The Industrial Revolution
The Life of a Factory Worker
1860 - 1900
What is the Industrial Revolution?
• NEED FOR
WORKERS
• SCIENTISTS
WITH NEW
IDEAS
•
ENTREPRENEURS
WHO WANT TO
INVEST $$$
• FACTORIES
ARE CREATED
• EXPLOSION OF NEW
INVENTIONS AND
INDUSTRY
Who were the
workers?
•Men
•Women
•Children
Work Conditions
•Dark
•Cramped
•Long Hours (12-18
hour days)
•Piecework = paid by
what you made
•Little pay
•Dangerous
•Exhausting work
•Boring
•No ventilation
•Loud noise
Rules
-Ruled by
the Clock
-Viewed as
machines
-Discipline
was strict
Docked
Pay if…
-Come late
-Talking
-Missing
Sunday shifts
-Taking too
long in the
restroom
Families
Ill, death, no
job children
step in
No one person
earned enough to
survive
No welfare
Children left school to
work (as young as 6)
Children
-Made up 5% of
workforce
-Child Labor Laws
were ignored
-Wages brought
dinner to the family
-Stunted their
bodies and minds
The Mill
Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to
the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back the
empty bobbins.
Premature death, lack of education, physical punishment
were all vices children faced.
Newsies
Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young
boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years
old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older.
Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy. This boy has just recovered
from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a
big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pa.
Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He jumps on and off
moving trolley cars at the risk of his life. St. Louis, Mo.
Miners
•Thick Dust
•Get into lungs
•Overseer kicks them to
get them to work
Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
daily
The factory
Cigar
Makers
Oyster
Shuckers
Oyster shuckers working
in a canning factory. All
but the very smallest
babies work. Began work
at 3:30 a.m. and
expected to work until 5
p.m.
A boy carrying
hats in New York
City.
Bowling Alley boys.
Many of them work
setting pins until past
midnight. New Haven,
Conn.
Children hired in violation of child
labor laws were helped to hide in
large boxes of cloth on the rare
occasion when inspectors arrived.
The Great Strikes
Ways Workers Revolted
• Industrial/trade
Unions: provide help
for workers
(wages/conditions)
• Strikes: won’t work
until needs are met
• Socialism/Marxism?
Reaction of Employers
• Feared and disliked
unions
• Sign oaths/contracts
• Detectives
• Fired union members
• Blacklist
• Lockouts
• Hired scabs