Pennies and a crust of bread: child labor in America: millions of kids did crushingly hard work in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.OBJECTIVE Students should understand * what life was and is like for children forced to work long hours under harsh conditions. WORDS TO KNOW child labor child labor, use of the young as workers in factories, farms, and mines. Child labor was first recognized as a social problem with the introduction of the factory system in late 18th-century Great Britain. : full-time employment of children younger than a minimum legal age, often in unsafe or unsanitary un·san·i·tar·y adj. Not sanitary. conditions * document: to provide facts and/or physical evidence supporting a statement or claim. BACKGROUND The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 18th century and spread to the U.S. and beyond. Inventions such as James Watt's steam engine radically changed how people lived and worked--not always for the better. CRITICAL THINKING MAKING CONNECTIONS: What was and is at the root of most child labor? Cite examples from the play. (Extreme poverty, often caused by a lack of education. Examples include people willing to work for pennies a day; all children and both parents having to work; Charlie Vasiersky going hungry; Roselie Randazzo working despite grave illness; Camella Teoli's father agreeing to falsify falsify, v to forge; to give a false appearance to anything, as to falsify a record. her age so that she could work.) SUPPORTING AN OPINION: Might child-labor conditions described in the play have improved without the force of law? Why or why not? (Answers will vary. Yes answers may include greater awareness leading to voluntary changes. No answers may include employers having no incentive to make changes.) ACTIVITY A DAY'S WORK (Naut.) the account or reckoning of a ship's course for twenty-four hours, from noon to noon. See also: Day : Have each student choose a Hine photo (copied from a library book or printed from the Internet). Then, pretending to be the child in the photo, have them write a diary entry describing a typical workday. STANDARDS SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8 * Time, continuity, and change: How the Industrial Revolution changed the way people lived and worked. * Production, distribution, and consumption: That having more workers than jobs keeps wages low; why young children do dangerous jobs. RESOURCES * Freedman freed·man n. A man who has been freed from slavery. freedman Noun pl -men History a man freed from slavery Noun 1. , Russell, Kids at Work: Lewis Hine Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940), was an American photographer. For Hine, the camera was both a research tool and an instrument of social reform. Early life Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1874. and the Crusade Against Child Labor (Houghton Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay. It publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers , 1998). Grades 5-9. * Meltzer, Milton, Bread and Roses: The Struggle of American Labor, 1865-1915 (Replica Books, 1999). Grades 7-12. WEB SITES * Child labor brochures and videos ilo.org/public/english/standards /ipec/wdacl/2005/index.htm * Triangle Factory Fire www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire Cast of Characters Lewis Hine, photographer for the National Child Labor Committee The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) is a private, non-profit organization in the United States. History Founded in 1904 by Edgar G. Murphy, the NCLC was incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1907 with the mission of "promoting the rights, awareness, dignity, (NCLC NCLC National Consumer Law Center NCLC National Chamber Litigation Center (US Chamber of Commerce) NCLC National Child Labor Committee NCLC North Country Library Cooperative (Mountain Iron, Minnesota) ) Joey Taggart *, 10 workers at a Milo Milo, athlete of ancient Greece Milo (mī`lō) or Milon (mī`lŏn), fl. 500 B.C., athlete of ancient Greece, b. Crotona. Androvich *, 12 Pennsylvania Foreman coal mine Roselie Randazzo, worker at a New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. sweatshop sweatshop: see sweating system. Girl, Roselie's co-worker Woman, sweatshop supervisor Clerk, at a hospital Irvine Luther Lenroot, U.S. Congressman Charlie Vasiersky, 15, textile mill worker Chairman, of a House of Representatives committee Camella Teoli, 14, textile mill worker Helen Herron Taft, First Lady William Howard Taft, U.S. President Narrators A-C A-C Air Conditioning * An imaginary character who is a combination of several real people. All other characters were real people. Introduction Do you have an after-school job? Do you help with a family farm or business? If you think of that as child labor, consider the kinds of jobs kids in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. had a century ago. By the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolution had taken a firm hold in the U.S. New machines, steam power, and other advances in technology brought rapid change to the way people worked and lived. Suddenly, a single machine could do a job that once took the labor of many people. But people were needed to run the machines. Cities and industries grew as people left rural areas and farms to seek work. Many families were so poor that every child and both parents had to work to make ends meet. Factory and mill owners paid just pennies an hour in wages, because there were more people than jobs. Impoverished immigrants were coming to the U.S. in great numbers, hoping for better lives. Instead they were caught in the competition for low-paying, backbreaking back·break·ing adj. Demanding great exertion; arduous and exhausting. back  break jobs. Factory, mine, and mill operators liked to hire children, who got the lowest wages. Kids also fit easily into small spaces, including mine shafts and crowded sweatshops. In 1905, a photographer named Lewis Hine began to document the lives of young workers. Seeing the miserable conditions those kids faced, Hine and many other people worked to bring about child-labor reforms (changes for improvement). In this play, JS looks at how the struggles of those young workers, many of them immigrants, led to more rights and protections for all children in the U.S. SCENE 1 Narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. A: Sometimes, Lewis Hine enters factories and mines to take pictures of kids on the job. Other times, he hangs around outside, photographing kids on their way to or from work. One morning, outside a Pennsylvania coal mine ... Joey Taggart: Hey, mister, why are you taking pictures of us? Lewis Hine: I want Americans to know what life is like for children who work tough jobs like yours. The best way to tell them is to show them. What do you do? Joey: I'm a breaker boy. Rocks dug out of the mine come down a chute to us, and we sort them. We toss away slate and useless rocks, and put the coal down another chute. Hine: Your fingers are red and swollen. Can't you wear gloves? Joey: No, sir. They would whack us with a broom handle, like they do when we make mistakes. In time, my skin will get tough, like the other boys'. But it is a scary job. Yesterday, a boy fell down the chute and was smothered smoth·er v. smoth·ered, smoth·er·ing, smoth·ers v.tr. 1. a. To suffocate (another). b. To deprive (a fire) of the oxygen necessary for combustion. 2. to death in the coal. Hine: What about you, lad? Milo Androvich: I was a breaker boy. But now I'm a trapper. Hine: What do you do? Milo: There are doors between sections of the mine shaft, keeping out wind and coal dust. I wait till I hear a mule cart coming. Then I open the door and let the cart through. Hine: How long do you work? Milo: Nine or 10 hours a day, sir. I'm alone 500 feet underground, so I talk to myself or draw on the wall. Hine: But it's pitch-dark down there! Milo: Cold too! I can't see what I draw. I just imagine it. Foreman: Boys, get inside! Move along, mister. You don't belong here. Hine: I'm just passing through. That little breaker boy has a nasty cough. Foreman: Yup, they breathe coal dust all day long. There are 20 boys in that breaker, and I'll bet I'll Bet was an NBC game show that aired from March 29 1965 to September 24 1965, that was created by Ralph Andrews. The host of this program was Jack Narz. It was a precursor of It's Your Bet, which aired with four different hosts during its four year run: Hal March, Tom you could shovel 50 pounds of coal dust out of their lungs! SCENE 2 Narrator B: Other reformers investigate problems faced by the girls and women working in sweatshops. One such girl is Roselie Randazzo, an Italian immigrant who lives in New York City. On a typical winter morning, she meets a co-worker ... Roselie Randazzo: Good to see you! I was running because I thought I was late for work. Girl: Slow down! These stairs are steep, and you look pale. Why are you holding your throat? Roselie: It hurts terribly. Girl: You should go home. Roselie: I have to work. Narrator B: The girls sit side by side at a long table. The room is crowded with girls and women hunched hunch n. 1. An intuitive feeling or a premonition: had a hunch that he would lose. 2. A hump. 3. A lump or chunk: "She . . . over their tasks. They are cutting, shaping, and putting together satin flowers. A stern woman plunks a box of materials in front of Roselie. Woman: Now get busy. Have these roses ready by noon! Roselie: Yes, ma'am. Narrator B: Suddenly, Roselie falls facedown into the flowers. Girl: She is coughing up blood! Woman (snatching away Roselie's flowers): What a mess! These roses are ruined! Narrator B: Roselie is taken away. The next morning, Roselie's friend visits the hospital. Girl: Excuse me. Where can I find Roselie Randazzo? She was brought here yesterday. Clerk (reading): Roselie Randazzo, 17. Taken from Mark's Artificial Flower Factory. Died at 12:30 p.m. Girl: She was so young and beautiful! Clerk: She probably had tuberculosis. This climate is hard on people not used to the cold. If the climate doesn't finish them, the sweatshops do. SCENE 3 Narrator C: Gradually, the efforts of child-labor reformers gain attention as Americans learn more about the problem. Some mill and mine kids go on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions. Soon, concern about abuses reaches the halls of the U.S. Congress. In March 1912, a House of Representatives committee holds hearings. Several adults and 16 child workers testify [make statements under oath]. Two of the speakers are mill workers from Massachusetts. Congressman Irvine Luther Lenroot: How much does your job pay, lad? Charlie Vasiersky: My first job, I got $3.55 for five weeks' work. Now I should get $6.44 a week, but usually it's just three or four days for $5.27. Lenroot: What about school? Charlie: I went till I was 14. But our family didn't have anything to eat, so I had to go to work. Lenroot: What food do you have now? Charlie: Well, sir, a meal isn't much. Just a piece of bread with some molasses molasses, sugar byproduct, the brownish liquid residue left after heat crystallization of sucrose (commercial sugar) in the process of refining. Molasses contains chiefly the uncrystallizable sugars as well as some remnant sucrose. on it. Committee Chairman: How much do you earn a week, Camella? Camella Teoli: About $2.60 to $6.55. But the mill makes us pay 10 cents every 2 weeks for drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. . Chairman: You started working last year. Weren't you too young? Camella: Yes, sir. But a man came to our house and told my father that he would make up papers saying I was 14. That's old enough for a mill job. When the papers came, I started work. Two weeks later, I got hurt. Chairman: What happened? Camella: My hair got caught in a machine, and the machine pulled off big sections of my scalp. I was in the hospital for seven months. Narrator C: One of the audience members listening to Camella's testimony is Helen Herron Taft, President Taft's wife. That night ... Helen Herren Taft (to her husband): The poor girl--and so many others! They are laboring without childhoods, without hope for the future. President William Howard Taft: Such stories--and Mr. Hine's photographs--are shocking more and more people. Congress is sure to act soon. Narrator C: It does. On April 9, 1912, President Taft signs a new bill into law. It creates a federal agency, the Children's Bureau The Children's Bureau may refer to:
intr.v. per·tained, per·tain·ing, per·tains 1. To have reference; relate: evidence that pertains to the accident. 2. [relating] to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people." AFTERWORD af·ter·word n. See epilogue. The Children's Bureau helped improve conditions for child workers somewhat. But true reform was a long time coming. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act Fair Labor Standards Act or Wages and Hours Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1938 to establish minimum living standards for workers engaged directly or indirectly in interstate commerce, including those involved in production of goods bound became law. Among other requirements, it set minimums for working age and salaries. At long last, millions of young Americans had some protection against lives of misery and pain. WORDS to Know * chute (SHOOT): a downward-angled channel used to move things to a lower level, * hearings: official sessions at which witnesses are questioned, * mills: buildings and machinery used to process raw materials into finished products, * sweatshop: a factory where employees work under unhealthful conditions and for little pay. * tuberculosis (too-BUR-kyuh-LOH-sus): a serious lung disease lung disease Pulmonary disease Pulmonology Any condition causing or indicating impaired lung function Types of LD Obstructive lung disease–↓ in air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of airways–eg, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis; that is highly contagious, especially in crowded, dirty conditions. UPDATE Child Labor Today U.S. laws now bar kids from working in industry, mining, and other kinds of hard labor HARD LABOR, punishment. In those states where the penitentiary system has been adopted, convicts who are to be imprisoned, as part of their punishment, are sentenced to perform hard labor. . But kids as young as 10 are allowed to do agricultural work. That loophole was left so kids could help on family-owned farms. Today, however, an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 kids in the U.S. are migrant workers, who move from place to place, doing hard labor on someone else's land. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a 2005 National Consumers League (NCL NCL Norwegian Cruise Line NCL New Caledonia (ISO Country code) NCL National Consumers League (Washington, DC) NCL Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (adult type) ) report, many of them work I0 to 12 hours a day in unsafe situations. About 90 percent of Americans answering an NCL survey said that farmworkers should have the same legal protections as people in other kinds of work. Labor organizations distinguish child labor from child work. The latter is light work done by kids 12 or older that does not interfere with schooling or pose a threat to life or health. For about 246 million kids aged 5 to 14 worldwide, child labor is a harsh fact of life. The United Nations Children's Fund United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), an affiliated agency of the United Nations. It was established in 1946 as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. (UNICEF UNICEF (y  `nĭsĕf'), the United Nations Children's Fund, an affiliated agency of the United Nations. ) estimates that at least 75 percent of those kids do tasks that put them in great peril. Some care agencies and national governments are trying to eliminate child labor. That will be tough. In most cases, extreme poverty is the root of the problem.</p> <pre> Your Turn WORD MATCH 1. chute A. improve 2. hearing B. make a statement under oath 3. mill C. channel for moving objects 4. reform D. official session in which witnesses are questioned 5. testify E. where raw materials are processed ANSWERS 1. C; 2. D; 3. E; 4. A; 5. B THINK ABOUT IT 1. Why did so many children work in factories, mills, and mines at the turn of the 20th century? 2. Write a poem describing some of the conditions faced by those child workers. </pre> <p>THE PHOTOS OF LEWIS W. HINE historyplace.com /unitedstates/childlabor QUICK QUIZ * On the line provided, write the letter of the phrase that correctly completes each statement. --16. A sweatshop is a ... A. gym where employees exercise after work. B. factory where employees work under unhealthful conditions for little pay. C. mill that processes cotton for sweatpants and sweatshirts. --17. A breaker boy was a young worker who ... A. opened and closed doors deep inside mine shafts. B. plowed the soil to prepare it for planting seeds. C. sorted rock dug from mines to collect coal. --18. The Industrial Revolution was a ... A. period in which new machines and technology changed the way people lived and worked. B. strike by kids working in mills, mines, and factories. C. windmill windmill, apparatus that harnesses wind power for a variety of uses, e.g., pumping water, grinding corn, driving small sawmills, and driving electrical generators. Windmills were probably not known in Europe before the 12th cent. that turned a large stone used to grind wheat. --19. Tuberculosis is ... A. the constant breathing in of coal dust. B. a downward-angled channel used to move objects to a lower level. C. a serious, highly contagious lung disease. --20. A hearing is ... A. an official order from a foreman to a mine worker. B. an official session at which witnesses are questioned. C. a speech by a member of Congress. ANSWER 16. B 17. C 18. A 19. C 20. B |
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