Generally speaking, <span>living and working conditions in the city improved during the Progressive era because Progressive reformers pushed the government to fight back against corruption in business that denied many people adequate pay and housing. </span>
In 1870, Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. Five years later, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi took the oath of office. It would be nearly another century, 1967, before Edward Brooke of Massachusetts followed in their historic footsteps.