1. Muckraking In Social Reform

2. 2 Add to notes from yesterday!!!!!! 1. Journalists exposed injustice and corruption by writing stories. 2. These journalists were called Muckrakers because they raked the muck back so the problems were exposed, and the city could begin to grow. 2

3. - Muckrakers – journalists wanting to make life better for Americans by exposing bad conditions -they hoped to make Americans angry enough to fight for change! Progressives hoped to improve the lives of the poor living in America’s cities with the government’s help.

4. 4 The Meatpacking Jungle Perhaps no muckraker caused as great a stir as UPTON SINCLAIR. An avowed Socialist, Sinclair hoped to illustrate the horrible effects of capitalism on workers in the Chicago meatpacking industry. His bone-chilling account, THE JUNGLE, detailed workers sacrificing their fingers and nails by working with acid, losing limbs, catching diseases, and toiling long hours in cold, cramped conditions. He hoped the public outcry would be so fierce that reforms would soon follow. 4

5. 5 The Meatpacking Jungle The clamor that rang throughout America was not, however, a response to the workers' plight. Sinclair also uncovered the contents of the products being sold to the general public. Spoiled meat was covered with chemicals to hide the smell. Skin, hair, stomach, ears, and nose were ground up and packaged as head cheese. Rats climbed over warehouse meat, leaving piles of excrement behind. Sinclair said that he aimed for America's heart and instead hit its stomach. Even President Roosevelt, who coined the derisive term "muckraker," was propelled to act. Within months, Congress passed the PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT and the MEAT INSPECTION ACT to curb these sickening abuses.

6. “These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them: they would die, and then the rats, (poison) bread, and meat would all go into the hoppers together.” What kind of problems did this cause?

7. -Another famous muckraker was Jacob Riis. -he wrote a book called How the Other Half Lived; it was about the poor. -he wanted to expose how bad life was for the poor in the tenements

8. The streets and air were filled with pollution from the factories that were just around the corner

9. There was no trash pickup, so people threw their trash over the balcony and into the street. Don’t forget the main transportation was horses.

10. Thieves and pickpockets were everywhere. Often children of the slums.

11. Many of the buildings were very old and unsafe.

13. “In this house, where a case of smallpox was reported, there were fifty-eight babies and thirty-eight children…over five years of age.”

14. Buildings had no heat, windows, or indoor bathrooms.

15. “It would be impossible for the occupants (to escape) the crowded rooms…by the narrow stairways (filled) with broken furniture..and boxes (which make them) worse than useless.” What if there was a fire?

17. What was a problem on steerage that was not any better in these crowded conditions?

18. In one Chicago slum, more than half of all babies died before they were one year old. The Youngest Victims

21. Remember, this is what they called “home” for the night.

22. -What were some of the problems with life in the slums?

23. Social Gospel – the belief that people who are wealthy should give to people who are poor. One example, homes built for the needy and homeless children What were some things done to help clean up the cities?

24. Garbage collection Building codes Zoning laws Professional firefighters and law enforcement Public transportation

25. 25 Now its your turn to write an Article! Your Muckraking article should be on a current situation that you feel is corrupt or in need of some repair. Possible topics could include things in your local community that is in need of repair or improvement. Maybe something here at the school that you would like to change. You can also think about topics on the national scale that might need changing or improved as well. 25

26. 26 What to include in your article: A headline that catches the readers attention (5 points) Does the article evoke the readers’ emotion to get up and take a stand on the problem?(5 points) The article must be at least one paragraph long(five sentences!) (5 points) Make sure you use correct grammar and spelling!!! (5 points) 20 points total!!!