Name: Period:

1. Name: Period: Muckrakers of 2013 Project: The Role of Individuals in Bringing About Reform In the late 19th and early 20th centuries reformers addressed many of the problems created by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Muckrakers in the form of journalists and writers exposed unsafe and unsanitary conditions, child labor, urban living condition, the power of big business and corruption in government. Together, these reform efforts formed the Progressive Movement. At the heart of the movement were individuals who crusaded for change through their actions and/or the power of the printed word. Many of these individuals exposed issues or concerns that everyday citizens were unaware of until their efforts came about. One of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein that I feel applies to the purpose behind this project is: “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of people who are evil, but because of good people who don’t do anything about it.” The purpose of this project is to develop an understanding of the importance of individual people like yourself, in bringing about reform or “change”, just as the Progressive Era has taught us. You will be choosing a topic that you find important and you will be exposing this topic to your classmates in hopes of spreading the word to possibly bring about change. The form in which you expose this to your classmates: political cartoons, presentations, videos, pamphlets, etc, is completely up to you. My only guideline is that you choose a form that will attempt to raise awareness in the most persuasive way possible. For example- the food industry was exposed through video and pictures in the documentary “Food Inc.” Your project will consist of two parts: 1) Research and answering questions and 2) a Presentation in some form Presentation: Choose a topic Choose the best mode for delivery to your audience (will it be political cartoons? Presentation? Video? Etc) Present your “problem” to the class and why you feel it’s a problem Include background information on the data gathering you found- support it with evidence of the problem Describe how your classmates can help change the issue

2. Write up: All of the following questions must be answered in “Question & Answer” form. Your responses must be typed, complete sentences, size 12 font, Arial or Times New Roman font, have a proper heading, and will make up 50% of your overall grade for this project. You must also list where you got your information. Guiding Question What is the question to guide your project? Who do you feel is responsible for the problem? What do you think is the problem? How do you think we can fix it? Why do you feel it is a problem? Who do you think has the power to create change? What is the contact info for those responsible and those in a position to create change? What questions should we ask those responsible? What do you think is the answer to the question you have devised? When was contact made and with whom did you contact? What questions did you ask those responsible? What responses did you get? What did your contact say about fixing the concern? What new questions arose from your data collection? What form will your attempt to raise awareness of the problem take? (photographs, video, webpage, pamphlet, presentation) Why was this form chosen? What evidence will be the most persuasive to the intended audience? What solutions or actions are we asking people to take to solve the problem? What did you learn while on your journey? Did any information surprise you? Do you feel your muckraking effort was a success? Hypothesis Data/Information Gathering Presentation Work Cited 20. Where did you get your information from? (list all sources)