American History : Maturation The Progressive Era Of Child Labor

The progressive era was filled with many pros and many cons which consist of child labour, workplace safety and big business which happened to rule over many small business’. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Leland Stanford were known as 3 of the wealthiest men alive as their business’ expanded widely throughout the progressive era. Child labour was common within factories as children would work for for long hours which either ranged from 10-12 hours or, would work until they got the job done. Child labour spread quickly as children would work in unhealthy conditions. Unsafe working conditions had not only been in the children’s jobs but had also ranged throughout many adults jobs. Windows were often fastened and darkened with paint, their would be very little light leaving employees with poor eyesight.

Lewis Hine(1874-1940) was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He studied sociology at Chicago and New York universities, becoming a teacher, then took up photography as a means of expressing his social concerns. In 1908, Hine left his teaching position for a full-time job as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee to document Child labor. Throughout America, child labor was ignored and unrecognized. Hine believed that if people could see for themselves the abuses and injustices of child labor, they would demand laws to end child labor.

The progressive era is an era of increased government involvement to protect the welfare of the people and this happened only because of the help of reformers during that time. The reformers had a lot of goals that they want to achieve, but their main goals were regulating child labor, improving working conditions and expanding democracy. And they were quite successful in their goals. The child labor was one of the biggest problem back there, and it was increasing rapidly.

During the 1900’s there had been many progressive reforms that have been success and unsuccessful. One progressive reform movement that I found to be most successful was the child labor reform. Back in the 1900’s there was great issue with child labor. Photographers were able to expose this truth by taking pictures of children working. The Progressives sought out to solve this problem.

Between 1860 and the 1910 the United States population tripled. Because of this, industry was in high demand for skilled and unskilled workers, and the abundance of immigrants helped keep it supplied. This helped the empowerment of bosses of the leading industries the Unites States. Working in a 17th century factory did not have ideal working conditions, on average, a 12 hour work day was not uncommon, as well as child labor. Often time’s, factory owners neglected worker rights and safety in factories leading to accidents, such as chopped off fingers, and other injuries without compensation. If a worker was seriously injured or refused to work they were gladly replaced with another.

The practice of Child Labor in America in the early 1900s had a devastating impact on generations of children. This mainly impacted children of poor and disadvantaged families; these families tended to suffer from generations of debt or were new immigrants to America. These children worked long hours which they did not get paid nearly enough for. They worked hard, dangerous jobs daily. In the 1900s, children chose to support their families in times of need rather than furthering their education, for which they did not get paid nearly enough. These jobs affected their health poorly and had a negative impact on their childhood and development. Children of poor families in cities suffered the most during the Industrial Revolution, because they had to work long hours, did hard jobs, and often sacrificed their health and education to support their struggling families.

A huge issue that was happening during the Progressive Era was child labor; Lewis Hine was one of many brave investigative journalist that helped change legislation. Children would work long hours with horrible working conditions, get paid very little and were forced to forgo an education. Not only were they going through this, but the work they did had an long-term impact on their health. Child labor is terrible and it is still going on today. This topic needs to be brought up again so people can become more aware and informed about it.

From the time of 1890- 1920 was the progressive era. In this time the American people experienced a very rapid industrialization in their major cities, where it grew not only with industrializing but economically as well. In this time we adopted many laws about working conditions that we still have today. For example, the government adopted laws about Jacob Riis and the photos he took, child labor, and women's suffrage movements. In the next few paragraphs I will explain to you why these three subjects are some of the most important things that happened in this time period.

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

Throughout the 1700’s and the early 1800’s child labor was a major issue in American society. Children have always worked for family businesses whether it was an agricultural farming situation or working out of a family business in some type of workplace. This was usually seen in families of middle or lower class because extra help was needed to support the family. Child labor dramatically changed when America went through the Industrial Revolution. When America’s industrial revolution came into play, it opened a new world to child labor. Children were now needed to work in factories, mills, and mines. These were not ordinary jobs for young children, these jobs required much time, effort, and hard work. “American

During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young

In 2005, my father bought a Shell Gas Station in Lake Geneva. From the first day, my dad taught me how to count money and work the cash register. I had to stand on a step stool to see over the counter. For the first couple years, I had to work with someone at all times because of the cigarette and alcohol sales and a lot of the customers would tell me there were child labor laws against it but I would just shake my head and say no. I loved being there and working because I was spending time with my dad and the family we built within the business. During the summers, I would get up with my dad at four in the morning to go and open the store. Throughout the years I learned to do more and more and by the age of 10, I knew how to count money, cut

Although children had been servants and apprentices throughout most of human history, child labor reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution.There was a big impact on the daily life of a child labourer as poor children often worked full time jobs with minimal pay in order to help support their families. Young children worked long hours in factories under dangerous conditions. children were easier to manage and control than adults because their size was perfect as it allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines.The practice of child labor continued throughout much of the Industrial Revolution until laws were eventually passed that made child labor illegal.

People, policies and technological advances helped shape our nation. People went on reforms to improve living conditions for everyone in the nation. Policies and technological advances were created and made the country flourish. Life right now is the result of people’ hard work.

“Over 100 million children around the world work in hazardous conditions in agriculture, mining, domestic labor, and other sectors.” Child in developing countries are risking their lives for a breadcrumb amount of money just to eat dinner that night.