A New View of the Child: Children and Youth in Urban America, 1900-1920
A New View of the Child: Children and Youth in Urban America, 1900-1920

Summary/Abstract: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Progressive child welfare advocates attempted to reform the lives of children living in American cities. Believing that the chaos of urban conditions hindered children's development and deprived them of their "right to childhood," they sought to bring order to the lives of children and youth by establishing institutions and organizations dedicated to education, health, criminal justice, and recreation. They also sought to educate policy makers and parents about proper nutrition and childrearing methods through publications and exhibits. Progress-era reformers did not solve these problems and many of their attitudes about the negative effects of urban life on children and youth are shared by Americans in the early 21st century.

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