Child Labor and Social Protest Child Labor And

SOCIAL STUDIES

GRADES 6 - 12 CHILDCHILD LABORLABOR ANDAND SOCIALSOCIAL PROTESTPROTEST GEORGE Y. DURRETT

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 50-minute classes. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to: • Describe the working conditions of the OVERVIEW: factories at the turn of the Twentieth The year was 1908. Sergeant O’Leary worries Century. about the O’Malley family. The father has just lost • Identify principle labor figures and their his job. The mother is in her seventh month and can’t fight for freedom of speech. work. Johnny is twelve years old. He looks as though • Explain the reasons children were allowed he is fifteen. He is a strapping kid, almost six feet to work. tall and getting muscular early. “Yeah,” the Sergeant • Relate the literature of Upton Sinclair and tells the clerk, “I’ll vouch for the kid. He’s fourteen if the artwork of Ben Shahn to the Labor he’s a day. A hard worker, too.” The clerk fills out the Movement. working papers and says, “Good luck, kid.” This was • Analyze Child Labor Laws and identify not an unusual scene in America in 1908. It is still countries in the world where child labor not an unusual scene in many parts of America and exists today. other countries in the world. Necessity often turns children into adults far too early. Are the parents to STANDARDS: blame? The answer is not that easy. Poverty, lack of STANDARDS: education, and the need to simply survive are the Geography Education National Standards basis of child labor. This lesson connects America’s http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/ past fight for fair labor laws and the end of child labor education/standardslist.html with the present battle against the lost of innocence Places and Regions: How culture and experience and the salvation of pride within the family unit wher- influence people’s perceptions of places and regions ever it may exist. Human systems: How the forces of cooperation Through the activities in this lesson, students and conflict among people influence the division will become familiar with several of the first labor lead- and control of Earth’s surface ers, conditions in the factories, child labor at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and child labor as it exists Louisiana Department of Education today. After examining the video clips and Web sites, http://www.doe.state.la.us/DOE/asps/ the students will participate in hands-on activities that home.asp?I=CONTENT will define the Child Labor Laws, where child labor Louisiana English Standard 6 exists today, and examine ways in which they can Students read, analyze, and respond to literature as help combat the abuse toward children around the a record of life experiences. world. This lesson can be used alone or in conjunc- Benchmark tion with the lesson plans offered in the PBS series, ELA-1-H4: interpreting complex texts with Freedom: A History of US. supportive explanations to generate connection to real-life situation and other SUBJECT MATTER: Social Studies, texts (e.g., business, technical, scientific); History (1, 2, 4, 5); and English/Language Arts

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Louisiana Social Studies Standard 5 Organizing Information: Students effectively sort, manipulate, and organize the information that was retrieved. They make decisions on how to use and communicate their findings. C-1B-H4: evaluating issues related to the differences between American ideals and the realities of American social and political life; (1, 2, 4, 5) MEDIA COMPONENT: Video: Freedom: A History of US, Episode 9: Working for Freedom and 10: Yearning to Breathe Free.

Web sites: Freedom: A History of US. Home PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/index.html This Web site offers segments from the PBS series, Freedom: A History of US, pertinent links to related information, and educational guidelines.

Images of Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/childlabor.html#us This Web site answers many questions about child labor: What is a child, what is child labor, where does child labor exists, does child labor exist in the United States?, etc.

The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/index.html This Web site includes investigative child labor photos by Lewis Hines and links to many more important events in history. http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/dunbar.jpg for the picture on the Web.

Ben Shahn at Harvard, An Exhibition of Protest http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/Shahn/exhibitiontour/artistsprotest.html This Web site offers the social protest artwork of Ben Shahn during the Great Depression.

U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau on International Affairs http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat5/toc.htm This Web site explores international views of child labor, the laws, and steps being taken to limit child labor to acceptable practices.

Kids Can Free the Children http://www.freethechildren.org/ This Web site informs the viewer of international activities to reduce child labor practices around the globe. It even has a link to “Oprah’s Angel Network”.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) http://www.archives.gov MATERIALS: Per Student: • A copy of Child Laborers – Why? ( Attachment 1) • Pencil and paper • Video Questions (Attachment 3) Per Group (of 4 – 5 students): • Activity sheets for research (Attachment 4) • Writing assignment – You are a Child Laborer (Attachment 5)

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PREP FOR TEACHERS: Prior to teaching this lesson, bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. (THIS IS OPTIONAL: Go to Teacher Resources for a companion lesson plan by Johns Hopkins University. These lesson plans can be used in conjunction with each other.)

Prepare the hands-on element of the lesson by copying the group activity sheets. Create groups of 4 – 5 students each. Read excerpt from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (Attachment 2). INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY: Step 1. Ask the students if they are going on vacation this year. Ask them if they think that their great grandparents went on vacation. (Nearly every student will raise their hand and have a place that their parents have already discussed. Inform the students that the common worker at the turn of the Twentieth Century did not go on vacation. They worked six days a week, twelve hours a day. The only day off was Sunday. There were no paid vacation days. If a worker took days off to travel, he/she would not have a job when they came back.)

Step 2. Distribute the picture of a mother and child worker to each member of the class (Attachment 1). These people are shucking oysters. Do you think that this could be a scene in New Orleans? What do you think this child’s life is like? Is there any legitimate reason that a child should go with his mother to work and be put to work at the age of five? Why are the very little children there? (Guide the students to understand that many immigrants had come to America. They were desperate for jobs. This scene very well could have taken place in New Orleans or any other port city where fishing was a major industry. In those days there was no welfare or free day care for children. Many of the immigrants could not read or write. The children are there to work or because there is no one at home to take care of them. Explain that the workers are shucking oysters, even the little girl with the apron.)

Step 3. Read the excerpt from Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle. (Attachment 2) (Tell the students that this book took place in the Chicago meat packing plants and played a large part in the reform of labor laws and safety laws.)

Step 4. Ask the students if they could have started working at the age of eight or ten? Why not? (Guide the students to understand that the legal age for leaving children unattended is twelve or else the parents can be held responsible for child neglect. Even baby sitting is out of the question until a child is twelve or older. The legal age for a part time job is sixteen. Yet even today in the United States and other countries around the world, these laws are being broken just as the law was broken for little Stanislovas.) LEARNING ACTIVITY: 1. Ask your students what they believe “freedom of speech” is. (The right to say what you think in public without the possibility of arrest.) Tell the students that they are about to watch an excerpt from Freedom: A History of US, Episode 9, Working for Freedom. Distribute Video Questions (Attachment 3).

2. Insert Freedom: A History of US, Episode 9, Working for Freedom, into the VCR. Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking them to answer the following questions: • What was this time in the industrial age called? • What complaint did the workers have against their jobs? • What happened if a worker complained? • Tell the students to look closely for children among the workers. START the tape at “The Rise of Labor” where a “newsy” is in front of a streetcar and STOP at the picture of the boys on the ladder. This segment should last about two minutes. Students will answer the questions and the teacher will guide them in a discussion. (Guide the students to understand that this was called the Gilded Age because of the progress that was being made and

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the tremendous amount of money earned by people called tycoons. These were men who could invest in such industries as the steel industry. The workers’ main complaint about their jobs was that the hours were too long. If a worker complained, got hurt, or had to take off work he probably would get fired. Explain that there are children among the adult workers because many families needed their income to survive.

3. Tell the students that they are about to watch another excerpt from Freedom: A History of US. This segment will show the beginning of social revolt against working conditions. Provide a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking them to answer the following questions: • Who called “working men to arms”? • What happened to Spies and three of his organizers? START the film at stop point and play until the view of the segment title “Hard Times” appears. This segment will run approximately four minutes. Students will answer the questions and the teacher will guide them in a discussion. (Guide the students to understand that August Spies was a labor leader that felt talk was not enough to cause changes. Part of this was because the police did not agree with demonstrations and the bosses had no sympathy for the workers. Spies and his organizers were arrested and hung.)

4. Tell the students that they will see the growing pains of the first United States union, the IWW. Provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking them to answer the following questions: • Who was the main organizer of the IWW? • What does IWW stand for? • When IWW workers sought to speak in public, what happened to them? • What were they asking for? • When the Massachusetts State Legislature changed the women and children’s working day from fifty- six hour to fifty-four hours, what did the factory owners do? • What act led to a factory hearing on the factory conditions? • The Mill owners finally agreed to what new conditions for the women and children? FAST FORWARD manually to “Speaking Out”. Start the film and continue to “Finally a Statesman”. STOP the film. This segment is approximately four minutes. Students will answer the questions and the teacher will guide them in a discussion. (Guide the students to understand that Big Bill Haywood was the main organizer of the IWW. IWW stood for Industrial Workers of the World. They sought freedom of speech in order to let people know what went on in the factories and things could change. They wanted shorter hours, better pay, and safer conditions. In that time, a worker could not sue his employer and the owners of the companies had enough money to influence control the police and the courts. Workers needed to be kept in their place. They not only were uneducated, but should be grateful for all America has to offer. When the Massachusetts State Legislature lowered the women and children’s weekly hours to fifty-four, the bosses increased the speed of the machines in order to increase production and took two hours of pay from their paychecks. This increase in speed made the work even more dangerous. The women and children went on strike. The children were encouraged to go to sympathetic families outside of town. As they gathered at the railroad station, the Lawrence police appeared and started beating them. This called for a congressional hearing and the news stories informed the world of the conditions under which women and children worked. The mill owners finally agreed to a raise in wages, overtime pay, and to rehire the strikers.)

5. The teacher will tell the students that they are about to watch another segment from Freedom: A History of US, Webisode 10, Yearning to Breathe Free. Explain that this segment is entirely on child labor. Provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking them to answer the following questions: • What is the name of the woman who fought for children’s rights? • At the cotton mill in Alabama, what injuries happened to young children? • Why was Mother Jones arrested? • What is written on the signs the children carried? • When asked who gave her the right to speak, what was Mother Jones’ answer? Insert Webisode 10, Yearning to Breathe Free. START the film after the initial part on the Statue of Liberty where the Statue of Liberty has fire works going off. Continue the segment to “America the Beautiful” and stop. This segment is approximately four minutes.

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Students will answer the questions and the teacher will guide them in a discussion. (Guide the students to identify Maria Harris Jones. Discuss the conditions of the children at work. This was 1903 and employers hired very young children. Very often in the cotton mills, they could lose a finger or a hand. Mother Jones continued to champion the children and was arrested for being a public nuisance. The children marched with signs that said, “We want to go to school”. When asked who gave her the right to speak, she said, “Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.” Explain to the children that although laws had been passed after 1903 to make the working age for children sixteen, many employers, priests, family members, and officials ignored them in order to keep cheap labor for industry and money coming into the family. Remind them of the excerpt from The Jungle. The family felt as if they had no choice.) CULMINATING ACTIVITIES: 1. Inform the students that the next activity will involve researching child labor practices in the U.S. and around the world, protests, and efforts to change child labor abuse. Many families feel that they have no choice when it comes to having their children work. Survival is at the top of the list. This not only exists in other countries, but still exists in the U.S. today. Provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking them to fulfill the individual assignments with their Web sites. The teacher will hand out the group assignments and explain the purpose of each group. (Attachment 5)

2. While students are taking turns on the computer, the groups will collaborate on scripts designed around a written monologue from a child who is a laborer. These written assignments are detailed in the attachment. The students will present their character to the class. (Attachment 6)

3. The students take turns going to the computer for the research. They will utilize the assigned Web sites. The students will create a word processing page as the first step. They will then minimize it and go to their designated Web site. They will cut and paste necessary information from the site by first highlighting it and then going to Edit, Copy. At that point, minimize the Web site and bring back up the word processing page. Go to Edit, Paste and the highlighted material will paste into place. Continue this process until the students have the needed information and then print out a copy.

4. Assessment of this lesson can be a quiz from the video questions, the paper written on the child laborer, and the presentations. Encourage students to go to the Freedom: A History of US Web site in order to review the scripts from Webisodes 9 and 10. This can be used in development of their script and review for a quiz. They should also utilize the additional resources segment for more detailed information. Tell the students to explore the Web site for other Webisodes of American history in which they are interested. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/index.html CROSS-CURRICULAR EXTENSIONS: ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS: • Have the students read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Compare these books to the film clips and the history of labor in the United States. MATHEMATICS: • Research the economy at the turn of the Twentieth Century. How much was the average salary of a wage earner? What was the average salary of a farm laborer? If a family of four (father, mother, and two children over the age of ten) were all working, what would their income be? TECHNOLOGY/SOCIAL STUDIES: • Research the tycoons of this industrial period. How much did they earn? Find examples of their “American Castles”. How did these tycoons use the new immigrant population? VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS: • Research artists involved in the labor movement such as Ben Shahn, an artist that fought for labor rights during the Great Depression. How was poster art used to educate the people about labor reform?

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COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: • Have a union leader visit the classroom and give a talk on the history of unions and what impact unions have on industry today. • Visit local museums to view the manner in which people lived during this time period. • Start a local group that works to prevent child labor. • Have students find the businesses in their area that will hire teenagers and investigate the current labor practices. STUDENT MATERIALS: See attached. Student Materials include: • Child Laborers – Why? ( Attachment 1) • Excerpt from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (Attachment 2) • Video Questions (Attachment 3) • Activity sheets for research (Attachment 4) • Writing assignment – You are a Child Laborer (Attachment 5)

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Attachment 1 CHILD LABORERS – WHY?

Group of oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All but the very smallest babies work. Began work at 3:30am expected to work until 5 P.M. The little girl in the center working, her mother said she is a real help to me. About 300 workers. Dunbar, La. March 2, 1911.

Photo by Lewis W. Hine. National Archives Photo NWDNS-102-LH-2050

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Attachment 2

Excerpt from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

“…Meanwhile Teta Elzbieta had taken Stanislovas to the priest and gotten a certificate to the effect that he was two years older than he was, and with it the little boy now sallied forth to make his fortune in the world… …And so little Stanislovas had stood gazing timidly about him for a few minutes, a man approached him, and asked what he wanted, to which Stanislovas said, ‘Job.’ Then the man said ‘How old?’ and Stanislovas answered, ‘Sixtin.’ Once or twice every year a state inspector would come wandering through the packing plants, asking a child here and there how old he was; and so the packers were very careful to comply with the law, which cost them as much trouble as was now involved in the boss’s taking the document from the little boy, and glancing at it, and then sending it to the office to be filed away. Then he set someone else at a different job, and showed the lad how to place a lard can every time the empty arm of the remorseless machine came to him; and so was decided the place in the universe of little Stanislovas, and his destiny till the end of his days. Hour after hour, day after day, year after year, it was fated that he should stand upon a certain square foot of floor from seven in the morning until noon, and again from half-past twelve till half-past five, making never a motion and thinking never a thought save for the setting of lard cans. In summer the stench of the warm lard would be nauseating, and in winter the cans would all but freeze to his naked, little fingers in the unheated cellar. Half the year it would be dark as night when he went in to work, and dark as night again when he came out, and so he would never know what the sun liked like on weekdays. And for this, at the end of the week, he would carry home three dollars to his family, being his pay at the rate of about five cents per hour – just about his proper share of the total earnings of the million and three-quarters of children who are now engaged in earning their livings in the United States…”

Sinclair, U., The Jungle, 1905, New American Library, New York, New York., pages 75-76.

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Attachment 3 VIDEO Questions First Segment 1. What was this industrial age called?

2. What complaint did the workers have against their jobs?

3. What happened if a worker complained?

Second Segment 1. Who called “working men to arms?”

2. What happened to Spies and three of his organizers?

Third Segment 1. Who was the main organizer of IWW?

2. What does IWW stand for?

3. When IWW workers sought to speak in public, what happened to them?

4. What were they asking for?

5. When the Massachusetts State Legislature changed the women and children’s working day from fifty-six to fifty-four hours, what did the factory owners do?

6. What act led to a Congressional hearing on factory conditions?

7. The mill owners finally agreed to what new conditions for the women and children?

Fourth Segment 1. What is the name of the woman who fought for children’s rights?

2. At the cotton mill in Alabama, what injuries happened to young children?

3. Why was Mother Jones arrested?

4. What is written on the signs the children carried?

5. When asked who gave her the right to speak, what was Mother Jones’ answer?

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Attachment 4

Group Activity Sheet 1

Research What is child labor?

Images of Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/childlabor.html#us This Web site answers many questions about child labor: what is a child?; what is child labor?; where child labor exists?; does child labor exist in the United States?; etc. Make a chart outlining the characteristics of child labor.

Print the script for Webisode 9 and 10 as background information for review. Freedom: A History of US. Home PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web09/segment6.html http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web10/segment2.html

Group Activity Sheet 2

Research: Does child labor exist in the United States?

Images of Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/childlabor.html#us This Web site answers many questions about child labor: what is a child, what is child labor, where child labor exists, does child labor exist in the United States, etch. Make a poster collage of child labor in the United States. Include the state and industry in which the children work.

Group Activity Sheet 3

Research: Who are child laborers and where in the world do they live?

Images of Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/childlabor.html#us This Web site answers many questions about child labor: what is a child, what is child labor, where child labor exists, does child labor exist in the United States, etch. Define child laborers around the world and make a circle graph for illustration and presentation to the class.

Print the script for Webisode 9 and 10 as background information. Freedom: A History of US. Home PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web09/segment6.html http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web10/segment2.html

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Attachment 4 (continued)

Group Activity Sheet 4

Research The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/index.html This Web site includes investigative child labor photos by Lewis Hines. Go to “20th Century Topics” Child Labor in America 1908 to 1912 Print pictures of labor and make a poster board screen for each occupation. The poster board should be cut into three lengthwise strips, covered front and back with photos and hung freely swinging from the ceiling similar to a window screen. Include typed information about the year, age of laborers, and occupation.

Group Activity Sheet 5 Ben Shahn at Harvard An Exhibition of Protest http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/Shahn/exhibitiontour/artistsprotest.html This Web site offers the social protest art work of Ben Shahn during the Great Depression.

Social protest did not die in the early 1900’s. It continued throughout the Great Depression and beyond. Give a brief history of Ben Shahn, a son and grandson of men that survived the turn of the century labor movements and came into his own as a labor movement force through his art. Down load images of his work and form into a poster titled “An Artist’s View of the Labor Movement During the Great Depression”.

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Attachment 4 (continued)

Group Activity Sheet 6

Research U.S. Department of Labor Bureau on International Affairs http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat5/toc.htm This Web site explores international views of child labor, the laws, and steps being taken to limit child labor to acceptable practices.

Define the international definition of child labor. Make a poster of the acceptable areas of child labor with this definition. The children should make digital photos of themselves performing these acceptable areas of labor and form a border to the poster from these photos.

Group Activity Sheet 7

Investigate this Web site and list concerns about becoming involved in helping children caught in child labor. Outline a plan that provides an opportunity for your school to make a difference. Debate the pros and cons with the other students in the class about becoming involved.

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Attachment 5

Written Assignment Children are the victims of economy. Include the following information and write a monologue characterizing his/her participation. Use creative license to include personal thoughts, fears, and hopes about the outcome of going to work as a child. 1. What is the person’s occupation? 2. Give pertinent facts about his/her background, education, and family life. 3. What was the outcome for this individual?

Further exploration of U.S. History Encourage the students to explore the numerous film clips from the series, Freedom: A History of US http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/index.html They will be more interested in history if they have a hand in the chosen Internet lessons provided by PBS, LPB, NTTI, and Johns Hopkins University. Quizzes, pictures, links to additional information,and much more are available on this Web site.

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