Child labor during the 18th and 19th century did not only rapidly develop an industrial revolution, but it also created a situation of difficulty and abuse by depriving children of edjucation, good physical health, and the proper emotional wellness and stability. In the late 1700 's and early 1800 's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for making most manufactured items. Many of America 's factories needed a numerous amount of workers for a cheap salary. Because of this, the amount of child laborers have been growing rapidly over the early 1800s. Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground, …show more content…
Because of the appalling and exhausting work that children were allotted, many people began to child labor, child slavery. Long hours of exhausting work deprived the children from getting a good education and reduced their chance of having a good future. Louis Hine is the schoolteacher who became a photographer in order to investigate the truth behind child labor. He put his life on the line by snapping photos that proved the abuses of child labor, which were meant to be cloaked and concealed from the public. The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of …show more content…
Most of the evocative photos taken were in coal mines and dark tunnels, because it best captures the reality of child labor it makes the photo come to life. While the older boys worked as mule drivers, couplers, runners, spragglers and gate tenders, the young boys worked as coal breakers. Their job was to reach down into the coal chutes and pick out any pieces of slate that was not capable of burning. Not only did they get severe scratches from the sharp slate that cut their skin, but they also put their lives at major risk. They could fall into the chutes and get smothered to death if they reached to far down. They got beaten with a broom handle if they weren 't focusing hard enough. Many of the breaker boys had suffered from chronic diseases from all of the coal dust that was in them. When these boys reached 12 years of age, they went to work down in the dirt of the coal mines. They had to collect coal from the caves and bring them to the coal cars, which would then bring the coal to the chutes to abstract slate. They always had to be alert of possible cave-ins or explosions. Another position of employment was being a trapper/door boy. They had to be there to open and close a heavy wooden gate when a coal car was coming through. It was a very lonely job snd they had to sit on a bench all day, occasionally opening a door for the coal cars. Another big industry of employment was glassblowing. They had to work in a 130 degree room with a salary of 65 cents per day. They mainly
At this time in history, there were “two million children under the age of sixteen” working to provide for their families, and some kids beginning labor at the tender ages of “six and seven years (in the cotton
The Industrial Revolution began in England during the late 1700’s. This movement introduced improved agricultural methods, textile industries, and the export of machine-made goods. Because the agricultural business was finding more efficient ways to manage their products, the working class decreased in this field (Document 7). This extreme drop in numbers led to people whining for a steady, supportive job. Luckily for the thousands of unemployed, the demand for factory workers increased (Document 2).
The Industrial Revolution was a period between both the seventeen as well as eighteen hundreds, and was mainly acknowledged as a time of immense change. Throughout the numerous years, various inventions were shortly to be developed such as the refined Newcomen steam engine, the cotton mill machine, and most importantly, the water frame. These modern developments certainly affected the revolution positively, though after several years however, factories for these inventions were eventually to be manufactured. The factories in particular were privately operated by wealthy factory owners who required others to complete the complex tasks. According to the wealthy operators, the less fortunate of mankind were required to complete these hazardous duties.
Child labor was a big issue involved with the Industrial Revolution. Families in the lower classes had jobs working the machines in factories. Usually, each worker got payed about $4-5 a week. Document 1 is a conversation that took place and it was kind of like a job interview and William Cooper, the worker, described how harsh life was in the factories. He began to work in factories when he was about ten years old and he worked from 5 am to 9pm.
In William Cooper’s testimony before the Sadler Committee, he stated that the workers began working at a very early age with long hours, rare meals, punishments and beatings, and the workers had no time for day school, so most factory workers were uneducated. “[I began working in the mills] when I was ten years of age . . .we began at five in the morning and stopped at nine in the night . . .we had just one period of forty minutes [for meals] . . .we were frequently strapped,” (Document 1).
One of the tolls industrialization took was that children were being forced to work.
According to NPR, “About half worked on family farms. The rest did everything else, working in factories, trained as apprentices, and served as messengers”. Also working non stop for long hours made children prone to physical and mental disorders. Working had affected children's health, education, and their childhood. Children didn’t have a childhood, they basically skipped their childhood and went right to work instead.
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.
Throughout human history, children were thought of as servants, apprentices, or a means to ease workload. Children would work on the family farm or a family business. They could be easily taken advantage of compared to adults. The exploitation of children for labor without concern for their education or welfare was common and even the norm. No special concern about children existed.
They also employed them because they were small and could go under and fix the machines easily. As children were expected to work at a young age in the Industrial Revolution time, they employed loads of children so than they didn’t have to do as much work and they could get more done at once. The jobs they done caused injuries frequently such as crushed fingers, broken arms, and even legs been pulled off. The factory owners did not force the workers to work they had a choice, either be homeless, or get underpaid and mistreated. The children had to fix broken machines and fix the broken threads, when they were still going.
Unsafe working conditions plagued next to, if not, all factories during industrialization. Thousands of workers grew ill or suffered injuries as a consequence of their labor, and would yield their jobs, surrendering their source of income. Taken in the early 1900s, “Lewis Hine’s picture depicts two children working on a very dangerous machine” (Document 8). The matter that children were allowed to manage these machines is awful enough, ignoring just how dangerous the machines were. In addition to this, the children did not appear to be well supervised, which made it all too easy for a disastrous injury to occur.
The factories they worked in were sometimes in poor condition. Somethings would fall from the roof injuring little kids or even adults. In the 1800’s children were forced to work in factories by their parents there was lots of poverty back then and it was not a good time era to live in. The
Many children worked in factories and mines, where they were exposed to hazardous chemicals and machinery. The use of child labor was especially prevalent in the coal mines, where young boys were
Conditions were hazardous and grueling. They worked long hours for little pay. Most of them could not read or write and they could not attend school because they needed to work. They suffered from malnutrition and exhaustion. They were innocent children that were locked up in factories, like they had committed a crime.
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.