I Just Can't Imagine This...

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Back in the 1830s in the USA, about one half of all textile workers were younger than 10 years old. They earned about 12 Cents a day for working 10 -12 hours a day. I just can’t imagine this. Yes, with the onset of industrialism in the late 1700s, child labor became a large part of the workforce. Many young children, male and female, were employed in the coal mines and factories working long hours in dangerous and dirty conditions for very little pay. Reforms began to be passed following public anger aroused by newspaper articles that exposed this terrible situation, that robbed thousands of children of their health and schooling. It was President Franklin Roosevelt who introduced the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibiting employers from hiring workers under 16 years of age. I read that boys as young as five worked in the coal mines carrying heavy bags of coal on their backs for 12 hours a day. And young girls worked in the cotton mills in very dangerous conditions. And this went on for almost 200 years. It’s difficult to believe.