Muckrakers What is a Muckraker A muckraker is

Muckrakers

What is a Muckraker? A muckraker is an individual who seeks to expose or reveal corruption of businesses or government to the public. The term originates from writers of the Progressive movement in America who wanted to expose corruption and scandals in government and business. American Progressive Era—unearth corruption Wrote about: Urban life and poverty Anti big business AKA UPTON SINCLAIR!

Origin of the term “Muckraker” “The men with the muck-rakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck, and to look upward to the celestial crown above them, to the crown of worthy endeavor. There are beautiful things above and round about them; and if they gradually grow to feel that the whole world is nothing but muck, their power of usefulness is gone. " TR Muckraker—one who cleans up manure

Ida Tarbell Investigative journalism Wrote The History of Standard Oil Company (1904) #5 Top 100 works of journalism of the 20 th century NYT Wrote for Mc. Clure Magazine Negative exposé of the business practices of Rockefeller and trusts. http: //www. youtube. c om/watch? v=5 Yog 7 Fy AFy. A

Ida Tarbell

Thomas Nast Father of the American Political Cartoon Exposed political corruption in NYC (Boss— William Tweed) Brings about Tweed’s downfall Harper’s Weekly

The City Boss The best example of a City boss was Boss Tweed helped immigrants get jobs and gave them turkeys a Christmas and year after year immigrants voted for Tweed.

Muckrakers and Reform Efforts “Let’s stop them damned pictures, ” the Boss supposedly said. “I don’t care so much what the papers write about – my constituents can’t read – buy damn it, they can see pictures. ” – Boss Tweed Muckraker: Thomas Nast, cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly Reform: - Tweed was arrested - “Good government” leagues were formed to replace corrupt leaders.

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis Journalist Exposed corrupt living arrangements How the Other Half Lives— 18 page article 1889 Became a book How the Other Half Lives, subtitled "Studies among the Tenements of New York“ Pioneer in photography

Ida B. Wells Women’s suffrage activist Anti-lynching activist Journalist

Ida B. Wells Took the stance that lynching was about: Race rather than crime committed When black businessmen impeded on white “turf” Most of the time rape was a consensual act; there wasn’t supposed to be a blending of the races

“Welcome to the Jungle”

Upton Sinclair CRITICIZING CAPITALISM!

Muckraker Journalism The Jungle was written in 1906 (The Progressive Era) Individual who seeks to expose or reveal corruption of businesses or government to the public. Result of this book: Pure Food and Drug Act (present day Food and Drug Administration –FDA)

Brief Synopsis A family from Lithuania comes to America for opportunity. The character of Jurgis embodies American idealism—the hope for a good life based on hard work. Jurgis and Ona are married as the book begins. The family lives in Packingtown. A section of Chicago.

State of Liberty (America) speaking to her immigrants: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempesttossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door”

The Jungle in the Gilded Age The immigrant experience The American Dream (or lack there of) The female in the workplace Urbanization Socialism as a cure for the failure of Capitalism

Jurgis’s misfortunes Misfortunes define Jurgis’s life in America His new home is a swindle ▪ “There seemed never to be an end to the things they had to buy and to the unforeseen contingencies” p. 115 Injury and chronic job loss ▪ “In the beginning he had been fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job the first day; but now he was secondhand, a damaged article, so to speak. And they did not want him” p. 142

Misfortunes cont’d Ona’s health troubles after childbirth “and so she was always chasing the phantom of good health, and losing it because she was too poor to continue…” p. 124

Misfortunes continued Working in the fertilizer plant: “…in suffocating cellars where the daylight never came you might see men and women and children bending over whirling machines and sawing bits of bone into all sorts of shapes, breathing their lungs full of the fine dust, and doomed to die, ever one of them, within a certain definite time”

Misfortunes continued Ona’s “fall” from grace Phil Connors and Miss Henderson’s house p. 172 Jurgis’s attack on Phil Connors and arrest ▪ “Things swam blood before him, and he screamed aloud in his fury, lifting his victim and smashing his head upon the floor. ” p. 174 Ona dies in childbirth p. 215 Chapter 19 Jurgis continues to drink

Antanas’s death Chapter 21 -22: “He went—out to play…we couldn’t make him stay in. He must have got caught in the mud!” p. 241 Jurgis becomes a hobo: ▪ “He stood and watched it [the railroad]; and all at once a wild impulse seized him, a thought that had been lurking within him, unspoken , unrecognized, leaped into sudden life. He started down the track, and when he was past the gate-keeper’s shanty he sprang forward and swung himself on to one of the cars” p. 241

Misfortunes continued Jurgis is reduced to a life on the streets, a beggar: “He had lost in the fierce battle of greed, and so was doomed to be exterminated; and all society was busied to see that he did not escape the sentence” Gets $100 from Freddie Jones, only to have it stolen by a bartender. (Chapter 24) Jurgis finds himself back in prison after the bar “riot”

Jurgis’s misfortunes A life of crime with Jack Duane: Chapter 25: the mugging of an insurance agent.

Misfortunes Marija’s fall from grace: “Marija had nothing on but a kimono and a pair of stockings; yet she proceeded to dress before Jurgis, and without even taking the trouble to close the door. He had by this time divined what sort of place he was in; and he had seen a great deal of the world since he had left home, and was not easy to shock—and yet it gave him a painful start that Marija should do this” p. 330 Stanislovas—horrific death by rats

So What? Capitalism has destroyed Jurgis The Beef Trust vs. the working man Continual misfortunes “They had dreamed of freedom; of a chance to look about them and learn something; to be decent and clean, to see their child grow up to be strong. And now it was all gone—it would never be! They had played the game and they had lost” p. 156

The cruelties of Capitalism THEME! The American dream is for the rich, the few. Capitalism fosters greed and class divisions It favors the wealthy elite.

Jurgis and Socialism Chapter 28. Page 345 “I have known what it is to dare and to aspire, to dream mighty dreams and to see them perish…” To the worker “…the shackles will be torn from his limbs—he will leap up with a cry of thankfulness, he will stride forth a free man at last!” (Marx? ? !!) Identifies with their pains

Cows Explain Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism Communism – You have two cows. The government takes both and gives you some of the milk Socialism – You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to a neighbor that doesn’t have one. Capitalism – You have two cows. You sell one to buy a bull and start your own herd.