The other (non AP) classes seemed to place a large importance on their "muckraking project" but we didn't spend too long in class going over what they really were.
Muckrakers were people who wanted to expose social problems to the community and find the corruption in politics. During the 19th and 20th century, some of the most famous muckrakers were Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell. Upton Sinclair exposed the problems in the meatpacking industry in his novel, The Jungle, and helped to fix the problems that he found. Jacob Riis was a journalist in New York City who noticed, through his photography, the hardships that lower class immigrants faced. Especially in the Lower East Side there were dozens of people living difficult impoverished lives. Finally, Ida Tarbell was a woman who surfaced information about Standard Oil Company regarding their trusts and used the opportunity to show others what kind of business and monopoly they truly were!
Today there are thousands of muckrakers wandering the streets. Every time someone questions or challenges the way that society or policy is being taken care of they are acting like a muckraker. More recently, cases such as Mike Brown's have gained a lot of press and have exposed some of the tragedies going on in the United States. Examples such as these clearly indicate ways in which America has yet to overcome segregation and racism. Muckrakers give people a chance to reflect on the society in which they live and all its qualities.
Very interesting post! To add on more to your pount about Upton Sinclair, after he released The Jungle, the government was forced to pass acts which improved working conditions within the meat packing industry. They were the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. However, it's interesting to note that these Acts were both passed in 1906, but did not take full effect until 1910 because of state government.
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This is a very interesting and well written post. I just wanted to add a little more on Jacob Riis. Jacob Riis supported the implementation of model tenements in New York. Also not only was he a famous photographer, he was also known as one of the fathers or photography because of his early adoption of flash in photography.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I remember reading about Upton Sinclair's The Jungle help gain support for the passing of both the clean food and drug act, as well as the federal meat inspection act. Ida Tarbell was another muckraker who wrote about John D. Rockefeller's in her book "The History of The Standard Oil Company". Her book was influential with the supreme court's decision to break up the Standard Oil trust.
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