Humanities Jamiee Nathaniel

Class 802 4/3/08

Child Labor Movement

Child labor was a time when children had to work to support their families, from as young as the age of 4.  The mistreatment, illnesses, injuries, 60-hour work weeks, and small pay went on for about 68 years; from the 1870s to 1938. Some people who helped in the child labor movement were Mother Jones, Kid Blink, Lewis Hines, Jacob Riis and President Hoover. It took many of failed attempts before children could actually go to school instead of working. These jobs they had weren’t easy either. It was hard and dangerous labor. Eventually, children got fair rights. Now we are able to go to school and we are not forced to work at just any age. The Child Labor Movement ended up being successful in the end.

Children had many injustices, while working at young ages. They had 60-hour work weeks and very low wages. Children were deprived of their education because they were working these long hours. Children suffered from pneumonia and tuberculosis because of unhealthy working conditions. They worked in places like factories, mills and coal mines, which are not suitable areas for children to be working. During the Great Depression it was especially a time where more children were working in unhealthy places because there were no other jobs to choose from. In 1916, the Keating Owens act was passed. The Keating Owens act intended to stop the selling and shipping of goods that were made by children under the age of 14. After the law was passed, the U.S. Supreme Court case Hammer v. Dagenhart ruled that child labor laws should only be passed by the state and the Keating Owens act was outlawed.  These things were only some of the injustices that children had to struggle through. They had to fight hard to achieve what they did.

In order for the children to start get some justice they had to use certain methods of resistance. Some of the ways that the children fought back was by striking, marching, and publicizing the issue. For instance, the Lawrence Mill Strike. After a Massachusetts law was passed to shorten the work week, mill owners sped up the machines and lowered the wages. This led to a strike of 23, 000 workers. They formed human chains, spoke to congress, and basically gave the mill bad press. After protesting the Lawrence Mill offered their workers better pay and a shorter work week. Then there was the Children’s Crusade that was led by Mother Jones. After children went on strike because of their 60-hour work week, they marched from Philadelphia to New York to see the President. They marched for 22 days, but the President refused to see them. Although there was no real achievement concerning laws being made,\` they made the problem recognized by the public and the President. After lots of fighting and hard work like this the goal was met.

Congress passed a good amount of laws that limited child labor. However, the Supreme Court always outlawed or ruled over it. Finally, in 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. It set a minimum working age for most jobs. No child can work full time that is under the age of 14, unless they are working on a farm. Children have to go to school, until they are at least 16 years old. To work at dangerous jobs, they must be at least 18 years. The act also set minimum wage.  The Supreme Court agreed to this act. The Fair Labor Standards Act ended child labor.

The Child Labor Movement is important because now I can go to school and get an education, instead of working at dangerous jobs. Now I am informed about the struggle that children in the past had to go through to get us here. Children couldn’t go to school because they were working to support their family. Now my parents support me, and they don’t depend on me for the next meal. The Children Rights Movement helped all children to have an easier life. The Child Labor Movement was a success and they achieved a lot for the future.