Transcript Document

Child Labor
Farming in the West
•
•
•
•
Families began moving west to start
their own farms.
Each farmer was given 160 acres under
the Homestead Act.
As the west expanded, schools were
built for children to attend.
Many farm children rarely went to school
though...
Farming in the West
•
•
Farming was hard
work and the children
were often kept out
of school to help.
Children would work
long hours in the
fields under the
scorching sun.
•
•
Children were often expected
to work with dangerous tools
while harvesting crops.
Because they worked on the
farm, students would often
miss months of school at a
time, while some never
attended at all.
As hard as things
were for farm
children....
...things were much
worse in
industrialized cities.
Factory Work
•
•
•
In 1793, Samuel Slater
opened the first mill in
Pawtucket, RI.
In the U.S., in 1830, 55 % of
mill workers in Rhode Island
were children.
In 1832 In the U.S., people
started to question child
labor, but laws were not
established until much later.
Life as a Factory Worker
•
•
•
•
Young children working in
factories endured some of the
harshest conditions.
Work days would often be 10
to 14 hours with almost no
breaks during the shift.
Factories employing children
were often very dangerous
places leading to injuries and
even deaths.
Machinery often ran so
quickly that little fingers,
arms and legs could easily
get caught.
Factory Conditions for
• Factory owners preferred
Children
using children for some tasks
because of their small size.
• It was more profitable for
factory owners to employ
children than skilled adults.
• Lack of sleep and an averaged
10 to 14 work day contributed
to mistakes and injuries.
• Some children were mentally
and physically abused by their
supervisors, and their safety
was neglected by factory
owners who cared more about
profit than well-being.
in 1916 a new federal
child labor law sets a
minimum age for
employment . . .
. . . but it was declared
unconstitutional after just
two years.
The End of Child Labor in America!!
•
•
•
Minimum ages of employment
and hours for child laborers are
regulated by federal law in 1937.
o This time it is not repealed.
Children are no longer required
to work in factories or on farms!
Children across the country were
finally free to go to school and
play with their friends!
ASSIGNMENT
Nannie sews in a factory ,1900
Salvin picks cranberries, 1910
•
•
•
Pick one of the child
laborers shown here
Make a fakebook page
for your chosen laborer
You must include the
following:
o The basic
information (
name, age, etc.)
o 2 statuses about
daily life at work
o 1 recent activity
o 4 major events
o 1 quote
 you can make
this up, just
make sure it
relates to child
labor!
Sadie works as a bobbin girl,
1908
Charlie cuts logs, 1913
Works Cited
Cruickshank, Marjorie. Children and Industry. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1981.
Marx, Karl. Das Kapital. Vol. I. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr &
Company, 1909.
Nardinelli, Clark. Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
---."Were Children Exploited During the Industrial Revolution?"
Research in Economic History 2 (1988): 243-276.
Rule, John. The Experience of Labour in Eighteenth Century
English Industry. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.
Tuttle, Carolyn. "A Revival of the Pessimist View: Child Labor
and the Industrial Revolution." Research in Economic
History 18 (1998): 53-82.