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Famous Muckrakers. Muckrakers. 2 Goals Expose the TRUTH! Sell newspapers (and therefore make money!) Looked at the ugly, dirty, corrupt, gross sides of the Industrial Revolution Used words rather than force to make change…knowledge is power!
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Muckrakers • 2 Goals • Expose the TRUTH! • Sell newspapers (and therefore make money!) • Looked at the ugly, dirty, corrupt, gross sides of the Industrial Revolution • Used words rather than force to make change…knowledge is power! • Change did come, as part of a larger way of thinking known as Progressivism
Jacob Riis • Remember him? • Exposed what life was like in tenements • “How the Other Half Lives” was his first book, but he wrote many others about people living in poverty • Used photography to grab the public’s attention • Said “poor were victims rather than makers of their fate,” so he definitely didn’t believe in Social Darwinism • Inspired Lincoln Steffens, who came later… the word “Muckraker” wasn’t used for Riis back then, but that’s what we know him as today
Lincoln Steffens • As a student, he liked history. Yes. Awesome. • Was a reporter that saw problems in the city of St. Louis • Growing industry, strong banks, wealthy politicians… • But poorly paved streets filled with trash, rats, and just an icky city in general • Accused politicians of taking the money…and got investigations launched • Wrote to expose corruption in politics and business • “Godfather” of investigative journalism • Hired Ida Tarbell as a staff writer
Ida Tarbell • Explained how John D. Rockefeller had managed to make his monopoly in oil, which didn’t make Rockefeller look good • Tarbell’s dad had lost his business because of Rockefeller, so that could be part of her motivation • Eventually, anti-trust (laws that make monopolies illegal) laws broke up the Standard Oil company
Upton Sinclair • Tried to expose how awful life was for the average worker (he was a socialist) • In his book, The Jungle, he exposed life in the meat-packing industry • People got so grossed-out by his book that he inspired permanent governmental change in the entire food industry
Success… • C. C. Regier, The Era of the Muckrakers (1933): "The list of reforms accomplished between 1900 and 1915 is an impressive one. The convict and peonage systems were destroyed in some states; prison reforms were undertaken; a federal pure food act was passed in 1906; child labour laws were adopted by many states; a federal employers' liability act was passed in 1906, and a second one in 1908, which was amended in 1910; forest reserves were set aside; the Newlands Act of 1902 made reclamation of millions of acres of land possible; a policy of the conservation of natural resources was followed; eight-hour laws for women were passed in some states; race-track gambling was prohibited; twenty states passed mothers' pension acts between 1908 and 1913; twenty-five states had workmen's compensation laws in 1915; an income tax amendment was added to the Constitution; the Standard Oil and the Tobacco companies were dissolved; Niagara Falls was saved from the greed of corporations; Alaska was saved from the Guggenheims and other capitalists; and better insurance laws and packing-house laws were placed on the statute books."
Muckraker Assignment • Write a muckraking article for the modern times! • One page if hand-written or ½ page if typed • Pick a topic that you want to expose the truth about! • You must include an interview with someone in your article. Quote an “expert” or an “insider” even if that person is your friend, a teacher, or your parent • Make it interesting enough that people would want to read it and legible enough that I would want to hang it up! • As a muckraker, you must 1. expose the truth and 2. get people interested in what you are writing about • Due on Friday!
