the signal accomplishments of the Progressive Era, which hit its stride in the first two decades of the new century, arose not from men at the top but from women at the grassroots. Inspired by the power of labor unions, women began meeting in big-city union halls, small-town church basements, and private parlors, creating a network of loosely linked social organizations, temperance groups, reading clubs, culture clubs, farmers’ clubs, and sororities. It was the age of sisterhood, solidarity, and suffrage.
