Child Labor was a time in when children under the age of 14, worked in dangerous factories and mines.  Many people tried to stop child labor such as Mother Jones, Lewis Hines and Jacob Riis, and Kid Blink. An example of a child working in dangerous factory was The Lawrence Strike of 1912.

The Lawrence Strike of 1912 was when a 12-year-old girl named Camelia Teoli was injured in Lawrence Massachusetts Mills. The owners speed up machines and the machine pulled her hair and scalp. She spent 7 months in a hospital. About 23,000 people went on strike.  This movement was successful because Lawrence Mills offered better wages, working conditions and less workweek.

The Newspaper Boys Strike of 1889 is a related primary source to The Lawrence Strike of 1912.  The Newspaper Boys Strike was when boys had to work harder to earn money because the newspaper companies raised their prices from 50 cents to 60 cents. Newspaper Boys went on strike.

           Kid Blink led this strike. Many newspaper boys burned all newspapers so no one would be able to purchase or sale the papers.  After 2 weeks, this movement made newspaper companies to lower their prices. It also helps the newspaper boys realize there is power in numbers.

            During the Lawrence Mill strike of 1912 Camelia Teoli led the strike and took action by speaking to the congress, telling them that the owner’s speed up the machines and lowered wages.

            Another primary source would be when factories gave 7 to 8 year olds jobs to work in dangerous jobs such as sifting coal in small dark mines in 1886. A man named Jacob Riis took pictures and wrote about the tenement life in New York City. He wanted the government to see the terrible conditions in immigrant neighborhoods. The outcome of this protest government passed the Factory Act. This law was meant to stop children under the age of 13 from working in factories.

 The biggest outcome overall was The Keating- Owens act. The Keating-Owens Act was a statute enacted by the U.S Congress. Which sought to address the observed evils of child Labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children. President Woodrow Wilson signed it in 1916. But in the Hammer V.S Dagenhart, the Supreme Court of the United States overruled the act unconstitutional.

I think this movement was important to study because it showed students today what children went through for 68 years; 1870 to 1938. It gives children a different perspective on the rights children didn’t have in the past and the rights we have today in our society. The struggles the children went through in the past gives me a greater appreciation for the rights we have today.