American Industrialization

Image Analysis
Cassandra Leto

For this assignment, I chose to write about the photo under the category of Workers &
Working Conditions. It is image 3 of the 28. I chose this picture due to the fact that I have always
had an interest in how young children would have to work back in the days. The working world
back in the 1900s is completely different than it is now. There are more jobs available now, and
you have to be a certain age to get a job in todays world. However, this wasnt the case back in
the day. I chose this picture because when I think about how young children had to work, I
become grateful for the time in which I grew up in. I got to have a childhood where I got to go to
school and play with my friends rather than having to work as soon as I could hold a tool.
After viewing this photo, one inference that I made about this photo was the fact that
young children would have to work outside with their parents, specifically out on the farms, as
young as the age 6. Back in the day, children didnt get to finish school or have play time like the
children in our generation now does. Children would be assigned to work as soon as they were
old enough and capable of doing the labor. This picture shows children working on various steps
in the garment making process. These children will also care for even younger children, prepare
means and even take care of daily chores in their home. They would have to act as an adult rather
than have a childhood. This happened in order to provide for their families, make sure they had
the best living situation possible.
When I started examining this photo, the one question that popped into my head was the
idea of how many jobs were available with every family member working. The Eastern Illinois
University wrote about the topic Childhood Lost: Child Labor during the Industrial Revolution.
This caused the existing industries to vanish and new opportunities developed. These new
opportunities include: petroleum refining, steel manufacturing and even electrical power. The use
of railroads even began. Families were so excited when they heard about this new life that they

would be living in. However this wasnt the case. Families relocated to the cities for all the new
work that begun and became disappointed when what they heard about the jobs turned out to be
a lie. The new jobs required very long hours and very little pay. It was still the case that every
single family member needed to work to simply keep the family above poverty level. This
included the young children as well as the adults.
The Eastern Illinois University continues to explain the working conditions for the
children. They would have 10 to 14 hour days with very minimal breaks. Jobs were dangerous.
Some jobs were extremely dangerous, leading to very serious illnesses or even deaths.
Machinery would often catch the childrens little arms and legs. Other than equipment, the
environment wasnt the safest for the children as well. There would be very dangerous fumes and
toxins that were inhaled by children that also lead to illness and deaths. Other than factories,
children would have to work in rural areas as well. They would be working in extreme weather
conditions for long hours, carrying heavy items. Farm work wasnt considered as dangerous as
factory work but children would still handle dangerous tools and sometimes hurt themselves.
Also talked about in the Eastern Illinois University document, it talked about how
children had no other choice but to work long hours which led them to not being able to attend
school. In order for most families to survive, the relied on the income earned by each family
member and did not allow children to have the time to do homework, or let alone actually go to
school. There were some cases were children would be fortunate enough to be enrolled to a
school. Some were able to attend a couple days a week, or even a couple partial days, or only a
few weeks at a time.

Throughout the reading, it states Some observers saw the city as a place where corporate
greed undermined traditional American values. At a time when more than 2 million children
under the age of fifteen worked for wages. Due to the living situation back in the day, there was
no other way around children not working. Children would work for a wage that would
contribute to their family and help support their family. Their wages wouldnt go to them like
they do now when people work. They didnt get to choose where their money went to. They
didnt have choices when it came to anything that had to do with where they worked either. The
American Industrial Revolution is where products were generally crafted by hand, to machineaided production in factories. This transformed the daily lives of Americans more than any other
history event. Even after this change, children would still have to work in able to help their
families. However, this picture shows the children working in their homes and not out in a
factory. This could be because the children in this photo are still too young to go and do hard
labor. Rather, they stay home and have to do work there. They have to help their mothers out.
They made clothes, prepared food, cared for others in the home, and cleaned. Children would
start work as soon as the sun came up and would be working until sunset. This is how life was
back in the 1900s. (Foner 546)
In order to stop child labor, things had to change. New laws had to be created to help
reframe from young children having to work in these harsh conditions. These laws needed to
enforce a minimum working age which would prohibit dangerous hobs and conditions. There
would need to be a law stating a maximum amount of hours that children could work. Luckily
for us, we have all of these laws today. It took several years, with many attempts by congress to
pass national laws designed to improve working conditions and regulations relative to children in
the workplace.

References
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History (Brief Fourth Edition) (Vol. One Volume),
4th Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 20140205. VitalBook file.
"Eastern Illinois University Homepage." Childhood Lost. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.