"Weeping with Joy": Charisma and Social Reform in the American Progressive Era

Who controlled social change in the Progressive Era?  This paper argues that ordinary Americans used charismatic movements to advance their own visions of society.  Writings by the followers of Billy Sunday, Marcus Garvey, and Jane Addams suggest that Americans developed deep, non-rational attachments to these leaders.  Though Sunday, Garvey, and Addams actively sought converts, there were many charismatic figures to choose from, and the source material demonstrates that followers’ choice of leaders was considered and volitional as well as emotional.  Followership represented a total commitment to the social change programs, including Prohibition and racial and gender equality, espoused by the various movement leaders.  Only by attaining a large number of followers could movements become powerful enough to change society.  Such a conclusion reimagines charismatic followership as a significant form of populism – a mechanism through which ordinary people shaped their society.