PD #107

The People's party, more commonly known as the Populist party, was organized in St. Louis in 1892 to represent the common folk—especially farmers—against the entrenched interests of railroads, bankers, processers, corporations, and the politicians in league with such interests. At its first national convention in Omaha in July 1892. The reform spoke of a nation "brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin" by political corruption and economic inequality. The platform put forth a list of proposals to restore democracy and economic opportunity, many of which would be adopted in the next century including government control of the currency, a graduated income tax, and asserted that rural and urban worked shared an identity of interest. Also populist called for public ownership of the railroads to guarantee farmers inexpensive access to markets for their crops.

PD #113

"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling.

It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands.[1] The poem was originally written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, but exchanged for "Recessional"; Kipling changed the text of "Burden" to reflect the subject of American colonization of the Philippines, recently won from Spain in the Spanish-American War.[2] The poem consists of seven stanzas, following a regular rhyme scheme. At face value it appears to be a rhetorical command to white men to colonize and rule other nations for the benefit of those people (both the people and the duty may be seen as representing the "burden" of the title).

PD #118

1. "Free Womanhood," is defined as woman having complete control over her own body. A woman is not free until she can consciously decide whether she wants to be a mother or not. Women are then subjected to this voluntary motherhood that implies a new morality, one that is liberated. With access to birth control women worldwide are taking a stance. They are not just freed physically but emotionally and mentally as well from the forced ideas of motherhood. Women now become more independent and continue to make their own livings, she is no longer restrained in her reproductive powers. She longer has to submit to the mandated role as incubator or to the ideal male dominated civilization. With birth control women can now explore their talents, taste and ambitions and in the end she will become a full rounded human being.

Upton Sinclair the jungle

The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968).[1] Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. Many readers were most concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, based on an investigation he did for a socialist newspaper
The book depicts working class poverty, the absence of social programs, harsh and unpleasant living and working conditions, and a hopelessness among many workers. These elements are contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption of people in power. A review by the writer Jack London called it, "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery."[2]
Sinclair was considered a muckraker, or journalist who exposed corruption in government and business.[3] He first published the novel in serial form in 1905 in the socialist newspaper, Appeal to Reason, between February 25, 1905, and November 4, 1905. In 1904, Sinclair had spent seven weeks gathering information while working incognito in the meatpacking plants of the Chicago stockyards for the newspaper. It was published as a book on 26 February 1906 by Doubleday and in a subscribers' edition.[4]

Triangle fire kills 146
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest industrial disaster