Unit 2: The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era

Unit 2 of A People’s Playlist: U.S. History with Music as a Primary Source includes five lessons that cover the time periods of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era in United States history.

For an introduction activity, students will analyze the cover of a piece of sheet music as a primary source to introduce the topics of industrialization, immigration, and progressivism that are central to this unit.

The first lesson is divided into two parts, the first part allows students to explore industrialization through the analysis of the phonograph and other inventions that resulted from industrialization. In the second part of the lesson, students will assess the impact that industrialization had on society through the analysis of newspaper articles about Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle.

In the second lesson, students will trace the development of the Populist and Socialist parties at the turn of the 20th Century. They will be able to describe the two parties’ critiques of the U.S. government and solutions to the problems of the Gilded Age through the analysis of the song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony.

The third lesson asks students to examine the second wave of immigration to the United States through Ellis Island with the songs “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin and “American Land” by Bruce Springsteen.

In the fourth lesson, students will cross the country and explore the Asian American immigration experience at Angel Island through a spoken word piece by musician, Hollis Wong-Wear.

The fifth lesson addresses the topic of progressivism and the reforms that took place in United States society in response to the Gilded Age. Students will be able to describe the progressive changes that took place through the analysis of music from the Labor and Women’s Suffrage movements.

Unit 2 concludes with an assessment that asks students to revisit the cover of the sheet music they analyzed at the beginning of the unit. Students will be asked to recreate the cover art by providing more context and information based on what they learned in the unit about the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era with an option for a written explanation.

Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, through the Lewis-Houghton Initiative. Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.