Stanley Bessie

Bessie Anderson Stanley lived during a period of enormous change in the United States. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were marked by rapid industrialization, growing cities, technological progress and the expansion of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. Wealth and economic achievement became increasingly visible measures of social success, while the Progressive Era also brought growing concern about social reform, education, poverty and the responsibilities of individuals toward society.<br><br>Against this background, Stanley’s definition of success offered a different measure of human achievement. Her emphasis on character, love, beauty, service and leaving the world better than one found it reflected a broader search for moral values in a society being transformed by industrial and economic growth.