A
muckraker is someone that exposes corruption in a business or group. In the
article, linked above, it is explained when muckraking came about and why. It
also has three muckraking incidents straight off the bat. I will give a little
summary of each.
The
first one is done by a man by the name of Lincoln Steffens. He exposes city
officials working alongside large businesses to stay in power so they could
corrupt the public treasury. He exposed them to the public by writing an
article called “Tweed Days in St. Louis” in a magazine. It was published in
1902.
The
second one takes place only a month after Steffens’ incident. A woman by the
name of Ida Tarbell started her muckraking with a series called “History of the
Standard Oil Company.” She mainly wrote about John Rockefeller and his “cutthroat”
methods.
The
final one is probably one of the better known. Upton Sinclair, a socialist,
wrote a book titled “The Jungle” to show the horrible effects of the meat
packing industry. His exposure of the spoiled and dirty meat was huge on the
public. Food regulations were formed to what we have today.
To read
more click on the link above. For a slideshow of pictures of muckrakers and
reformers, click the link below.
I like this HaloNight, it helps with the understanding of what a muckraker is and I like the different versions of muckraker articles that you have put in this blog.
ReplyDelete