Research Outline

Individuals, groups & institutions


Upton sinclair (the jungle)
During the last 100 years, individuals have used writing as a wasy to focus attention on issues  facing the american people.unsanitary and unsafe practices used in meat packing facilities. Sinclair was a muckraker (someone who brought attention to problems through writing). Buyer beware there were no laws at this time protecting consumers from unsafe products. President Theodore Roosevelt read "The Jungle" and wanted to help take action and help make conditions better. Thanks to president theodore roosevelt and sinclair congress passed the meat inspection act and the pure food and drug act. After meatpacking facilities were inspected plus bussinesses were forced to produce safer products. the beginning of consumer protection in the U.S.        
   Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from Birmingham Jail)MLK and others used civil disobedience to protest unfair laws and gain attention for their cause. they used marches, boycotts & lunch counter sit-ins. He was arrested for marching in Birmingham, Alabam. in jail, he wrote an open letter arguing that people had the moral responsibility to break unjust laws.The letter became widely circulated and very popular. It was a rallying cry for the civil rights movement. It helped to explain and justify the use of nonviolent protest and civil rights movement was successful in ending legal segregation with the civil rights act.