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Examples Of Muckrakers During The Progressive Era

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Muckrakers and unions helped by protesting against the dangerous conditions, unfair treatment, and dishonest dealings during the Progressive Era. These ordinary citizens often used writing or pictures to show the corruption of businesses and cruelty toward workers to the public. A prime example of this is Ida M. Tarbell, whose articles lead to the breaking up of Rockefeller’s oil monopoly. Tarbell wrote about social issues for McClure’s magazine, and in 1902, she published “The History of the Standard Oil Company”, which criticized corruption in the dominant oil corporation. Her writings made the public both aware of the issue and angry about it, and the growing outrage lead to the government disbanding the Standard Oil Company on the idea that it was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Another famous muckraker was Upton Sinclair, who wrote and published a book called The Jungle in 1906. His book exposed the unsanitary working conditions in the meatpacking industries of Chicago. Once again, the public was outraged. …show more content…

Jacob Riis used the first ever flash photography to take pictures of the living conditions of the poor in New York City. He later published the photos and showed to the rich the poverty in which some people lived. Through newspaper articles, lectures, and books he gained huge support, and was able to do things like set up the Croton Watershed to supply clean water to those who needed it. Riis also fought to provide light in every tenement and even put child labor laws in place, like Lewis Hine. Hine too used photos to spread his message. He was hired by the National Child Labor Committee in 1908 to take pictures of child laborers in factories. The images attracted the attention of the public and the government, and as a result, new child labor laws were

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Article 2 Jacob Riis and how he changed the world. Jacob Riis was influential and life changing to the americans rich and poor of the late 19th century. Jacob Riis’s photos of the slums and tenement shocked thousands. His photography completely changed the minds of the rich and strongly motivated the progressive movement. Round Riis never directly created or change any laws but he laid the groundwork and the mindset need to create these changes.

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Ida Tarbell (1857-1944) was a teacher, biographer, author and editor as well as a pioneer of investigative journalism. She became famous for her serialized political biographies on figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in McClure 's (1894-1904) and American Magazine (1906-1915) as well as for her reports on the corporate monopoly of John D. Rockefeller 's (1839-1937) business practices in The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904). Her reports on Rockefeller 's business are considered seminal works of investigative journalism, and they led to the dissolution of the Standard Oil Corporation and resulted in President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) labelling newspaper reporters like Tarbell as muckrakers. Despite being an accomplished woman who was considered pre-eminent in her field and a seminal part of the growing woman 's movement in her time, Tarbell was also known for advocating an anti-suffrage position,

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In an age where industrialization, wealth, and the desire to gain material progress ruled the American social rankings, Jacob Riis did not hesitate to expose the other end of the spectrum. While middle and upper class Americans were sitting pretty with their superior statuses and wealth, the lower class was overworked and underappreciated. By working as a newspaper reporter, social reformer, and photographer, the Danish immigrant effectively portrayed the lives of the other half: those living in the slums of New York (Editors). The famous muckraker, or pre-WW1 scandal hunter, opened the eyes of the upper classes and brought attention to the terrible conditions of the impoverished immigrants. Working as both a journalist and police reporter

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Ms. Tarbell series on Standard Oil published in, “1904” would cause the government to act. “Tarbell meticulously documented the aggressive techniques Standard Oil employed to outmaneuver and, where necessary, roll over whoever got in its way. A short while later, President Theodore Roosevelt used the phrase “muckraker” (from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress) in a speech in reference to Tarbell….” (Connecticut History.org). Ms. Tarbell earned praise of President Theodore Roosevelt for exposing Standard Oil’s corrupt practices.

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During industrialization many problems were created that had to be fixed during the Progressive Era. Most of these problems were brought out into the light by muckrakers by using novels and political cartoons. After the people realized what was happening many laws were created to help fix these problems. One of the most famous muckrakers is Upton Sinclair, who wrote the novel, The Jungle.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

In early 1900, specifically, 1906, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written. This novel told the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who worked in a filthy Chicago meatpacking plant. It exposed the meatpacking industry by stating their vile practices not only towards their meat but their workers as well. This was a result of the combination of many immigrants in the United States to pursue a better life, and the fact that many big industries were looking for ways to maximize their profit.

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During the late 1800s, there were many problems with social life, the economy, and politics. Immigrants moving to America was a big cause that led to Progressive reforms. Reforms had become necessary and were made known by many Muckrakers, or progressive reformers. The president, Theodore Roosevelt, decided government had to be changed from laissez-faire because of the problems without the government's involvement in the economy. The social, political, and economical changes by those known as muckrakers would allow America to become a great reformed nation.

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Muckrakers were people that became upset by politics and wanted to expose the corruption to America. Famous muckrakers included, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, Lincoln Steffens, and Upton Sinclair, who is the author of The Jungle, a book about the unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants, leading to food regulations and ultimately the establishment of the FDA, which is very

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271 Words | 2 Pages

The power of muckrakers are now more than ever since they gained respect and attention from people, Ray Stannard Baker published “The Right To Work” in a 1903 McClure’s Magazine article, to expose the lives of non-striking mine workers and dehumanizing mining conditions in general, Lincoln Steffens published the “he profiled corrupt leaders in St. Louis, in October 1902, Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities, American Century Series (New York: McClure, Philips & Co., 1904; Hill and Wang, 1957), 19–41. In McClure's Magazine. Ida Tarbell published the raise of standard oil company in the year 1902 giving details on the filthy dishonesty that was going on. Jungle magazine published the dark side of the meat packing industry in the United

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1442 Words | 6 Pages

Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” tells the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his immigrant family. In his homeland of Lithuania, Jurgis meets his love, Ona. However, he is denied marriage to her Sometime later, Jurgis tries again to seek her hand, but fins out Ona’s father has died and her family is in debt. Along with his father, Antanas, and Ona’s family: Teta Elzbieta, Marija, Jonas, and six children, Jurgis moves to America to start a new life. They arrive in New York, and soon travel to Chicago.

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367 Words | 2 Pages

During the Progressive Era (1890 – 1920) the pen was used to combat social ills and evils and made calls for reform. Progressivism depended upon newspapers and magazines to inform the public about political corruption and social problems. During this period, there was a popular group of Americans known as the Muckrakers. They were the first investigative journalist who sought to expose evils of modern, industrial and urban capitalist society. The muckrakers got their nickname from Theodore Roosevelt, who said that crusading journalists were “often indispensable to... society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck” (America: A Narrative History, 780).

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420 Words | 2 Pages

Jacob Riis is a photographer and an author just trying to make a difference. Jacob saw all of these horrible conditions these new yorkers were living in. These conditions were abominable. Riis was not just going to sit there and watch. He knew a change had to be made.

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357 Words | 2 Pages

This is one of the many photographs Lewis Hine took for the National Child Labor Committee. In 1906 Lewis Hine was hired to document the conditions in which children were forced to work under. His photos would be published for the public to see. This photo shows young boys, ages 4-16 years old, in torn and tattered clothes, dirty from working a full day’s work. These children only made pennies a day and worked under harsh and dangerous conditions.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

Big businesses, such as oil and railroad companies owned by John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, tended to dominate politics. Even businesses on smaller scales did very little to provide security for workers, which fueled the desire for reforms even more. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 was a catastrophic event that proved a change was desperately needed, but when the owners were sentenced and merely fined, it only seemed to, once again, prove that the courts did not side with the victims. In response, more and more people, such as Rose Schneiderman, began to attempt to organize unions because of the lack of support from the government. Although the government did make attempts to stop monopolies and trusts, such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, the attempts were not strong enough to make any progress.

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1406 Words | 6 Pages

Ida Tarbell was an American muckraker(reformed American journalist)whose father had been put out of the oil business by Rockefeller. Tarbell later gained fame from exposing some of the wrongdoings J.D. Rockefeller performed. Tarbell using powerful journalism and wrote a 19-part series in McClure’s magazine brought down the Standard Oil Company’s monopoly. One could argue that Rockefeller was in fact a Captain of Industry instead of a Robber Baron. This can be argued because he did show characteristics of philanthropy by donating millions for education,charities, and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

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