7.3 Progressive World's Fair by Geovana Oyarzabal

Lewis Hine Newspaper Photo

128515_2 — 2024-02-14 21:15:48 UTC

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profits only to employers. The objects of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work." Lewis Hine

This image advocates for the reforms of child labor in the early 20th century. The image showcases two girls working long hours in factories without and safety equipment. Lewis Hine highlights the lack of wealth in the IS as many children are forced to work at a young age to compensate for the rise in costs. Furthermore, he says the quote to emphasize that factories hired children in order to scam them of work to pay is significantly less than those of adults. Children are losing a fundamental part of their life when working all day and night during their childhood, instead of going to school and learning to get more professional jobs

5 Questions

128515_2 — 2024-02-14 21:22:08 UTC

Factual Questions:

What type of organizations fought for labor reform
When was the Keating Owen Act?

Inference Questions:

Explain the significance of the verdict of the Muller v. Oregon case and how it affected women.
Why did Lewis Hine quit his job to join to join the AFL? Name another person who share similar ideals.

Skill Based Question:

Evaluate the extent in which their was continuity and change in child labor from the 1890s to 1930s?

Influential People in Labor Reform

2024-02-15 06:04:56 UTC

Curt Muller

Oregon imposed a law that prohibited businesses from making female employees work shifts of longer than 10 hours. The owner of a laundry business, Curt Muller, was fined $10 when he violated the law. Despite the small penalty, Muller appealed the conviction. The state supreme court upheld the law's constitutionality

Jane Addams

Prominent progressive reformer, part of the board of the National Childe Labor Committee. She also cofounded and led Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in North America. Hull House provided child care, practical and cultural training and education, and other services to the largely immigrant population of its Chicago neighborhood.

Lewis Hines

He was a photographer and took images of child labor. Hine's images of working children stirred America's conscience and helped change the nation's labor laws. Through his exercise of free speech and freedom of the press, Lewis Hine made a difference in the lives of American workers and, most importantly, American children.

Keating Owens Act

123560_6 — 2024-02-15 06:11:24 UTC

The Keating-Owens Act "limited hours the working hours of children and forbade the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor." After a census revealed that about 2 million children were working across the United States, this act was put in place but quickly overturned by Congress because it interfered with the government's power to regulate interstate commerce. This led to the creation of the second child labor bill, also known as the Child Labor Tax Law, which was also overturned by Congress for the same reason.

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

123560_6 — 2024-02-15 06:21:08 UTC

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, granted federal protection to children from working. Although it was also challenged before the Supreme Court, they upheld the constitutionality of the act, which has been in place and enforced to this day. It took almost 20 years for child labor to be dismantled, and several different acts being created, approved, and overturned by Congress until one (Fair Labor Standards Act) finally got through.

Political Cartoon

2024-02-15 06:42:47 UTC

This Political cartoon demonstrates what most workers during the Progressive era were going through. They would work long hours for little pay and in harsh conditions as well. Workers began fighting back in reforms after this had been going on for years during Americas industrialization.

1892 Homestead Strike

2024-02-15 06:47:02 UTC

The Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania discharged workers from the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers Union. A bloody confrontation ensued between the workers and the hired Pinkerton security guards, ultimately killing 16 people and causing many injuries.

Political Cartoon #2

123560_6 — 2024-02-15 06:58:36 UTC

This political cartoon displays a child employer taking what seems to look like a person the age of a baby and putting them into the workforce. This not only shows the cruelty of child employers, as they don't care about the child, just what they can do, but the mainstream acceptance of the idea that children should be working. Children were forced to work in horrible conditions while they were young, and millions of children had to endure it with no say.

Public Contracts Act of 1936

123560_6 — 2024-02-15 07:05:22 UTC

The Public Contracts Act of 1936 made it so men had to be over the age of 16 and women had to be over the age of 18 to work in firms supplying goods under federal contract. This act made it illegal to use children and underage people for labor, significantly decreasing the percentage of children in the working fields. Not only that, but it led to children being put into education systems while they were young, allow America to develop and not plateau.

Labor Reform Description

123560_6 — 2024-02-15 07:48:52 UTC

Because of increased immigration and their need to work, large factories and companies put these immigrants from all over the world in horrible working conditions for low pay. The Labor Reform in the late 1800s in the United States improved working conditions and rights for laborers that at the time, were not good. Labor unions rose across the country, advocating for better working conditions, shorter workdays, and increased paychecks. Strikes and protests became popular despite opposition from large corporations who wanted to keep power over all the working people. Besides efforts from the people, legislation also played a big role in the reform. The National Labor Union, with the help of other reforms, created an eight-hour workday for federal employees that was passed in 1868. Over 70 years later, in 1939, the Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage and overtime pay ideas, which are still in place today. The Labor Reforms in the late 1800s were the foundation for the good working conditions today, better pay, and safer environments. The ideas fought for back then are still in use today and without the reforms then, the working conditions we now know of, may not have come to fruition.

Primary Source

2024-02-15 20:16:13 UTC

This is an excerpt from a magazine relating to labor reforms. This specific excerpt talks about the labor unions in the textile industry. Labor unions were upset over the conditions they were in. These efforts to stand up for themselves led to the current work conditions we have today.