Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2017 i Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and Children

“There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work.”—Lewis W. Hine, 1908 Photographs can communicate in many ways. They record details that are hard to describe. They freeze in time fleeting moments and moods. They capture shocking situations and conditions. The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) recognized the value of a photograph. Founded in 1904, the NCLC’s mission was to promote “the rights, awareness, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working.” Its reform-minded members made eliminating the evils and dangers of child labor its primary goal. To accomplish that objective, the NCLC hired investigators to find examples…

Generally speaking (and not including agricultural jobs or jobs in which children work for their parents), U.S. federal law says that a child must be 14 years old to work in nonhazardous jobs. A child under 16 years old is not allowed to work during school hours. When school is in session, a child employee can only work 18 hours per week, 3 hours per day. When school is out of session, a child employee can work 40 hours a week, 8 hours per day. In the summer, the workday cannot start before 7:00 a.m., and it must end by 9:00 p.m.…

The use of young children to complete dangerous jobs remains an issue for the international community. Here’s a look at some of the major industries around the world today in which children work long hours under harsh conditions for a low wage. Mining Mining poses many serious risks, especially for young children. In stone quarries, children are exposed to explosives, flying debris, and rock dust that can cause breathing problems. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, children are often used to mine cobalt, a mineral used in smart phones and tablets. Some of the worst working conditions exist in gold mines throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. Many small mines operate without any safety standards. In the Philippines, thousands of children descend deep underground or dive underwater in pits that…

Child labor often brings to mind terrible conditions for poor wages, but this month’s mystery hero’s story was different. She was—and still is, to some degree—the most famous child star of all time. She lived a life of wealth and fame, but she also grew up with a sense of patriotism and became a public official. Born in California in 1928, our hero was the youngest of three children. Our hero’s mother loved to dance, so she enrolled her three-year-old daughter in a Los Angeles dance studio. Dancing came naturally to our young hero, and she easily learned steps and routines. Two Hollywood producers saw her perform and immediately cast her as the star in a series of short films called Baby Burlesks. Her salary was $10 a day. In…

Must work 10–14 hours a day Must work 6 days a week (most Sundays off) Must be at least 5 years old Conditions Are Dangerous! Be prepared for: • poor air quality • maimed or lost body parts from machinery accident • weakened eyesight from poorly lit sweatshop • bad back or joints from sitting or standing all day • general fatigue resulting from working all day If injury occurs, job will be terminated Also must be willing to lie to inspectors about age and reason for working Apply Within We hire children because they are small, are easier to control, and can be paid less FAST FACT Today, individuals must be at least 14 years old to work. To work in dangerous occupations, a person must be at least 18 years old.…

Imagine that instead of going to school 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months a year, you went to work 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, 12 months a year. In the late 1800s, some reformers grew concerned about the negative impact that working under such conditions had on working-class and poor children. Those children did not go to school, and they did not have much time to play. Reformers brought the issue of how children were exploited to the government’s attention. They also rolled up their sleeves and made change happen. In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened one of the first settlement houses in the United States. They found and fixed up a house in a poor, immigrant neighborhood in Chicago.…

Kid Blink, a teenage boy small for his age and blind in one eye, buttoned his shirt and brushed back his hair as he took the stage. Five thousand newsboys inside and outside New Irving Hall in lower Manhattan roared in approval. Kid raised his hands, a signal for silence. He said, “You know me, boys!” “You bet we do,” they responded. “What we want is to stick together like glue. Am I right?” “Yes, yes!” replied the crowd. He scratched his head and said, “Ain’t that 10 cents worth as much to us as it is to Hearst and Pulitzer, who are millionaires? If they can’t spare it, how can we?” “Soak ’em, Kid!” “Soak nothing. I’m trying to figure it out, how 10 cents on 100 papers can…

The first federal labor activities dealt with data gathering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics began in 1884 as part of the Department of the Interior. In 1903, labor functions moved into a newly formed Department of Commerce and Labor, whose head was part of the president’s Cabinet. Labor leaders saw a built-in conflict between big business and workers. In 1913, the Department of Labor became a separate Cabinet-level department. Over the next hundred years, the department’s responsibilities grew to have more than 17,000 employees. Today, it administers laws dealing with wages and work hours, workplace safety, equal opportunities and protection against discrimination, family leave, pensions, job security, accommodations for people with disabilities, and more.…

We recommend a school field trip to the Tsongas Industrial History Center and Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. The site is a partnership between the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Lowell National Historical Park. The center offers a hands-on, minds-on approach to learning about the Industrial Revolution. Students can weave at a loom, work on an assembly line, or build canal systems. The Colonel liked the role-playing activities, where kids pretend to be immigrants. I enjoyed performing water quality tests on the Merrimack River to find out if it is healthy—it is! The squirrels read that the center hosts summer camps. They would like to take a boat ride through one of Lowell’s canal locks! Learn more about Lowell National Historical Park at www.nps.gov/lowe and the Tsongas Industrial…

A creature that fits the description of always working but never playing is the honeybee. Large swarms of honeybees are needed to keep a hive thriving and healthy. In addition to a single queen bee, an average colony might contain several thousand drone bees and tens of thousands worker bees. There’s always something to do to keep the colony healthy. Jobs include caring for the larvae, cleaning the hive, building cells, finding nectar and pollen and bringing it back to the hive, guarding the hive, making honey, and monitoring the temperature of the hive. Even the queen keeps busy reproducing so that the hive always has enough workers. And all that activity pays off for humans. The busy bees provide an invaluable service cross-pollinating as they fly among crops and…

Jacob Riis was one of the many urban reformers who helped to expose the awful conditions endured by children. Riis was 21 years old when he immigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1870. He initially found work as a carpenter, but he also experienced times of poverty and hunger when he was unemployed. He became famous as a writer and a lecturer. His writing and his photographs of conditions he saw in New York City were published in a best-selling book, How the Other Half Lives in 1890, followed by Children of the Poor in 1892. After reading How the Other Half Lives, future U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, at that time New York’s police commissioner, introduced himself to Riis. The two men became good friends. Riis was determined…

By 1910, about 2 million children under the age of 15 worked in industry, according to National Archives and Records Administration data. Some states had started passing child labor laws in the 19th century. Yet other states still allowed children to toil in textile mills, factories, and mines for 60 or more hours per week. Laws also had loopholes. Some laws accepted a parent’s word about a child’s age, so many poor parents lied. Other laws only punished “knowing” violations. Employers often found ways to claim that they didn’t know the true ages of their young workers. School attendance laws were likewise not strictly enforced. A 1907 Alabama law said children aged 12 to 16 years must attend school for at least eight weeks per year. But school certificates weren’t…

We’re looking for a funny caption for this photo. Send your idea, name, and address to: Just for Fun, COBBLESTONE, Cricket Media, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601, or email it to cobblestone@cricketmedia.com . Include a note from a parent or legal guardian clearly stating: “This is my child’s original work, and COBBLESTONE has permission to publish it with my child’s name, age, and hometown, in print and online.” If your caption is chosen, we’ll mail you a copy of the issue in which it appears.…