Progressivism: Muckrakers & Reformers

Conditions: Urban Environment Read the article, “Cities During the Progressive Era” –Answer the questions in the text Details –By 1900: 30% of US population lived in cities –Urban poor: overcrowding, unpaved streets, disease and inadequate water supply –Urban poor: working class made just enough money to survive

Images: Urban Environment

Igniting Reform At first, journalists and other writers had enormous influence on public opinion. –Muckrakers Journalists alerting the public to wrongdoing in politics and business. Many Americans were inspired to take action through reform. –To put or change into an improved form or condition.

Muckraker: Upton Sinclair Author – The Jungle –Graphic account of filthy handling, spoiled meat, and generally unsanitary conditions in stockyards. "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

Upton Sinclair Read the excerpt from The Jungle and answer the questions

Upton Sinclair – Changes Meat Inspection Act –Required federal inspection of meat sold across state lines –Set standards for cleanliness of meatpacking plants Pure Food and Drug Act –Prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure or falsely labeled food and drugs

Muckraker: Jacob Riis Photographer – How The Other Half Lives –Startling print and photographic exposés of conditions in New York City's slums. v=EACoIbokOcchttp:// v=EACoIbokOcc “The slum is the measure of civilization.”

Muckraker: Ida Tarbell Author – The History of the Standard Oil Company –Condemnation of Standard Oil’s monopoly. “Rockefeller and his associates did not build the Standard Oil Co. in the board rooms of Wall Street banks. They fought their way to control by rebate and drawback, bribe and blackmail, espionage and price cutting, by ruthless... efficiency of organization.”

Reformer: Jane Addams Established the Hull House in Chicago. –Located in poor neighborhood –Middle-class, college-educated women shared skills with less fortunate women and children. Sanitation, hygiene, English, etc. Art exhibits, poetry readings, concerts, and theatrical events "America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what it is taught, hence we must watch what we teach it, and how we live before it."

Reformer: John Muir Naturalist, explorer, and author Major figure in the forest conservation movement s/watch-video/#645http:// s/watch-video/#645 "In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."

Reformer: Susan B. Anthony Led the fight for women's suffrage for more than 50 years. – ?v=o-suAlXQhMIhttp:// ?v=o-suAlXQhMI "The true republic: men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." "It may be delayed longer than we think; it may be here sooner than we expect; but the day will come when man will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside but in the councils of the nation.”