Wnet: Thirteen: Yearning to Breathe Free: Muckrakers and Activism [Pdf]

A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that leads learners through an examination of the role of muckrakers in the development of investigative journalism. Students work to identify problems newspaper writers might have exposed in late nineteenth-century America and study the innovations of Sam McClure in giving rise to newspaper syndicates. Includes excerpts from the work of two famous muckrakers - Nellie Bly and Upton Sinclair.