Muckraking
In Social
Reform
Add to notes from yesterday!!!!!!
Journalists exposed injustice and corruption by
writing stories.
2. These journalists were called Muckrakers because
they raked the muck back so the problems were
exposed, and the city could begin to grow.
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Progressives hoped to improve the lives of the poor living in
America’s cities with the government’s help.
-Muckrakers – journalists wanting to
make life better for Americans by
exposing bad conditions
-they hoped to make Americans angry
enough to fight for change!
•The Meatpacking Jungle
Perhaps no muckraker caused as great a stir as
UPTON SINCLAIR. An avowed Socialist, Sinclair
hoped to illustrate the horrible effects of
capitalism on workers in the Chicago
meatpacking industry. His bone-chilling account,
THE JUNGLE, detailed workers sacrificing their
fingers and nails by working with acid, losing
limbs, catching diseases, and toiling long hours
in cold, cramped conditions. He hoped the public
outcry would be so fierce that reforms would
soon follow.
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•The Meatpacking Jungle
• The clamor that rang throughout America was not,
however, a response to the workers' plight. Sinclair also
uncovered the contents of the products being sold to the
general public. Spoiled meat was covered with chemicals
to hide the smell. Skin, hair, stomach, ears, and nose
were ground up and packaged as head cheese. Rats
climbed over warehouse meat, leaving piles of
excrement behind.
Sinclair said that he aimed for America's heart and instead
hit its stomach. Even President Roosevelt, who coined
the derisive term "muckraker," was propelled to act.
Within months, Congress passed the PURE FOOD AND
DRUG ACT and the MEAT INSPECTION ACT to curb
these sickening abuses.
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“These rats were nuisances, and
the packers would put poisoned
bread out for them: they would
die, and then the rats, (poison)
bread, and meat would all go
into the hoppers together.”
What kind of problems did this
cause?
-Another famous muckraker was Jacob Riis.
-he wrote a book called How the Other
Half Lived; it was about the poor.
-he wanted to expose how bad life
was for the poor in the tenements
The streets and air were filled with
pollution from the factories that were
just around the corner
There was no trash pickup, so people threw
their trash over the balcony and into the
street. Don’t forget the main transportation
Thieves and pickpockets
were everywhere. Often
children of the slums.
Many of the buildings
were very old and unsafe.
“In this house, where a case of smallpox
was reported, there were fifty-eight
babies and thirty-eight children…over
five years of age.”
Buildings had no heat, windows, or
indoor bathrooms.
What if there was a fire?
“It would be impossible for the occupants
(to escape) the crowded rooms…by the
narrow stairways (filled) with broken
furniture..and boxes (which make them)
worse than useless.”
What was a problem on steerage that
was not any better in these crowded
conditions?
The Youngest Victims
In one Chicago slum, more than half
of all babies died before they were one
year old.
Remember, this is what they called “home” for
the night.
-What were some of the problems
with life in the slums?
What were some things done to help clean
up the cities?
Social Gospel – the belief that people
who are wealthy should give to
people who are poor.
One example, homes built for the
needy and homeless children
What were some things done to help clean up
the cities?
•Garbage collection
•Building codes
•Zoning laws
•Professional firefighters and law enforcement
•Public transportation
Now its your turn to write an
Article!
• Your Muckraking article should be on a
current situation that you feel is corrupt or
in need of some repair.
• Possible topics could include things in your
local community that is in need of repair or
improvement. Maybe something here at the
school that you would like to change.
• You can also think about topics on the
national scale that might need changing or
improved as well.
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What to include in your article:
• A headline that catches the readers attention
(5 points)
• Does the article evoke the readers’ emotion
to get up and take a stand on the
problem?(5 points)
• The article must be at least one paragraph
long(five sentences!) (5 points)
• Make sure you use correct grammar and
spelling!!! (5 points)
• 20 points total!!!
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