Blog Post #6 - Muckrakers

    A muckraker is defined as, "a person who searches for and tries to expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or other wrongdoings, especially in politics". Muckrakers were investigative reporters, journalists, and photographers who wrote about injustice and corruption in the Progressive era, which is between 1890 and 1920. This era was a time of intense social and political reform that aimed to make progress towards a better society. 

    A muckraker was any group of American writers that identified with pre-World War 1 exposé writing and reform. They exposed corruption and injustice in big businesses and the government. Their main goal was to, "raise awareness of social injustices, inequality, corruption, and the abuse of political power in order to bring about reform".  Muckrakers provided accurate and detailed journalistic accounts of economic and political deceit and social hardships caused by substantial businesses in a rapidly industrializing country.

    President Theodore Roosevelt was not a fan of muckrakers, because he thought they took things too far and coined the term himself in his 1906 speech entitled "The Man With the Muckrake." In this speech, he compared these reporters to a specific passage in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" that highlights a man who raked muck for a living instead of looking towards heaven. Muck is defined as dirt, manure, soil, etc.

    Some of the first people to be considered muckrakers were Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell. In 1902 Lincoln Steffens published an article in Mcclure's magazine called, "Tweed days in St. Louis." In this paper, he exposes the fact that city officials worked with big corporations in order to maintain power while corrupting the treasury.  He did not stop there, he later released a book with a collection of his articles called "The Shame of the Cities".  This collection caused a public exclamation that demanded reform to the city government and allowed progressive ideas to take hold.

    Shortly after Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell wrote her 19-part McClure series called, "History of the Standard Oil Company".  In this paper, she outlined John Rockefeller's rise to power and his business practices. At this time he had a monopoly in oil which she effectively broke up by releasing damaging internal documents. It is believed that her motives were somewhat personal since her father and dozens of other small oil producers were driven out of business because of Rockefeller.

    One honorable mention is a muckraker by the name of Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a socialist and wanted to bring the effects of capitalism on workers in the meatpacking industry to light. He wrote a novel entitled, "the Jungle," which detailed workers sacrificing their nails and fingers by working with acid. Many also caught diseases, lost limbs, and had to work in cramped and cold conditions. Sinclair also uncovered secrets about the products being sold to the public. Some things he reviled were, rats climbing over the meat and leaving excrement behind, spoiled meat was covered with chemicals in order to hide the smell, and skin, hair, stomach, and ears were ground up and packaged as head cheese. Within months, Congress passed the meat inspection act and the pure food and drug act to combat this issue.

    Muckraker also brought to light the issue of race. Ida B. Wells was an African American journalist that was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862. In 1892, Wells published a book named, "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases".  This highlighted the systemic oppression of southern African Americans and even some poor Caucasians. Later, in 1909 she became one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

     Muckrakers played an important role and changed society in a beneficial way. Without them, the world would not be as we know it and many of these injustices would still be going on today. They stood up for what is right and knew that America could and would do better.