In the case of the Lowell Mill girls, some young women felt liberated, but some also felt subjugated in the cruel environment. The Lowell girls were young female workers who came to work in industrial corporations in Lowell, Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. While their wages were only half of what men were paid, many were able to attain economic independence for the first time. For many of the mill girls, employment brought a taste of freedom. They escaped parental authority, were able to earn their own bit of money, and several educational opportunities.
Although the Lowell Mill girls were able to gain some independence and wages, many believed that the wage-labor factory system as a form of slavery with the harsh working conditions and long hours. The Harbinger mentions, “The atmosphere of such a room cannot of course be
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As well as staying in public cramped rooms and working around thirteen hours a day, the girls suffered very strict discipline. They had thirty minutes to eat breakfast and dinner without the time they had to run to their boarding houses and return to the factory. Along with those conditions, the girls rarely experienced little companionship with each other. Harriet Farley notifies us about this by saying, “ Excepting by sight, the females hold but little companionship with each other. This is why the young girls rush so furiously together when they are set at liberty.” (Editorial: Two Suicides,” Harriet Farley, Pg 2, Paragraph 5) This citation reveals that the girls were never really social with each other, leading them to eventually become lonely. As the “Editorial: Two Suicides,” by Harriet Farley reveals two Lowell Girls committed suicide, there could be numerous things that boosted their death within this factory life, proving how they were subjugated and put in bad working conditions. One of the
During the 1820’s and 1830’s, New England was undergoing a major transformation. With the Industrial Revolution underway, thousands of individuals packed up their belongings and relocated from the farms into the cities. As the Industrial Revolution emerged, thousands of girls took the opportunity as a means of obtaining freedom and independence to gain knowledge, income, and a sense of belonging. The murder of Sarah Cornell and the trial of Avery resulted in a clash between two emerging institutions in New England modernization during their lifetime, the textile mills and the Methodist Church, both of which believed that the opportunity for future growth relied heavily on a favorable verdict from the jury. This decision would determine both institutions future respectability and progress, as both Sarah and Avery’s reputation would reflect the reputation of the new economic development and methodist denomination.
They had to obey every command, and never question it. Women were considered to have little intellect and were thought to be better served to stick with tradition roles. In fact women that read books were considered to have “lost their senses because they read them.” (Berkin.3). When their home was in trouble, women would not hesitate to pick up torches or axes to join the men as they marched to defend their neighbors against the British army.
Experiencing “...fatigue and exposure to weather, necessary to their conditions”, women suffered immensely because working conditions which they exhibited were often unsanitary and dangerous (Anonymous, Document 1). Majority of women found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece work shops, and despite claims that the Industrial Revolution provided increased wages and a better standard of living, it however, resulted in the life of hardship for many. Because “remains of the absolutism of slavery still linger in the conventional arrangements of domestic service”, the Industrial Revolution epitomized inequality in the workforce (Linton). By being exposed to unsanitary working environments where women “...live under ground or just below the roof”, the lives of women had little improvements (Liton). Not only did women experience poor working conditions, they furthermore, were victimized by the unequal distribution of wages.
In the 1800’s, a girl named Elizabeth Bentley testified before a parliamentary committee investigating conditions among child laborers in Britain’s textile industry. One of the questions stated: “What time did you begin work at the factory?” Elizabeth responded with this: “When I was six years old” (Document 7). This affected her education in years to come. Her health and well-being was affected as well, in which, by the end of her work, she lived in a poorhouse.
The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of
The opening phrase on ‘Labor’ in history.com reads like this : “The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.” The factors that led to the rise of labor unions:
By the early 1800’s America began transitioning from an agriculture based economy to industrial production. After Thomas Jefferson's’ Embargo Act of 1807 that cut off all exports from the United States, domestic production boomed. Americans were forced to depend solely on themselves, developing economic independence. Inventions such as Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and railroads lead to industrial production and textiles. By 1815 there were hundreds of textile mills, spurring the growth of the Lowell factory system.
Child labor was another problem presented at this time. At the rate they were going back in 1900, 26% of boys between ten and fifteen were already working, and for girls it was 10% (Background Essay). Child labor was increasing as fast as the children working were dying. An example of this tragic scenario was Dennis McKee, a 15-year-old boy who was smothered to death by coal (Document B). This boy had a family, and that family had to deal with the loss of their son, all to the fault of an industry that thought to use young, able-bodied boys for their work was a fantastic idea.
Evodie Saadoun Trevor Kallimani Hist 210 13th October 2015 Women in the American Revolution There is a proverb that says, “The woman is born free and remains equal to men in rights”. Since the eighteenth century, women still try to be equal to men and try to be independent. During the American Revolution, women were dependent on their husband. This meant they had to cook, clean and take care of their children. They were not allowed to do what they wanted.
About one hundred thousand workers from six hundred different mills were on strike there. The strikers wanted their work cut from sixty to fifty-five hours. About a sixth of the strikers were children under sixteen.” ( 5, Josephson). As a result, she gathered a large group of mill children and their parents, shaming the mill owners of their actions.
Mary Paul, a laborer in a textile factory in Lowell, Massachusetts, wrote to her father “I have a very good boarding place, have enough to eat…” (Doc. #1) Nevertheless, it was not uncommon to find some conditions were horrifying. The laborers were angry that their children were risking their health working in dangerous conditions, they were tired, and they knew their hard work deserved a higher pay they may live off of.
Some people did not employ African Americans just because their race. Women were also treated unfairly during this time. Women are now allowed to vote during this time but they are thought to be housewives, mother and caregivers. It was hard for them to get decent jobs and were mostly rejected. Curley’s wife was treated very unfairly in this book.
The market revolution was a period in the early 1800s that expanded the marketplace and changed how farmers and manufacturers approached their work. The market revolution however had some negative impacts . The market revolution had many negative impacts on women. In Eli Whitney’s “Complaint of a Lowell Factory Worker”, she describes these negative impacts on young women. She says that most unmarried young women compared themselves to slaves.
When the topic of the American revolution during the years 1765-1783 is discussed, the mind races through all the horrifying battles men fought, the declarations men made, the brave male soldiers they drafted, and the founding fathers who wrote the constitution. But what is rarely mentioned is all the behind the scenes work women were responsible for while men were off fighting in the military. The war disrupted their ordinary lives, and the everyday roles men were employed in needed to be filled. Women throughout the United States assumed untraditional roles to so that life would continue, now being involved in politics, factories, businesses, commanding the household, and helping during battle.
Child labor was a great problem in the Industrial Revolution. Factory owners usually hired women and children rather than men. They said that men expected higher wages, and they suspected that they were more likely to rebel against the company. Women and children were forced to work from six in the morning to seven at night, and this was when they were not so busy. They were forced to arrive on time and they couldn’t fall behind with their work because if they did they were whipped and punished.