Muckrakers In The 1920's

In conclusion, the urban communities are suffering dangerous conditions in the workplace, unsafe products are being produced, and these workers are facing unbearable living conditions in the slums. The work was incredibly dreary, repetitive, and often times exceptionally dangerous. These workers would work incredibly hard shifts and sadly the products they're producing aren't even safe. The slums were packed with the urban

In 1836 writers for a newspaper called The Harbinger had the opportunity to examine the life of factory workers. People had come forward and shared information about the poor conditions in the factories but they could not verify any of it. The writers wanted to provide readers of The Harbinger with a credible account of the day to day life of worker so they went to factories in Lowell, Massachusetts and Manchester, New Hampshire. While at the factories the writers inspected the boarding houses, interviewed female operatives, and even ate meals in the boarding houses to help understand the life of the average worker.

During the 20th century, the people of America had to adjust to new desires, lifestyles, and the new materialistic economy. After entering World War I, the aftermath included false positives that in the end, turned out to be complete negatives. Citizens of America possessed materialistic beliefs that led to disappointments. African Americans were confronted by atrocious social conditions. The frustrations faced by many Americans living in the 1920s, included the desires for materialistic possessions in hopes of contentment, the aspirations for freedom and the dignified need for racial equality, are all elucidated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Winter Dreams”, and both poems, “Democracy” by Langston Hughes and “The White House” by Claude Mckay.

Bosses of factories and bosses of other companies would pay low wages to their employees. Since of these low wages many people couldn’t support their families. Factory women workers got paid only one or three dollars a day and men got paid one to three dollars and some other companies only paid one or three dollars a week. The working environment of workers were cruel. When it was hot outside the factory would be hot but if it was cold outside the factory would be cold. The building were also crowded with people which is very bad for fires because there are so many people. Factory buildings also didn’t have sprinklers which made it difficult for putting out fires.In 1911 in a factory in NYC a lit ciggeritte got thrown in a bin and the whole factory went up in flames. This factory is named The Triangle Factory and there were many bad conditions that caused many women's deaths. One of the reasons was that everyday the doors to exit the building were locked till everyones shifts are over. No one could escape the building because they couldn’t open the doors to exit. Also, there was narrow hallways that only could fit one person at a time. Since of this, many people couldn’t escape because the line was so slow and it was too late and the flame caught up. Another condition was that there was many fire hazards that caused the fire. The bosses only had buckets of water to

“Have you ever seen a fast-food ad that shows the factories where French fries are made? Ever seen a fast-food ad that shows the slaughterhouses where cattle are turned into ground beef? Ever seen an ad that tells you what’s really in your fast-food milkshake and why some strange-sounding chemicals make it taste so good? Ever seen an ad that shows overweight, unhealthy kids stuffing their faces with greasy fries at a fast-food restaurant? You probably haven’t. But you’ve probably seen a lot of fast-food commercials that show thin, happy children having a lot of fun.” (Schlosser et al). The book Chew on This explains and reveals almost everything to know about fast food and the process of making it. Each chapter is different. First there is the background of fast food restaurants, and then they get into the juice about the food itself. This book is a huge example of modern day muckraking. Muckraking is when a writer or publisher reveals scandalous information about people

The 1920’s was an extraordinary time period filled with flappers, speakeasies, and gangsters. One of the most notorious gangsters during this time was a man named Al Capone. On February 14, 1929, seven bullet riddled corpses were discovered inside a garage inside a lonesome garage on Clark Street owned by gangster George “Bugs” Moran.

The nineteen twenties can be summed up as one of the most important improvements on theatre, paintings, music, building, and culture.

During the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, the United States underwent a series of changes that had a drastic effect on people across the nation. As the economy began to slow to a halt, millions of people were left broke and without jobs. As the country’s farmers were paralyzed with debt, food prices increased radically (McElvaine). During the mid-1930s, a series of droughts coupled with poor agricultural methods led to years of soil erosion and dust storms known as the Dust Bowl, a catastrophe that destroyed farms throughout the Southern Great Plains (Shafer, Low). As a result, many farmers were forced to abandon their land to seek employment elsewhere. These migrant workers, attracted by the fertility and familiarity of the area, traveled to California towns such as Salinas, where they labored tirelessly for wealthy planters (Cayton, Gorn, Williams). The events of the Great Depression Era, following years of difficulty and poverty, paved the way to an entirely new way of life for Americans.

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary a muckraker is someone who “searches out and publicly exposes real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business” (“Muckraker”). During the 1890s to the 1920s, muckrakers were a group of American journalists who exposed the corruption in society and informed the public about important social issues. The term muckraker originally came around when President Roosevelt gave a speech about reporters who exposed political and corporate corruption ("Who Are the Muckrakers?”). There have been so many muckrakers in American history whose works have been the cause of new laws and changes; some of the most important and famous of these muckrakers were Upton Sinclair, Samuel Hopkins Adams, and Jacob Riis.

“Tis night when I am free; A stranger am I to my child; And he one to me” (Document 2). This poem is about a mother (most likely) talking about her son. The fact that families were working such long hours, that they were strangers to each other is heartbreaking; employers should have been giving everyone a work period that wasn’t too long during the day, from sun-up to sun-down. “As countries industrialized, they also urbanized. This was a result of people moving in large numbers in order to gain factory jobs” (Document 6). Usually the tenements were extremely compact and cramped apartment-like. Employers must have had some sort of idea about how bad the living conditions were, but they still decided not to pay more to the employees, not caring how good or bad their living conditions were. “C: What time did you begin work at the factory? B: When I was six years old” (Document 7). This is an example of poor employers, because they were willing to send children into hard laborious work. At that age, they should have been trying to get a good education, not working. Employers giving jobs to little kids also caused children to eventually become deformed, “C: Did your deformity come upon you with much pain and weariness? B: Yes, I cannot express the pain all the time it was coming” (Document 7). The factory owners should have noticed this in small children, and decided to lay them off. Considering most employers didn’t

They were protesting for the fact that the workers will get injured and they will suffer (Document A). No one was doing anything for the labor workers to be in better condition so they took matters into their own hands. Examples of unhealthy environment are those people that will work in a meat factory their hands were not sanitize to touch the meat (The Jungle by Upton Sinclair). The reason why not sanitize is because the workers will wash their hands in the water they will was the meat in. Mr. Sinclair, writes that the workers in the meat factor did not handle the meat safe and healthy for people to eat it. The workers will work around the dead rats. If anything fall to the ground and a rate was their the worker will still need to put that meat that fell to be mixed with the other meat even if it been contaminated. This will give the workers logical and explainable reasons for why they needed to protesting for wanting change for bettering their working conditions. There was a man

The counter culture of the 1920’s has affected the way the American lifestyle is today. Counter culture is a culture that primarily consists of younger people, with values and lifestyles opposing those of the original established culture. (Dictionary.com) A need for change. The 1920’s are also known as the “Jazz Age,” which was coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the “Roaring Twenties.” It was a decade of change. (Hakim, 41) The counterculture of the 1920’s resulted from the Age of Jazz, Flappers, and the Harlem Renaissance.

The Progressive Era, which began in the late 1800’s, was a time spent addressing many of the problems that had been created from industrialization. Progressives, also known as the reformers, worked to improve the problems that a lack of regulations created, such as living conditions for the poor, the values of big businesses, and also demanded that the government became more responsive to the needs of it’s citizens. The journalists who dedicated their time to exposing these issues were known as muckrakers. The articles and novels written by muckrakers played a big role in the improvement of housing for the lower class and meat-packing factory regulations.

The history of the muckraker’s started when a group of reporters and Journalist uncover and reveal unformal and discrimination of wrong doing so serious that it made the peoples blood over flow,1902 started the strike of Lincoln Steffens that was published in the McClure’s Magazine call “Tweed Days in ST. Louis”. Steffens uncover how city officials work in large business to keep their contract and power, taken money from the public treasure, while other article began to emerge, so Steffens wrote a book call “The Shame of the Cities”. The Muckraker’s came up with the truth fact about the Socio – economic, and political problem that was happen in American. There were many changes far as social and politics across the board from the19th century to the start of the 20th century raising the public opinion by the way of sickness that were brought on by industrial revolution for examples; the arrangement between large organization, political machines, and bad working conditions. There were four main muckraker’s who started it all, Ida Tarbell, Thomas Lawson, Ray Stannard and Steffens. The Muckraker’s was famous about doing wrong and telling on very important people in the society, they were call dirt and grime because they would stool to their lowest about political corruption, business, and government problem, they also put an end to advertising by boycotting, while the magazines fell into

As the Progressive Era advanced rapidly into the 1920s, social tension and stigmas between upper class society and the working class continued to escalate. While class strain was not a new social issue, groups such as the muckrakers and drove the problem into a new realm of discrimination and humiliation for the lower class. As these journalists reported demeaning, and generally exaggerated, stories about poor living conditions in poverty stricken areas: “The so-called muckrakers were investigative journalists whose aggressive reporting played a crucial role in educating the upper and middle class about political and corporate wrongdoings as well as about ‘how the other half lives’ - the title of Jacob Riis’s pioneering work of photojournalism