Art by Camilla Franklin
Ida Tarbell
Ida Tarbell was a leading muckraker and pioneer of investigative journalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who took down one of the most powerful monopolies in history with the power of her pen. Learn more in today’s episode featuring a new hip hop song and special guests!
Extension Activity for Educators
Every episode features an extension activity with an activity for kids to celebrate our unsung heroes and learn more of their history! Today’s activity features an “interview” between Nimene and John D. Rockefeller about corruption, discussion questions, and an opportunity for kids go report their own stories!
Click on the image or button below for the full activity!
Lyrics
IDA TARBELL
Written by Dan Foster
Narrator:
Open your mind and imagine a time where inequality is
High and poverty on the rise
Riches hoarded by a small core group,
Monopolies not on the game board, they be up inside the boardroom
And the newspapers who s’posed to be mad
Are only interested in profiting, the news is an ad
Rich fill their pockets while the poor gettin’ filled with rage
That’s living life day to day... in the Gilded Age
Turn of the century, 1901
The USA’s a power, but in trouble in the long-run
Journalism yella, and the wealth’s controlled by fellas
Just like John D. Rockefeller
Man, the people need a truth teller
Someone stellar, an extra special writer
With the qualities of truth and perseverance up inside her
A fighter for the weak, to the strong an anklebiter
Ida:
Last named Tarbell, first name Ida
Ida Tarbell
Lifting up the meek like a barbell
Ida Tarbell
Ensuring our financial systems are well
Ida Tarbell
Rakin’ all the muck, she’s a journalistic marvel
Ida Tarbell
But making sure I always stay impartial
Ida:
When I was a youth, my dad was part of a crew
Of small oil well producers, using rail to move crude
Until a dude named Rockefeller came through and pulled a coup
John D:
Made a truce with the trains, and soon the crew, it was screwed
Ida:
Ooo- I was mad, but had no way to make comeuppance, just
A young girl in the lower class
John D:
While I was male and upper crust
Narrator:
She had to take the punches, wait with baited breath
And utter trust
Ida:
Study hard and bide my time til I could throw my uppercut
John D:
Listen, meanwhile me, John D, I be
Came a true titan of the industry
Narrator:
Some called him robber baron cuz he swindled to
Amass the cheese
John D:
But most were taken in by my big fortune and my
Charities
Ida:
Yes, my foil founded standard oil,
And soon he had more money than the royals,
While I toiled in Paris, penning puff pieces to no acclaim
At this point barely anybody out there even know the name
Ida Tarbell
Lifting up the meek like a barbell
Ida Tarbell
Ensuring our financial systems are well
Ida Tarbell
Rakin’ all the muck, she’s a journalistic marvel
Ida Tarbell
But making sure I always stay impartial
Narrator:
Ida as a writer was tenacious, audacious
Her appetite for research was voracious, face it
Only a matter of time before she set her vast
Investigative skills on the man from her past
Ida:
John Rockefeller, who duped my dad back in the day
Became the subject of my magazine’s next expose
John D:
Oh we got ourselves a showdown, now, you could call it High Noon
Ida:
Writer with a grudge
John D:
Verse the big budget tycoon
Narrator:
Soon Ida’s on the case, learnin’ anything she can learn
Documents, photographs
Ida:
I even talked to interns
Narrator:
The biggest break arrived when she interviewed John’s #2
Ida:
Who told me everything
John D:
You talked to Henry? Oh that’s bad news
Narrator:
A series came, in 19 parts, of standard oil’s history
John D:
Of backroom deals, corruption, fraud, it finally solved the mystery
Ida:
Of how John D. defrauded dad; I got revenge for my line
And taught the world the name of the woman on the byline
Ida Tarbell
Lifting up the meek like a barbell
Ida Tarbell
Ensuring our financial systems are well
Ida Tarbell
Rakin’ all the muck, she’s a journalistic marvel
Ida Tarbell
But making sure I always stay impartial
Narrator:
Results was
It led to justice, the laws got more robust and
The Sherman Act got passed and it busted all the trusts up
Ida:
People’s trust in journalists adjusted
And the huckster, Rockefeller, lost his luster
John D:
That’s true
Ida Tarbell
Lifting up the meek like a barbell
Ida Tarbell
Ensuring our financial systems are well
Ida Tarbell
Rakin’ all the muck, she’s a journalistic marvel
Ida Tarbell
But making sure I always stay impartial
Special Guests:
Susan Orlean
American journalist, television writer, and bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992, and has contributed articles to many magazines including Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Outside.
Sophia
Sophia is a 15-year-old from Denver who loves to write!
“Ida Tarbell” song was composed by Dan Foster, Produced by MOZIAH and Eric Gersen
