Primary Source #1: Description of a Breaker Boy, Labor Standard Newspaper, 1900

"In a little room in this big, black shed -- a room not twenty feet square -- forty boys are picking their lives away. The floor of the room is an inclined plane, and a stream of coal pours constantly in. They work here, in this little black hole, all day and every day, trying to keep cool in the summer, trying to keep warm in the winter, picking their way among the black coals, bending over till their little spines are curved, never saying a word all the livelong day.

These little fellows go to work in this cold dreary room at seven o'clock in the morning and work till it is too dark to see any longer. For this they get $1 to $3 a week. Not three boys in this roomful could read or write. Shut out from everything that's pleasant, with no chance to learn, with no knowledge of what is going on about them, with nothing to do but work, grinding their little lives away in this dusty room, they are no more than the wire screens that separate the great lumps of coal from the small.

They play no games; when their day's work is done they are too tired for that. They know nothing but the difference between slate and coal."

Secondary Source: The Industrial Revolution

For thousands of years, humans had built their lives and culture around farming. Farming was a way of life, more than a job. Every member of a family played an important role on the farm, work that was done to simply survive. As the Industrial Revolution took hold the change that took place was shocking. Society had not caught up to the changes being made. There was little to no child care, few public schools, no vacation or sick days for workers, and barely any sort of insurance if you became sick or died. Consequently, this meant that mistakes were made when it came to working in factories.

Factory Workers labored six days a week for 10-14 hours a day with few breaks for lunch, to use the toilet, or to simply rest. While exhaustion increased workplace accidents and injuries. Coal dust and smoke from the steam engines, dust from cotton lint, and toxic chemicals all irritated the lungs and caused breathing problems. For many families, their children found themselves employed to work in the factories. Sadly, it would take numerous tragedies to bring change for the factory workers.

As the Industrial Revolution began, many rural farming families kept the practice of having large families and brought their children to work in the factories just like they would have on a farm. By 1900, nearly two million children worked in American factories. For most of the Industrial Revolution there were no laws preventing children from working in the factories, and when there were laws they were often ignored. Fast moving parts and few safety devices led to many injuries and death. Factories were often left unheated in the winter, and without cooling in the summer.

Children working with their parents was nothing new, and many families needed children to work to provide them with enough food to survive. Child workers were in high demand in many factories since they could fit into small spaces and use their small fingers to work on moving machinery. Factory supervisors used threats and physical abuse, making children much easier to control.

Many parents did not have access to child care for their children and were forced to bring their children to work with them. These parents had no choice and had to bring their children to work in the factories because they needed the income so the family could survive. Because the factories did not pay a high enough wage, parents could not afford to send their children to school. As a result, most of the children were illiterate, or unable to read and write. Tragically, with no hope of an education, the children often had their own families and had no choice but to bring their own children to work in the factories, continuing the vicious cycle.

Children worked numerous types of jobs in the factories but made less money than adults would. Girls and boys were often recruited as young as five or six to replace spools of thread in textile mills. Many of which would lose fingers and limbs in accidents. Children also worked in glass factories where they often inhaled small fibers of glass causing severe breathing disabilities. Whole families would work in the food canning industry sealing, labeling, and processing food that they could barely afford.

Young boys were often recruited to work in coal mines as well. The Second Industrial Revolution ran on steam power in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and as a result, there was a high demand for coal. Young boys were hired by coal mines due to their abilities to fit into small mine shafts. These young boys were paid a very low wage and had to work in horrible conditions underground. Inhaling coal dust often led to permanent lung diseases and breathing problems, and fatal accidents were common.

One specific job set aside for boys was for them to be a "breaker boy." A breaker boy was a nickname given to the many young boys that worked above ground at the coal mines sorting rock and debris from the coal. The constant contact with coal led to many boys suffering from exposure to sulfur in the coal, causing their fingers and hands to swell and often bleed. Horribly, many boys would fall victim to the coal grinders; losing a finger, hand, leg, and even their hearing. In Illinois, this was a common job for many who worked in the mines near the towns of Harrisburg, Gardner, and Wilmington. Consequently, the average adult miner made only $379 a year in Illinois in 1890, which is similar to earning about $9849 today. The young boys working made far less, and with little money and no hope of an education, factory life offered little hope for the youngest workers.

By the early 1900s, many Americans were outraged at child labor and demanded that it be banned. Many argued that working prevented children from being able to obtain an education and improve their lives. In 1904, an organization called the National Child Labor Committee was put together with the intent on ending child labor. Between 1908 and 1912 a photographer by the name of Lewis Hine traveled America taking photographs of children working in factories for the National Child Labor Committee. With the help of his reporting, many across the nation began to push for better working conditions for children and ending child labor in America.

At first, Congress attempted to pass laws in 1918 and 1922 to ban child labor, but the Supreme Court ruled them as unconstitutional. It was not until 1938 that Congress was able to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act that fixed the minimum age for child workers to be 16. Over time the increased use of machinery meant that factories needed a more educated and experienced worker. In addition, factory workers were steadily getting paid more and more, allowing many to be able to afford to send their child to school rather than to work. Over time, many factories and families stopped the use of Child Labor.

On March 27, 1911, a national tragedy struck that would forever change the view Americans had of factory work. A fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City leading to the death of 146 workers, mostly women. The factory was on the top three floors of a ten-story building. The reason for the high number of deaths from the fire was because the owners had locked the exit doors in the stairwells, which was a common practice to keep workers from taking additional breaks. As a result, many of the workers were unable to escape the fire and died horrifying deaths.

The Triangle Tragedy was documented and photographed and led to an outcry around the nation. Soon new laws were passed to force factories to begin adopting new safety procedures to protect workers. Factories had no choice but to begin following safety codes in order to protect workers and began paying a higher wage. Although progress was being made it did not solve all the problems of factory life after all the youngest people to die in the blaze were Kate Leone and Sara Maltese who were both only fourteen years old.

Primary Source #2: Description of a Breaker Boy by John Spargo, 1906

"Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous.....From the cramped position (the boys) have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men. When a boy has been working for some time and begins to get round-shouldered, his fellows say that, 'He's got his boy to carry round wherever he goes.'

The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cuts, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust inhaled by the boys lay the foundations of asthma."

Primary Source #3: Triangle Tragedy