Ida Tarbell
Ida Tarbell was born in a region that relied heavily on the oil industry. Her drive to have a successful career pushed her to invest enormous time and effort into her writing and to pursue research projects.
Monopolies were quickly forming and many journalists wrote about the Standard Oil Company in effort to expose its corruption. However, Tarbell launched a campaign against it, originally the campaign was supposed the be three-parts but eventually turned into a 19-part series, it was later turned into a book called "History of the Standard Oil Company". Her father feared that the owner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller, would retaliate against them and urged her not to write the piece, but she worked for nearly two years to build a valuable and well-researched case. She worked hard to gather the necessary information to describe Rockefeller’s intricate business practices into a story that the audience could easily understand.
It was published between 1902 and 1904 and was an instant hit with readers. The series uncovered Rockefeller’s unethical practices and brought the struggles of independent oil workers to light. She accused the company saying “They had never played fair" Rockefeller retaliated by calling her a “poisonous woman.”
"The History of the Standard Oil Company" is seen as a landmark in investigative journalism. It spurred strong negative sentiment against Standard Oil and is considered a contributing factor in the government antitrust action that ultimately led to the company’s breakup in 1911. Throughout her career, Tarbell hated being called a muckraker and preferred to be called a “fact-finder”. In 1922 the New York Times named her as one of the 12 most important women in America.
VIDEO LINK : http://www.janinabirtolo.com/tarbel.html
This video explains Ida Tarbell's life and how she came to successfully reform Standard Oil.
Monopolies were quickly forming and many journalists wrote about the Standard Oil Company in effort to expose its corruption. However, Tarbell launched a campaign against it, originally the campaign was supposed the be three-parts but eventually turned into a 19-part series, it was later turned into a book called "History of the Standard Oil Company". Her father feared that the owner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller, would retaliate against them and urged her not to write the piece, but she worked for nearly two years to build a valuable and well-researched case. She worked hard to gather the necessary information to describe Rockefeller’s intricate business practices into a story that the audience could easily understand.
It was published between 1902 and 1904 and was an instant hit with readers. The series uncovered Rockefeller’s unethical practices and brought the struggles of independent oil workers to light. She accused the company saying “They had never played fair" Rockefeller retaliated by calling her a “poisonous woman.”
"The History of the Standard Oil Company" is seen as a landmark in investigative journalism. It spurred strong negative sentiment against Standard Oil and is considered a contributing factor in the government antitrust action that ultimately led to the company’s breakup in 1911. Throughout her career, Tarbell hated being called a muckraker and preferred to be called a “fact-finder”. In 1922 the New York Times named her as one of the 12 most important women in America.
VIDEO LINK : http://www.janinabirtolo.com/tarbel.html
This video explains Ida Tarbell's life and how she came to successfully reform Standard Oil.
This cartoon depicts how J.D Rockefeller and The Standard Oil Company controlled all aspects the the Oil business.