Muckrakers

The Progressive Movement Started around the year 1900 Think about what “Progressive” sounds like. Progress, moving forward, etc. People who participated in the Progressive Movement saw things in America that they thought should change

Muckrakers People who wrote about bad things going on in America to expose corruption to the public. Called that by Teddy Roosevelt who said they were “raking the muck” from America. Muckrakers were the driving force for change in America

Some Important Muckrakers: Upton Sinclair Wrote a book The Jungle (1906) about the meat packing industry. He exposed unsanitary treatment of the food and unsafe conditions for the workers After people read his book and created an uproar, (including the President) the Pure Food and Drug Act was created to make and enforce laws to keep food sanitary.

Some Important Muckrakers: Upton Sinclair The Jungle talked about workers hands getting caught in meat grinders, rats and other vermin falling into vats and being packaged with the meat, workers getting fired after being injured on the job, And more

Some Important Muckrakers: Jacob Riis Wrote about New York City slums mainly in newspapers, but he also wrote a book called How the Other Half Lives. He was also a photographer, and captured many startling photos to go with his writings

Photography by Jacob Riis

Some Important Muckrakers: Nellie Bly Her real name was Elizabeth Cochrane She often wrote about child labor and working women Once she pretended to be insane to write an undercover story about the New York asylum on Blackwell’s Island

Nellie Bly’s writing about the asylum: Bly discovered that patients were fed vermin-infested food and physically abused by the staff. She also found out that some patients were not psychologically disturbed but were suffering from a physical illness. Others had been maliciously placed there by family members. For example, one woman had been declared insane by her husband after he caught her being unfaithful. Bly's scathing attacks on the way patients were treated at Blackwell's Island led to much needed reforms.

Who did Progressivism help? Workers Immigrants Women Children Minorities Healthcare Even though muckrakers didn’t change things themselves, they got info to people who could.