1. Muckrakers and Reformers

2. 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

3. McClure’s Magazine Founded in 1893 by Samuel McClure
Began specializing in muckraking journalism in 1902
Journalists included:
Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil)
Lincoln Steffens (municipal corruption)

4. Ida Tarbell - Muckraker
Investigative journalism
Wrote The History of Standard Oil Company (1904)
#5 Top 100 works of journalism of the 20th century NYT
Wrote for McClure Magazine
Negative exposé of the business practices of Rockefeller and trusts.
Tarbell’s efforts led to the eventual breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly in 1911.

5. By 1890 Standard Oil controlled over 90% of the refined oil flows in the United States.
Standard Oil achieved its monopoly through aggressive and often illegal business practices:
Purchasing competitors
Undercutting prices
Shady deals with the railroads
Standard Oil went so far as to destroy a competing oil refinery right here in Buffalo
Oil could not leave the oil field unless Standard Oil agreed to move it.

6. Lincoln Steffens - Muckraker
The son of a wealthy businessman
editor of McClure’s Magazine
Published books and articles focusing on municipal corruption
Through his articles and books, such as The Shame of the Cities and The Struggle for Self-Government; Steffens exposed corrupt political machines in St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York.
Steffens also spoke out about the exclusion of African American voters in the south
Steffen’s work paved the way for the break-up of these political machines as well as important municipal legislation.

7. Lewis Hine - Muckraker Photojournalism Sought Social Reform
National Child Labor Committee to document child labor/expose corruption.

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

9. The City Boss The best example of a City boss was Boss Tweed
Tweed helped immigrants get jobs and gave them turkeys a Christmas and year after year immigrants voted for Tweed.
Tweed stole 100 million dollars from NYC through graft and corruption.
Tweed was finally thrown out of office because Thomas Nast drew cartoons that showed the evil and corrupt nature of the Tweed ring.
The immigrants who could understand the cartoons now voted Tweed out of power… a picture speaks a thousand words.

10. Jacob Riis - Muckraker Journalist
Exposed corrupt living arrangements in New York City's slums.
How the Other Half Lives—18 page article
Became a book How the Other Half Lives, subtitled "Studies among the Tenements of New York“
Pioneer in photography

11. Upton Sinclair - Muckraker
Author – The Jungle
Graphic account of filthy handling, spoiled meat, and generally unsanitary conditions in stockyards.
As a result of Sinclair’s book, Congress passed both the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

12. Ida B. Wells - Muckraker Ida B. Wells – journalist
Started an anti-lynching campaign in her newspaper
Documented lynching in the U. S.
Showed how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who competed with whites, often under the guise of rape charges.
She was active in the women's suffrage movement.

13. Jane Addams - Reformer 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
Strong supporter of Women’s Suffrage
Received the Nobel Peace Prize

14. John Muir - Reformer Naturalist, explorer, and author
Major figure in the forest conservation movement
Muir Woods

15. Susan B. Anthony - Reformer
Led the fight for women's suffrage for more than 50 years.
Anthony was arrested for voting in 1872
In 1890 formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association

16. Frances Willard - Reformer
Temperance Crusade
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Frances Willard leader of the WCTU
Anti-Saloon League
Efforts led to the 18th Amendment Prohibition
Anti-Saloon League Campaign

17. W.E.B. DuBois - Reformer
He encouraged African Americans to reject segregation
Help to found the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
NAACP – played a major role in ending segregation in the 20th century

18. Booker T. Washington - Reformer
Born in Slavery
Early leader in the effort to achieve equality
1881 he founded the Tuskegee Institute – help African American learn a trade and become economically stable
He did not openly challenge segregation
He said, “In purely social matters” whites and blacks “can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress