History | Graded Assignment | Muckrakers Under the Microscope

Name: Isadora Providello Date: 01.28.22

Graded Assignment
Muckrakers Under the Microscope
Muckrakers were investigative journalists who exposed corruption in business or government, or examined serious
societal issues. Several of the most well-known muckrakers worked for McClure’s Magazine, where they wrote
exposés on large companies, meat slaughtering houses, and city governments. These prominent and influential
reporters included Ida M. Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Upton Sinclair, and Ray Stannard Baker.

Now suppose that you, too, are an investigative journalist. Instead of choosing a business or government, you have
been asked to write a piece on one of the muckrakers. Which muckraker will you investigate? And how much
information will you be able to provide?

(100 points)

1. Write a well-constructed article on one muckraker using the outline you created during Score
your website research. Keep the following points in mind as you write your essay:
 Include important biographical information about the individual’s life.
 Give specific examples of articles and books that were written. What businesses or government
offices were targeted in the exposés?
 What reforms or changes took place as a result of the individual’s writings?
Answer:

Upton Sinclair was an American novelist that supported some social causes like free speech,
workers’ rights, temperance, among others. His first noted action as a muckraker was in 1905, when he
was sent by the “Appeal to Reason”, a socialist newspaper, to investigate the state of abattoirs in
Chicago.
As a result of his investigation and notes, “The Jungle” was published with the aim to show the
poor situation of immigrant meatpackers in that place. However, the book lead people to indignation
with the quality of meat. “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” Said
Sinclair at the time. After his first critical work, Upton continued with the muckraking books. Some
examples are: “King Coal” (1917) and “The Brass Check” (1919), addressing issues such as precarious
working conditions in coal mines and interests and “free press” principals of big newspaper institutions
also.
The most significative change Sinclair provoked was The Meat Inspection Act of 1906, enacted
to prevent meat producers to sell adulterated meat as food, guaranteeing a production under sanitary
conditions.

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 History | Graded Assignment | Muckrakers Under the Microscope

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