Final answer:
Minority groups received limited benefits from progressivism due to a lack of emphasis on their specific issues within the movement, the reticence of governments to tackle racial inequality and discrimination, and existing societal structures that often perpetuated the racial and gender status quo. The New Deal and other programs provided some benefits but did so within a discriminatory framework. Civil rights advancements were unevenly distributed and typically followed long, difficult campaigns for change.
Step-by-step explanation:
Minority groups received only limited benefits from progressivism due to several systemic and social factors. During the era of progressivism, there was a widespread belief in many progressive circles that social reforms should prioritize the broader public good, which did not necessarily align with the interests of minority communities. Few progressives actively prioritized the fight against racial inequality, leading to only a handful of activists, such as those who started the NAACP, advocating for the rights of African Americans. Additionally, government actions rarely focused on the deep-seated issues of racial inequality and discrimination.
When various social and economic programs were established, such as during the New Deal, they often operated within pre-existing structures of racial and gender discrimination, providing little by way of transformative change for minorities. These institutions maintained and enforced the status quo, under which most benefits flowed to the majority white population, leaving minority groups to continue struggling against segregation, discrimination, and limited voting rights.
For other minority groups like Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans, although there were strides made in civil rights protections, these often came about after protracted struggles and did not always lead to systemic change. This struggle for equal protection resulted in incremental and uneven progress, with many civil rights achievements primarily, but not exclusively, benefiting African Americans. This left other minority groups to navigate a complex mosaic of localized discrimination and inequality.