Child Labor in America
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Transcript of Child Labor in America
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Child Labor in America
Building a Great Nation on the Backs of its Youth
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When is Child Labor Okay? When is child labor a useful and healthy
introduction to work?
How do you distinguish between freedom and idleness, which may be less wholesome than some other types of work?
Is some work suitable for young children? How do you distinguish “suitable?”
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Factors for Child Labor
Reflected socio-economic class stratification
Immigration and tenement living
Availability of children and economic forces
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The Facts
In 1870, the first U.S. census to report child labor numbers counted 750,000 workers under the age of 15, not including children who worked for their families in businesses or on farms.
By 1911, more than two million American children under the age of 16 were working
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Types of Labor
Street Trades- newsies, delivery and errand boys, shoe shiners
Industrial factory workers Textiles, food preparation, garment/
piece goods Breaker Boys- coal miners Agriculture/Farm labor
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Textiles
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Textiles
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Street Trades
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Street Trades
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Factory Work – Indiana Glass Works
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Factory Work – Evansville, IN
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Hosiery Mills – London, TN
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Miners
Young Mine Driver, works 7 AM to 5:30 PM daily
Breaker Boys, PennsylvaniaWork at breaking up large chunks of coal
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Agricultural Work
Six year old picking cotton in Oklahoma
Boy working in berry fields outside Baltimore.
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Labor Conditions
68-72 hour work weeks From “Can till Cain’t”
Lived in company owned houses, towns
Paid in company script for overpriced goods at the company store
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Labor Conditions
Tenement living in slums
Homework after shifts were over
Immigrant families targeted because some state laws did not apply to immigrants
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“Homework” / Tenements
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“Homework” / Tenements
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Regulation
Started slowly at the state level banning employment of underage children
Motivations for regulation varied: Economic Humane Social
Children were viewed as a source of low-wage labor that was in competition with adults
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Reasons for Regulation
Products of child labor competed against adult made products causing market pressures to force down wages and living standards
Health and safety hazards as well as exhaustion left children ill prepared for education
As adults they were ill-prepared for employment elsewhere, which led to cyclical poverty
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Unions and Child Labor
AFL leader Samuel Gompers favored child labor laws
1904 the National Child Labor Committee was formed to end child exploitation in the workplace
State labor laws were loosely constructed and difficult to enforce
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Opponents of Child Labor Regulation Arguments:
Unavoidable stage of development Necessary for survival Essential for regional competition Southern manufacturers viewed labor
restrictions as an “effort of northern agitators to kill the infant industries of the south”
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Advocates for Child Labor “I believe there are just about as
many children spoiled by indulgence as there are by overwork.”
-Daniel A. Tompkins Carolina mill owner
“There is such a thing as too much education for working people sometimes.” -Charles Harding, Merchants Woolen Co.
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Fair Labor Standards Act
Set a 40 hour work week
Minimum wage of 40 cents per hour
Prohibited child labor under 16 and restricted when and for how long children could work