The children’s rights movement took place during the late 18th century to the Great Depression. During this time period, children had to do hard labor, instead of receiving an education, just to receive small income. They had to do this in order to help pay for the necessities of their families. Some of the participants that aided this movement include President Howard Taft, Mother Jones, and Jacob Riis.
Children had many injustices. They could not go to school because their parents forged working papers in order to receive money. At the factories where the children worked, they had hazardous working spaces. The machinery would often injure the young laborers. Another hazard of the working spaces was the air that the children were breathing, that sometimes contained poisonous chemicals. Some of the cases include broken fingers, and burnt body parts. And if the child were injured, they had no health benefits. This meant that if a child were hurt, they would not be able to work and receive money for their family. Another injustice was political injustice. Since the children could not vote, they could not change the laws.
One method of resistance was an action of Jacob Riis. He took photographs of the conditions that children were working in, so that the cruelty would be exposed to everyone. Another attempt to aid children’s rights was the Factory Act. This law was supposed to stop children under 13 from working in factories. In this law, inspectors were also hired so that factories did not have anyone too young, working. A big turning point of the children’s rights movements was the help of Mother Jones. She organized the Children’s crusade, which was a march of child labors from Philadelphia to
New York, in order to protest against the cruelty being done to them. Another method of resistance was the Triangle waist factor fire that occurred in 1911. In this fire, hundreds of women working in a factory were killed because doors were locked. This grabbed the attention of many people because they felt sympathetic to child labor.
Soon, President Howard Taft created labor laws in order to prevent children under the age of fourteen, to work in factories. A deal that was created in 1933 was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This deal gave relief to unemployed and needy. Another law that was created was the Fair Labor Standard Act. This was created in 1937, and it established businesses engaged in interstate commerce. It also banned child labor and set a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour. This law played a major role in the basis of American labor rights today.
The children’s rights movement was extremely important to study because it affected the children today and how we’re allowed to be in school, instead of being forced to work. I am grateful that this movement has occurred because my life could have been at risk, working in factories. This movement also showed that children can make just a big of change in history as adults.
school