Nongovernmental Organizations, or NGOs, played an important role in the Progressive Era, mostly because the US government was so laissez-faire at the time.
This "hands-off" approach caused organizations that had no affiliation with the government to step up and begin trying to shape public policy, restore economic opportunities, and correct injustices in American life.
NAACP, Anti-Defamation League, YMCA, Salvation Army, Women's Christian Temperance Movement, labor unions, muckrakers, National Women's Suffrage Association
The Muckrakers
These were journalists & writers who exposed the abuses and corruption of industrial society.
"Muckrakers' was the nickname given to them because they were "raking" through the "muck" of society. They gathered the "inside story" and exposed everything that was wrong with America during the Progressive Era.
They exposed so many evils & reached such a massive audience that their readers began to cry out for change. Because of their work, the push for reforms sped up and the federal government began to take action. Think of them as investigative journalists. We still see this type of work & influence at play in today's society. Today, journalists still play a crucial role in exposing corruption, poor living conditions, economic injustices, shady business practices, and consumer concerns. They keep an eye on the government and are quick to expose any problems they can write about. Muckrakers inform the public and spark debate over various issues and controversies. In a lot of ways, they keep the government "in check".
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
examined living conditions in tenements and exposed how the urban poor were living
Ida Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil Company
studied John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and revealed to the public his ruthless business practices
Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities
exposed the corruption in city governments (political machines)
Ray Stannard Baker, Following the Color Line
conditons of African Americans in the United States
Frank Norris, The Octopus
exposed corrupt railroad practices and how they hurt farmers
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
exposed Chicago's meatpacking industry & how disgusting and unsanitary the conditions in the factories were. This book almost single-handedly led to President Roosevelt's passage of the Meat Inspection Act