The Age of Reform
Discontent with corrupt governments and economic inequities led to an age of reform in California and the nation during the early twentieth century.
The demand for reform in San Francisco was especially strong following the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906. The city celebrated its recovery in grand style by mounting the Panama Pacific International Exhibition, also known as the PPIE. The San Francisco reformers' most notable achievement was putting behind bars Boss Ruef, the mastermind of a citywide system of corruption.
Katherine Philips Edson and other reformers in southern California tackled a host of urban problems while Allen Allensworth founded an all-black community in the rural San Joaquin Valley. Anti-Japanese sentiment was on the rise throughout the state, a plague that poisoned race relations in California for decades.
The election of Governor Hiram Johnson in 1910 was proof positive that the forces of progressive reform were in the ascendancy. With the progressives in power, a series of reforms came pouring from the state legislature.