You Think We Have It Bad?
Roshenda B. 8-12
When you think of a typical household, you picture little kids running around, their mom making dinner and their dad coming home from a long days work right? Well, in the mid-1800’s the roles were switched and the children were the one’s coming home from a long day’s work. This essay is about the children’s rights movement and how it came to an end. Kids from as young as five to as old as fourteen years plus were working extremely long hours slaving away trying to make end’s meat. Many adults such as Mother Jones and Jacob Riis lent a helping hand to these suffering children.
High levels of injustice were seen in these factories or wherever children worked. They were given no healthcare benefits, weren’t protected against injury and, were paid less than adults. Many accidents happened in sweatshops and such resulting in severe damage of the children. For example, children’s hair was ripped out by machines, their legs and fingers, sometimes even there lips got caught and these injuries were very common.
Jacob Riis and Mother Jones are two very important people in the Children’s Rights Movement. Jacob Riis took pictures exposing the truth of the workers lives. Children were dirty, tired, hungry and sad. His pictures shined the light on this topic to many people. Mother Jones helped kids out when she saw The Newspaper Strike. The paper boys went on strike and then she saw how bad things were for them. She gathered the children and walked with them from Pennsylvania to
Washington D.C. when they got there the president refused to see them. This event became known as The Children’s Crusade and this showed the light to this injustice.
The Children’s Crusade was a big turning point in the Children’s Rights Movement. Many new laws were made to help to stop child labor such as the Fair Labor Standard Act. Also, the working hours for children were reduced. No child under the age of sixteen could work more than forty hours a week, and couldn’t work more than ten hours a day. These simple laws helped these kids remarkably back then and in the future.
I really enjoyed studying The Children’s Rights Movement. It made me appreciate and realize how little work I actually do. I have no right to complain because if it was back in those days it would be horrible. I really do have a good life thanks to the kids who suffered. I have a lot more respect for the past generations
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