook with and the peanut butter you eat are some of the results of his hard work and experiments.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Progressive Alabama

Lesson 1 (page 207)

Lewis Hine: A Hero with a Camera- He was a New York photographer. He was greatly

concerned about the large number of children in this country working in dangerous jobs and not attending school. Children worked because families were so poor that they needed their children to earn money.

- He worked with the National Labor Committee in an attempt to protect children from being mistreated.

- In 1910, he began to take pictures in Alabama of children being forced to work long hours and paid poorly. He photographed children working in coal mines, cotton mills, and fish canneries. His pictures helped the progressives get child labor laws passed to protect children from these horrible conditions.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Turning on the Lights

Lesson 1 (page 208)- In the early 1900’s, people realized that to

make progress, people needed electricity. Most Alabamians did not have electricity.

- A group of men formed the Alabama Power Company. They wanted to build hydroelectric dams across the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers. In the dams, water would flow through turbines that turned generators to produce electricity. The electricity would be sent through wires to different parts of the state.

- To build these dams, roads, railroads, and entire villages had to be built. It was one of the biggest engineering projects in the state’s history.

- By 1950, electricity was available to almost everyone in Alabama

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Other Alabamians Make Their Mark

Lesson 1 (page 209)

Many Alabamians became well known both inside and outside our state. Some of them overcame handicaps to accomplish many things.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Other Alabamians Make Their Mark

Lesson 1 (page 209-210)

Maria Fearing- She was born a slave. She always had a strong

interest in Africa. After emancipation (the act of setting free from slavery), she saved enough money to go to Talladega. Because she had almost no education, she was put in the 1st grade, even though she was over thirty years old.

- Maria did so well in school that she quickly made progress and before long, she learned enough to become a teacher. At about age 50, she heard a missionary (one sent to do religious work in a foreign country) speak of the need for workers in Africa. She sold her house to pay her way to Africa for the job.

- Maria lived and taught in Africa for the next 25 years. When her health declined, she returned to Selma, and died in 1937 when she was almost 100 years old. She was one of the most loved and respected people in her community.

Ch:7 Charting A New Course Other Alabamians Make Their Mark

Lesson 1 (pages 210-211)

Helen Keller- Because of a childhood illness, she was both

deaf and blind. She also could not speak because she could not hear words. Her handicap caused her to become frustrated, so she was an unruly child. Her parents wanted to give her a better life, so they contacted Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. They sent Annie Sullivan to teach Helen.

- Annie taught Helen that signs she made with her hands could mean things that she could touch and feel. The first word she learned to sign was “water”. Helen then learned very quickly.

- She learned to read letters printed in Braille. Then when she was 10, a new teacher began to teach her to speak. She eventually went to Radcliffe College and in 1904 graduated with honors. She traveled around the world showing people what can be accomplished in spite of handicaps.

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseLesson 1 (pages 202-211)

Lesson 1 Review Questions

- 1. What group of people led the Alabama Democrats?

- 2. What two groups opposed the Democrats?

- 3. According to the 1901 constitution, what were the requirements to vote?

- 4. What did progressives want for Alabama?

- 5. What role did electricity play in Alabama in this time period?

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseLesson 1 (pages 202-211)

Lesson 1 Answers- 1. Planters from the Black Belt, industrialists from

the mineral belt, mill owners from the piedmont, and business men from larger cities led the Alabama Democrats.

- 2. Poor white farmers and blacks opposed the Democrats.

- 3. According to the 1901 constitution, the requirements to vote were to read and write, own property, and pay a poll tax.

- 4. Alabama progressives wanted to improve the lives of the people of Alabama.

- 5. In Alabama during this time period, progress depended on electricity.

Ch:7 Charting A New CourseLesson 1 Small Group Activity

ALCOS 10. Describe significant social and educational changes in Alabama during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• Identifying Alabamians who made contributions in the fields of science, education, the arts, the military, politics, and business during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Directions: Your group will be assigned one of the following progressives of Alabama: John Tyler Morgan, Julia Tutwiler, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and Helen Keller

Read the informational text given by your teacher or refer to the website (www.encyclopediaofalabama.org) to learn more details about that person’s life. On your chart paper, write a brief summary of their life including more information than just what was in this presentation. Finally, draw a portrait of that person “in action”.