Jeff Mandel
5-4-09
Primary Document Lesson Plan
Title: How should the problems of child labor conditions have been approached by Congress during
the Progressive Era?
Grade Level: 11
Class Periods Required: One 90 minute block
Purpose and Background:
It is often times difficult for students to imagine what life was like for children their age or younger
who lived in previous centuries. The fact is that many children up until the 1920s and 1930s were
forced to work under the most horrendous conditions at a very young age. Exposing students to
primary documents that show visual and literal representations of child labor enhances their overall
understanding of the Progressive Era. It’s important that students understand what motivated
reformers to speak out against child labor and how the government reacted the way they did. Even
more essential is the relationship between government and business as both tried to weigh moral
character with certain pieces of legislation and business practices. Many child labor issues went
unresolved during the Progressive Era due to the lack of motivation of local and national legislators.
This lesson gives students a better understanding of child labor conditions during the Progressive Era
and allows them to play the role of legislator in an attempt to solve the child labor issues that existed
during that time period.
Goals/Objectives:
Students will:
Analyze primary documents describing child labor conditions during the Progressive Era taken
from factory inspections made by Florence Kelley in Chicago during the 1890s;
Analyze photos taken by Lewis Hine of children working in factories during the Progressive
Era;
Create pieces of legislation aimed at improving or eliminating working conditions for children;
Discuss which methods would be best or most effective for approaching child labor issues
during the Progressive Era.
Materials:
Excerpts taken from Florence Kelley’s reports on child labor in Chicago;
Photos of child labor conditions taken by Lewis Hine.
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Procedures:
Day 1:
Students will be introduced to the Progressive Era by creating a web diagram around the term
“Progressive Era.” Based on information from their book and previous knowledge the class will
discuss what the Progressive Era meant to reformers, the government, and regular everyday citizens.
The class will discuss the conditions that motivated reformers to make changes in housing, education,
and the workplace. Then the class will discuss the role that government had during the Progressive Era
and how many people in government felt that it was the character of people that caused them to live in
poverty whereas reformers believed that it was the environment around these people that caused them
to be members of such an impoverished society. The class will be introduced to famous reformers
such as Florence Kelley and Jane Addams who stood up to big business and government at a time
when business moguls were creating monopolies of major industries. For homework students will
analyze charts from Florence Kelley’s factory reports in order to get an understanding of how many
children worked throughout the U.S. and Illinois and what industries they worked in.
Day 2:
Procedure 1: 30 minutes
Students will be broken up into groups of 3-4 students per group. Each group will be given two sets of
primary documents. The first set of documents will contain excerpts from factory reports taken from
Florence Kelley’s factory inspections in Chicago during the 1890s. Students will read these
documents and write down the injustices in the child labor industry that they read about. The groups
will also receive visuals of children working in factories during the Progressive Era that were taken by
Lewis Hine. Students will analyze these documents and fill out an Observation/Inference chart. On
the chart students will write down observations of what they see in the documents and inferences that
can be made about child labor based on the documents.
Procedure 2: 40 minutes
Once students have analyzed all of the primary documents each group will create a piece of legislation
aimed at improving or eliminating working conditions for children. In their pieces of legislation
students will have to answer the following questions: What are the problems being addressed in the
legislation? Why do these problems need to be addressed by Congress? How will these problems be
addressed (what measures are involved)? What will be the benefits of this legislation? How will these
measures be enforced and who will enforce them? Once students have answered all the questions they
will put their answers onto a document which will represent their legislation for child labor.
Procedure 3: 20 minutes
After students have finished creating their pieces of legislation each group will read their legislation to
the rest of the class. Once each group has read their legislation the class will have a discussion over
what the best methods of approaching these labor issues were during the Progressive Era. For
homework students will be asked to use their book and the internet to research the child labor laws that
Congress finally came up with. At the start of the next day the class will discuss the effectiveness of
the labor laws created by Congress during and after the Progressive Era.
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Assessment of Outcomes:
Students will:
Create pieces of legislation addressing the issues of child labor during the Progressive Era
based on conclusions drawn from primary documents;
Take a comprehensive multiple-choice exam covering the Progressive Era that will include
questions about the child labor movement.
Extensions and Adaptations:
Have students pretend that they are factory inspectors and have them create their own factory
reports concerning child labor;
Have students create posters that would be used during a march against child labor during the
Progressive Era;
Have students write journals pretending they are children working in factories during the
Progressive Era.
Resources:
Excerpts taken from The Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of Illinois, 1894. Excerpts found at:
http://florencekelley.northwestern.edu/archives/factory/
Florence Kelley, “Filthy Shops and Injurious Employments,” First Annual Report of the Factory
Inspectors of Illinois (Springfield, Illinois: H.W. Rokker, 1894), pp. 10-13.
Florence Kelley, “Florence Kelley’s Testimony on the Sweating System,” Report and Findings of the
Joint Committee to Investigate the “Sweat Shop” System (Springfield, Illinois: H.W. Rokker, 1893),
pp. 135-39.
Florence Kelley, “Recommendations: Child Labor,” Fourth Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of
Illinois, (Springfield: Phillips Brothers, 1896), pp. 7-9.
Kathyryn Sklar, Florence Kelley and the Nation’s Work: The Rise of Women’s Political Culture, 18301900.
Lewis Hine photos taken from: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/index.html.
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Name____________________________
Primary Document Analysis
Document #1: Florence Kelley, “Filthy Shops and Injurious Employments,” First Annual
Report of the Factory Inspectors of Illinois (Springfield, Illinois: H.W. Rokker, 1894), pp. 1013.
What is the main idea of this document?
What were the injustices made towards child labor stated by Florence Kelley in this
document?
Document #2: Florence Kelley, “Florence Kelley’s Testimony on the Sweating System,”
Report and Findings of the Joint Committee to Investigate the “Sweat Shop” System
(Springfield, Illinois: H.W. Rokker, 1893), pp. 135-39.
What is the main idea of this document?
What were the injustices made towards child labor stated by Florence Kelley in this
document?
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Visual #1
Observations
Inferences
Observations
Inferences
Visual #2
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Visual #3
Observations
Inferences
Observations
Inferences
Visual #4
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Visual #5
Observations
Inferences
Observations
Inferences
Visual #6
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Child Labor Legislation for America During the Progressive Era
Created By:_________________________________
Article 1: What are the problems being addressed in this legislation?
Article 2: Why do these problems need to be addressed by Congress?
Article 3: How will these problems be addressed (what measures/solutions are involved,
this should be the largest part of your legislation)? Include at least 5 measures.
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Article 4: What will be the benefits of this legislation?
Article 5: How will these measures be enforced and who will enforce them?
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Child Labor Photos
Taken by Lewis Hine: 1908-1912
Website: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/index.html
Visual #1
Furman Owens, 12 years old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't
when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, S.C.
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Visual #2
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. Bibb Mill No. 1. Macon, Ga.
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Visual #3
One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year.
Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated,
then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the
same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, N.C.
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Visual #4
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. Washington, D.C.
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Visual #5
View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pa. Coal Co. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view.
This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs.
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Visual #6
A young driver in the Brown mine. Has been driving one year. Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Brown
W. Va.
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