Florence Kelley's Argument Against Child Labor

The nineteen hundreds: children were working through the night while the adults were sleeping. Florence Kelley, a United States social worker and reformer, spoke out against this harsh reality. Fighting to improve child labor laws, she delivered her speech in 1905 at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention, in Philadelphia. By incorporating anecdotes to emotionally appeal; shocking state statistics; and showing a strong, direct, and compassionate attitude towards children working, Florence Kelley reveals the harsh child labor laws and fights to improve their conditions.

During the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s child labor was a social issue that developed in the United States. In the early 1900’s, so many children ages 16 and under were working in American mine and factories. Our kids should not be forced to work at such an early age, they need education and a good childhood that they will always remember. Some children that are as young as 4 years old are being forced to work in crammed, dangerous factories. These factories are full of poisonous fumes and diseases that can obviously kill. Kids as young as 13 are being forced to work around 13 hours a day. Working these 13 hours is exactly what most adults are working at the time. Kids are also earning a lower wage since they are minors, employers

In the speech about child labor, Florence Kelly uses rhetorical devices such as appealing to logos, metaphors, repetition and parallel structure to enforce her message that young children should not work endless hours but men and women should instead.

In Florence Kelley’s speech delivered to the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1905, the author employs empathetic repetition, strong facts, and piteous diction to inspire as many people as possible to work against child labor.

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

Florence Kelley is a social worker and reformer who fights for child labor laws and better working conditions for women. At the National Assembly Women Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905, Kelley recites a speech about the issue of child labor laws. She uses rhetorical strategies such as repetition of the many negative aspects of child labor through specific examples, criticism of state policies, and emotional appeal. A combination of figures, logic, evidence, and emotional appeal will help convince her audience that child labor is a problem.

Florence Kelley uses a couple of rhetorical strategies to convey her message and view on child labor in America. Kelly conveys her message on child labor in a way that partially has negative effects on the reader's emotion, but rather explaining her devices in sarcastic and guilty tones. These rhetorical devices appeal to the reader's mind and emotion and wants the reader to feel sorry/guilty and put a stop to child labor.

During the progressive era the conditions of the factories that children worked in were extremely brutal. Children Worked in very hot factories and some were only at the age of 4 ("Child Labor" Britannica). The reason factories were hot were because there were so many children confined in the factories. This means that there were sweaty, hot children working 16 hours a day. In the book Children at work, there was a child working at a furniture factory and he had dozens of infected wood splints. This is bad because it shows how cruel people were to children during the progressive era. This affected children modern days because if child labor kept on going on children would not be able to attend as often much school as they do now.

After many discussions about it, the Congress finally passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. This act ensured that no child under the age of 14 is allowed to work. Not only did it state that, it stated that minors are only allowed to work a certain amount of hours per week. This is significant because before this, any child of any age was allowed to work. If it weren’t for the teachers, and parents, and the children themselves who came forward throughout the 1920s to talk about child labor and the negative effects it had on their childhood, child labor may have lasted a lot longer than it

Way back in the 19th century everyone who was physically capable worked. They worked in the feilds, in shops and markets, in homes serving, they worked wherever they could. When the industrial revolution brought about new macherinery for old work it was not so easy of an adjustment. The people went along well with the new technology, but the machines and general atmosphere in factories was dreadful. Deaths were extremely common. Child labor was a necessity for the time period, but has since been rightfull illegaliszed.

In my previous summaries, I discussed the significance and different areas of Child Labor and now, I want to gain a deeper understanding behind the history and the origins of it. Child labor didn’t start a year ago or a hundred years ago. It started hundreds upon thousands of years ago. Since not many records were kept during this time, there wasn’t a lot of historical evidence that I could research. Instead, I decided to look at the history of Child Labor in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. I came across the research of Chelsea Amack, Lawrence Reed, and Wade Thatcher and decided to use them as my references. The reason I decided to use them was because they all had referenced history rather than their personal opinions. Their research was

Minors were employed for less wages than other workers with the same amount of work and hours of labor.

Florence Kelley campaigns for stricter child labor law in the U.S., in her speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association (N.A.W.S.A) in 1905, by using emotional appeals, anaphoras, and metonymy to apprehend the N.A.W.S.A attention to the unethical working conditions of children in the U.S. focusing on the state of Georgia creating a heavy hearted tone.

In the US workforce, women who worked full-time, year-round in 2014 earned 79 percent of what men earned, and the gender wage gap was bigger for black and Hispanic women. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission receives thousands of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment claims every year.