https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij en-us 2019-02-15 18:22:43 UTC 2023-03-28 05:04:46 UTC hello@padlet.com 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332470112 https://thebreakerboysbrianeicher.weebly.com/the-work-of-a-breaker-boy.html]]> 2019-02-18 21:50:58 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332470112 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526679 According to the book "Growing Up In Coal Country," a breaker boy's work day "began before dawn." A whistle would be blown, alerting all breaker boys in the area to rise from their sleep and get ready for the day ahead of them. The breaker boys worked in the coal breaker, described as a "tall gloomy structure where coal was broken and sorted." They would be hunched at their station for most of their work day, sorting through the piles of coal as the black dust accumulated in the air above them.  Their boss would circle around the underage workers, on the watch for those who weren't working as hard as they were supposed to be working holding a broom, or a stick, ready to hit the offender. ]]> 2019-02-19 03:09:18 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526679 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526829 One major problem for Breaker Boys was as mentioned previously, their boss. In some cases, if the boys protested their work, the bosses, and even sometimes their fathers, would whip them to get back to work. Another issue would be a condition dubbed "red tips." For the first few weeks of new coal breakers, the sulfur residue would "irritate the boys' skin and caused their fingers to swell, crack open, and bleed." This happened until their fingers hardened, making the first few weeks the most miserable, as there wasn't a well known alternative to stop it from occurring at least once. ]]> 2019-02-19 03:10:07 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526829 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526918 In the breaker, it wasn't uncommon for a breaker boy to accidentally get a finger or two cut off in the conveyor, some of the small boys even falling in the chutes, being smothered in coal. One case involved an ecstatic boy in a hurry to play with the others entangling himself in the running breaker. There was even a story of a boy who had fallen into a crusher, crushing him with the rest of the coal.]]> 2019-02-19 03:10:39 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332526918 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332527045 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVQBtrLXog]]> 2019-02-19 03:11:30 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332527045 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332527216 After the industrial boom, factories and companies overseeing mines were searching for cheap workers to work long and back breaking hours.  To combat this, these places would hire children as young as six to work for little to no pay. This, in turn, lead to many children going to their job instead of school, with no time after work to spare for learning. This lead to the illiterate youth growing up into illiterate adults, who were only good for labor in factories and the like. The issue of factories needing cheap labor impacted children's lives at that time, inevitably taking away their time for learning, directly effecting their future]]> 2019-02-19 03:12:21 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332527216 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332528140 This situation had created a nation with many illiterate adults, which had lead to a law that lasts to even this day, making it so by law, every child is required to go to school. This has also caused the law to prohibit many minors from working, most jobs only hiring 2-1 years before a minor is considered an adult. ]]> 2019-02-19 03:18:08 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332528140 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332545597 2019-02-19 05:00:55 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332545597 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332548976 2019-02-19 05:27:01 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332548976 728762 https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332549771 2019-02-19 05:33:37 UTC https://padlet.com/728762/8pkwbnpei7ij/wish/332549771