A Victory for Children Everywhere
Kaitlin H. 8-12
I the late 1800’s, some children had to work instead of going to school. Many children worked over 60 hours a week and were paid much less than adults. Some of the children working were as young as 5 years old. Many of the children were also in dangerous situations, such as factories were their fingers or hands could come off in one of the machines. Others worked in mines, where the fumes were very bad for their lungs. I think that the children civil rights movement was successful because the children working, as well as adults like Mother Jones and Jacob Riis, raised public awareness. They were organized and united.
The children faced many different types of injustice while fighting for their rights. One political injustice that the children faced was the fact that they couldn’t vote. Because they couldn’t vote, they couldn’t change the laws. The children also faced social injustice. Many of the poor children were the ones that had to work because they had to raise money for their families. The last type of injustice that the children faced was economic injustice. None of the children had health benefits, so if they got hurt while working their employer would simply replace them.
One of the big supporters of the children’s civil rights movement was Mother Jones. Mother Jones worked very hard to raise public awareness. She marched with the children all the way from Philadelphia to
New York and the president wouldn’t even see them. Another person that raised public awareness was Jacob Riis. He would take pictures of the children and their terrible working conditions.
The children’s civil rights movement was very successful. Many states started passing child labor laws. One law that was passed was the Factory Act. This act stated that no child under the age of 13 could work in a factory. In 1938, another law was passed to help the working children’s terrible situations. The Fair Labor Standards Act established maximum hours for all businesses engaged in interstate commerce. This law also banned child labor and set minimum wage at 40 cents an hour.
I thought that the children’s civil rights movement was an important topic to study because for a long time the children were ignored. No one knew what the working conditions were like for children and I thought it was important to talk about that. After hearing stories about what working as a child was like, I feel very grateful. Because of this movement, if I got a job, I wouldn’t have to worry about missing out on an education. I won’t be underpaid because of minimum wage and my job won’t put me in a dangerous situation. That is a great improvement for working kids everywhere.
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