Life in the Mill City
Optional audio recording of the text on this page.
Life in the Mill City.mp3Vocabulary
Abolition movement: The fight to end slavery and to gain freedom for people of African descent. The people in the movement are referred to as abolitionists.
Free Time!
As a mill worker, you have free time in the evenings, Saturday afternoons, and Sundays after church. You and your co-workers fill the time with many different activities that you could not experience on the farm, including shopping, attending literary circles, joining the abolition movement, writing letters, or visiting with friends for a stroll in the park.
Primary Document
"Most of us, when at home, live in the country, and therefore cannot enjoy these privileges to the same extent; and many of us not at all. And surely we ought to regard these [activities] as sources of pleasure."
Listen to a group of mill girls talk about what it is like to live and work in Lowell. See below for a transcript of the audio.
Mill Girls Conversation.mp4boardinghouse voices.pdf