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Child Labor in Greater Boston

ebook

From its earliest days, Boston decreed that its children be taught to read and write English and understand the laws. In 1826, free and compulsory education was introduced. The wish to educate the young conflicted with the great need for unskilled labor in the fields and factories. With adult wages low, schoolchildren helped their families by selling newspapers, shining shoes, hawking goods, or scavenging. On reaching 14 years of age, many children left school to find full-time work. Fearing that these children would end up in low-paying, dead-end jobs, Boston Public Schools added trade schools to teach craft skills—carpentry, printing, and metalwork for boys; dressmaking, cooking, and embroidery for girls. The national struggle to ban child labor began in the mid-19th century and ended with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This book describes the efforts in Boston and surrounding towns to keep children in school, at least until age 16, before permitting them to start work. The bulk of the images included were taken by Lewis Wickes Hine during his several visits to Boston between 1909 and 1917.


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Series: Images of America Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Kindle Book

  • Release date: November 21, 2014

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781439644829
  • File size: 69987 KB
  • Release date: November 21, 2014

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781439644829
  • File size: 69987 KB
  • Release date: November 21, 2014

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

History Nonfiction

Languages

English

From its earliest days, Boston decreed that its children be taught to read and write English and understand the laws. In 1826, free and compulsory education was introduced. The wish to educate the young conflicted with the great need for unskilled labor in the fields and factories. With adult wages low, schoolchildren helped their families by selling newspapers, shining shoes, hawking goods, or scavenging. On reaching 14 years of age, many children left school to find full-time work. Fearing that these children would end up in low-paying, dead-end jobs, Boston Public Schools added trade schools to teach craft skills—carpentry, printing, and metalwork for boys; dressmaking, cooking, and embroidery for girls. The national struggle to ban child labor began in the mid-19th century and ended with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This book describes the efforts in Boston and surrounding towns to keep children in school, at least until age 16, before permitting them to start work. The bulk of the images included were taken by Lewis Wickes Hine during his several visits to Boston between 1909 and 1917.


Expand title description text
OverDrive service is made possible by NOBLE member libraries and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.