Essay On Muckrakers

A muckraker can be thought of two ways; as someone who invades another's privacy to an extreme unnecessarily or as someone willing to endanger themselves and expose the truth to help others. Jessica Mitford saw being a muckraker as an honorable title and proudly accepted the name as ''Queen of the Muckrakers''. Over the years so called muckrakers have brought to light the offenses of people and businesses to better improve the conditions of the community. During the 1900s we can see them doing some of their most noteworthy work.
Elizabeth Cochran, also known by her pen name Nellie Bly, became an accomplished muckraker after uncovering the abuse malpractice taking place in Blackwell Island Asylum. In 1887 Bly spent 10 days in the Blackwell Island Asylum under the facade that she was mentally ill. During her time there she reported on the patients being starved, beaten, cold baths, and drugged by the staff. After being released and publishing her findings the public became aware of the injustices taking place and the asylum was shut down in 1894. Since the asylum was exposed for the nightmare it truly was the Department of Public Charities and
Regardless of the improvements made by muckrakers some still see them as a nuisance. Sinclair, Adams, and Bly all invaded someone's privacy to get their story, but in the end their actions helped society as a whole. Without muckrakers there's no telling how many more people would have been sent to an asylum seeking help only to be tortured, how many parents would have given their children some addictive or lethal drug believing it would cure them, or how many families would have eaten rotten meat contaminated by human and animal