A NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION CURRICULUM GUIDE
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
Table of Contents
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................................................................3
HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM ...................................................................................................................................................................4-5
CORRELATION TO NATIONAL STANDARDS...................................................................................................................................................6-7
Activity Worksheets (reproducible):
ACTIVITY 1:
Clipping Project and Persuasive Essay Assignment ................................................................................................8
ACTIVITY 2:
Historical Overview and Vocabulary..........................................................................................................................9
ACTIVITY 3:
Comparing Experiences Using a Venn Diagram .....................................................................................................10
Use with pages 2-3 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Comparing and contrasting
ACTIVITY 4:
Analyzing Primary Source Documents ....................................................................................................................11
Use with pages 4-5 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Getting facts from primary source documents and summarizing
ACTIVITY 5:
Identifying Points of View .........................................................................................................................................12
Use with pages 4-5 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Understanding history from different points of view
ACTIVITY 6:
Changing Roles in a Changing Economy..................................................................................................................13
Use with pages 6-7 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Organizing data in charts
ACTIVITY 7:
Dramatizing a Child in History and a Child in the News Today ...........................................................................14
Use with pages 8-9 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Identifying points of view
ACTIVITY 8:
What Obituaries Tell...................................................................................................................................................15
Use with pages 8-9 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Distinguishing fact and opinion
ACTIVITY 9:
Tracking Changes in Children’s Roles Over Time..............................................................................................16-17
Use with pages 10-11 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Sequencing events on a timeline
ACTIVITY 10:
Media Ignites Reform..................................................................................................................................................18
Use with pages 12-13 of student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Analyzing primary source documents and images
ACTIVITY 11:
“Mother Jones”............................................................................................................................................................19
Use with pages 12-13 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Summarizing
ACTIVITY 12:
The Child Labor Debate .........................................................................................................................................20-21
Use with pages 14-15 of the student supplement.
Historical analysis skills: Understanding different points of view
APPENDIX A:
Analyzing a newspaper Op-Ed Column ....................................................................................................................22
APPENDIX B:
Newspaper Film Review: “Stolen Childhoods”: ......................................................................................................23
Children Trapped in Labor, With Few Reasons for Hope
Written by Vicki Whiting, editor of Kid Scoop.
Additional introductory material by Ellen Doukoullos.
The guide is a resource from The New York Times Knowledge Network. It did not involve the reporting or editing staff of
The New York Times.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
Introduction
These lessons using the newspaper in the classroom are designed to tie
history and economics curriculums to current events and the lives of
young people today — and engage students in the study of a topic required
in many states.
History and economics lessons become more meaningful when presented
in the context of the real-world, hot-topic issue of child labor. An
understanding of U.S. history and economics is incomplete without
studying the participation of children in the labor force: Children have
always played an important role in the American economy.
Today, however, social studies teachers have a greater challenge beyond
teaching core social-studies content: They are also expected to teach
reading and writing skills. This Children Who Built America supplement
provides teachers with lessons that promote reading comprehension,
critical thinking and writing. Each lesson has a writing component, and
the culminating project for the unit is a persuasive essay.
Recent research from the University of Minnesota (published by the
Newspaper Association of America Foundation as “Measuring Success:
The Positive Impact of Newspaper In Education Programs on Student
Achievement”) reports that, on average, students who use a newspaper in
school scored 10% better on standardized reading tests than students who
did not.*
As the United States shifted from an agrarian-based economy to an
industrialized economy, the role of children changed dramatically. As
underdeveloped nations around the world make the same shift today, the
impact on children in those countries today corresponds to the impact
such change had on American children in years past.
According to Hugh D. Hindeman, Ph.D. Professor, Appalachian State
University, and author of “Child Labor, An American History”: “If child
labor is viewed as predictable during certain stages of economic
development, then the economic history of advanced nations may serve as
a guide to its eradication in the developing nations of today and
tomorrow.”
*“Measuring Success: The Positive Impact of Newspaper in Education
Programs on Student Achievement,” Newspaper Association of America
Foundation, 2003.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
H OW T O U S E T H I S P RO G R A M
There are three elements to this program:
The newspaper, a personal copy each day for
every student
Primary-source documents published in the
Children Who Built America student supplement
The Children Who Built America teacher’s guide,
with reproducible activity worksheets.
Copies of the new s p ap e r
The newspaper is a primary source document with
documentation of news and events that affect
children both in the United States and around the
world. Provide each student with a daily copy of
the newspaper. Students should read the
newspaper each day, and clip articles relating to
children throughout the time period devoted to this
project. Have students save all materials in a
Newspaper Clipping Project folder: Students will
use materials that they have clipped from
newspaper to complete activities in the Children
Who Built America supplement and in the
Teacher’s Guides.
Student Guide - Children Who Built America:
Child Labor Issues in American History and
Today’s Newspaper
The student guide, Children Who Built
America, is organized into seven two-page
sections. Each section contains primary source
historical documents as well as expository
text.
News Watch: Each two-page section features
News Watch activities that promote critical
reading and writing skills using both the
supplement and the newspaper. The teacher’s
guide provides reproducible activity sheets
that accompany most of the News Watch
activities.
Teacher’s Guide - Children Who Built
America: Child Labor Issues in American
History and Today’s Newspaper
There is at least one Activity Worksheet for
each two-page section in the student
supplement. Before assigning students to read
each section, distribute copies of the Activity
Worksheets, one per student. Review the
directions with your students. The directions
include instructions on when to read the
corresponding pages of the student
supplement.
Each Activity Worksheet engages students in
historical analysis. The activities require
students to use critical thinking skills (such as
examining points of view, comparing and
contrasting, sequencing, and analyzing causes
and effects) and to marshal solid evidence in
support of their opinions, go beyond the facts
presented in their textbooks, and examine the
historical record for themselves.
Note: Activity Worksheets are reproducible
for your classroom when used with the
newspaper.
The Newspaper Clipping Project and
Persuasive Essay Writing Assignment
Have your students read the newspaper on a daily
basis and find and clip all content — news articles,
editorials, letters to the editor, Op-Ed essays and
columns, and advertisements — that relate to
children. Provide each student with a folder to save
these clippings, in addition to completed Activity
Sheets.
When your students have finished reading the
student supplement and finished all of the
educational activities that correspond to each
section of the supplement, they will have gained
the knowledge and analytic skills to make their
own informed judgements about the child labor
issues today.
As a final project for this unit of study, have
students write a persuasive essay to support their
position on a specific issue related to child labor.
Your students should use the editorials and Op-Ed
page columns and essays of the newspaper as
models for their essays. Appendix A is a Worksheet
that provides guided practice for analyzing an OpEd column or essay.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
H OW T O U S E T H I S P RO G R A M
Complete directions for this project are on the
first handout of this guide, “Activity 1: Clipping
Project.” Review the directions for the Clipping
Project and Persuasive Essay and have students
staple them to the Clipping Folder.
Time Frame For the Units
The lessons in this guide provide learning
activities for a semester. Allow time each day for
your students to go through the newspaper to
help them develop the habit of daily newspaper
reading, and to give them time to scan for
articles to clip that relate to the child-labor
curriculum. At the same time, your students
will discover articles on other topics that they
want to read.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
Standards
C O R R E L AT I O N T O NAT I O NA L S TA N DA R D S
The lessons in this curriculum guide are correlated with relevant national standards from Mid-Contintent Research for
Eductional and Learning (McREL). These standards represent a compendium derived from most state standards.
Each McREL standard has subcategories, or benchmarks, for different levels of instruction. For details see
www.mcrel.org/standards.
HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE
Knows how to view the past in terms of norms and values of the time.
Understands that specific individuals, ideas, specific decisions and
events had an impact on history.
Understands that the values individuals held had an impact on history.
Analyzes the influences and effects that specific individuals, ideas,
beliefs, specific decisions and events had on history.
Knows different types of primary and secondary sources and the
motives, interests and bias expressed in them (e.g., eyewitness accounts,
letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, newspaper accounts).
Analyzes the values held by specific people who influenced history and
the role their values played in influencing history.
Analyzes the influences specific ideas, specific decisions and beliefs had
on a period of history and specifies how events might have been
different in the absence of those ideas, decisions and beliefs.
Understands how the past affects our lives and society in general.
Knows how to perceive past events with historical empathy.
Knows how to evaluate the credibility and authenticity of
historical sources.
LANGUAGE ARTS/READING
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of
informational texts.
Uses text organizers (e.g., headings, graphic features, topic sentences)
to determine the main ideas and to locate information in a text.
Summarizes and paraphrases information in texts.
Uses prior knowledge to understand and respond to new information.
Understands the author’s viewpoint in informational texts.
Understands structural patterns or organization in informational
texts (e.g., chronological, logical or sequential order; compare-andcontrast; cause-and-effect).
Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts
(e.g., letters, diaries, primary source historical documents, news
stories).
Draws conclusions and makes inferences based on explicit and
implicit information in texts.
Differentiates between fact and opinion in informational texts.
Summarizes and paraphrases complex, implicit hierarchic structures
in informational texts, including the relationships among the
concepts and details.
Uses discussions with peers as a way of understanding information.
Uses text features and elements to support inferences and
generalizations about information (e.g., vocabulary, structure,
evidence, expository structure, structure, format, use of language).
5
6
7
GRADE
8 9 10 11 12
5
6
7
GRADE
8 9 10 11 12
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
Standards
M C R E L NAT I O NA L S TA N DA R D S
In addition to the standards charted above, Children Who Built America provides historical
information on the following eras of United States History, as defined by the McREL United States
History Standards.
E r a 2 : Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
Understands how political and social institutions emerged in the English colonies.
E r a 3 : Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820’s)
Understands the impact of the American Revolution on politics, economics and society.
E r a 4 : Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Understands how the Industrial Revolution, increasing immigration and the westward
movement changed American lives.
Understands the sources and character of cultural and social reform movements in the
antebellum period.
E r a 5 : Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Understands the effects of the Civil War on the American people.
E r a 6 : The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
Understands how the rise of corporations, heavy industry and mechanized farming
transformed American society.
Understands the rise of the American labor movement and how political issues reflected
social and economic changes.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 1
C L I P P I N G P RO J E C T A N D P E R S UA S I V E E S S AY A S S I G N M E N T
NA M E
______________________________________
NO T E : T h i s a c t iv i t y c o n t i nu e s t h r o u g h o u t t h i s u n i t o f s t u dy. T h e s e d i r e c t i o n s a r e fo r t h e
w o rk re q u i re d t o c o m p l e t e t h e c u l m i n at i n g e s s ay. S t aple these instructions to the inside of
yo u r cl i p p i n g fo l d e r.
To complete the Children Who Built America unit of study, you will write an essay in the style of a
newspaper Op-Ed piece about child labor. In order to gain the background information and analysis
tools to write an informed and persuasive essay, this unit of study will guide you through four steps:
1) In addition to reading historical
documents in Children Who Built
America, read the newspaper every day.
Look for and read all coverage that
relates to children:
News articles, from all sections of
the newspaper
Editorials and Letters to the Editor,
on the editorial page
Columns and opinion essays, on the
Op-Ed page
Advertisements, in all sections of
the newspaper
•
•
•
•
2) Clip and save all relevant newspaper
articles and completed assignments
throughout this unit of study in your
Newspaper Clipping Project folder. Label
each article that you clip from the
newspaper with the day, month and year
it was published, and in which section
and on what page you found it.
3) Complete activity pages and New s
Wa t ch assignments to develop analytic
skills for critical examination of all
pertinent documents. Keep all completed
projects in your clipping folder.
documents. Study Op-Ed pieces in the
newspaper as models for your writing.
Your Op-Ed piece should address the
following questions:
a. What changes in the economic
role of children have occurred
since colonial times?
b. How did they occur?
c. What were the main issues of
concern regarding child labor in
different time periods?
d. Have the issues surrounding child
labor changed over time?
e. How does understanding the
history of child labor in the
United States help to develop a
better understanding of child
labor throughout the world today?
Support Your Position With Documents
A persuasive essay tells readers where you
obtained the information used in your essay to
support your point of view. The correct way to
document these resources in your essay (that is,
to cite your source) is:
Source: Last Name, First Name. “Headline.”
NEWSPAPER, DAY MONTH YEAR:
Page number.
4) Develop a position on the issue of child
labor and write an essay in the style of a
newspaper Op-Ed piece. Support your
position with concrete facts from both
historical and current newspaper
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 2
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY EXERCISE
Underline each of the
following words in the
essay at right, “The
Story of Child Labor.”
Based on the context in
which the word was
used and what you
find in a dictionary,
write a definition for
each word below.
economy
agrarian
industrial
advocated
deplored
consumers
exploitive
Create a crossword
puzzle using these
words and others
from the essay at right.
Divide into teams and
race to find these words
in today’s newspaper.
NA M E _________________________________________
The Story of Child Labor
Children have always played an important role in the American economy. In
colonial times, they were an integral part of America’s family-based
agricultural and handicraft economy. In the Industrial Age, children provided a
significant part of the inexpensive work force on which the nation’s factories
relied. As America evolved from a rural, agrarian society to an industrialized
nation, child labor went from being a non-issue to a highly controversial and
much-debated concern.
There were no mass-produced goods in the agrarian economy of pre-industrial
America. Colonial farm families produced nearly everything they needed, and
the contributions of children were essential to every family’s survival. In the
South, slave children contributed to the economy by picking cotton and
working in plantation homes. With the advent of the Industrial Age, textile
mills provided new employment opportunities for children, but under vastly
different working conditions. Though the official figures likely understate the
reality, they indicate that in 1900 at least 18% of America’s children were
employed. In southern cotton mills, 25% of the employees were under the age
of 15, and half of these children were younger than 12. [1900 U.S. Census]
Within the context of a largely self-sufficient agricultural economy, child labor
was the norm and universally accepted. Within the context of Industrial Age
factory employment, attitudes toward child labor began to change. Those who
advocated for child labor argued that it had value for both the economy and for
the children themselves. Those who were against it deplored the often
horrendous working conditions children were subjected to and the loss of a
childhood education. These debates raged until the passage of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938.
Today, children contribute to the economy primarily as consumers. Those who
do work are restricted to part-time employment, contingent on continuing in
school. Most people take it for granted that kids need time to be kids and
complete their education before taking on full-time jobs. In truth, these values
have been in place for only a few generations, and the battle to pass laws to
enforce them was long and bitter. Nor has the battle been entirely won. Despite
existing laws, some children continue to labor in excess of the hours allowed or
hold prohibited jobs. And while American children are, by and large, now
protected from exploitive employment, child labor has become a prominent
issue in many countries around the world.
The minimal role of child labor in the United States today stems directly
from the remarkable changes in social and economic development as
America developed from an agrarian to an industrial society over the last two
centuries. The study of child labor throughout American history raises
important questions. Studying these questions provides insight into the options
and opportunities available to children in the United States and around the
world today.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 3
C O M PA R I N G E X P E R I E N C E S U S I N G A V E N N D I AG R A M
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
S t e p 1 . Read the newspaper every day for one week. Clip all articles relating to the lives of
children in the United States and abroad, and save them in your clipping folder.
S t e p 2 . At the end of the week, create a Venn diagram to compare the lives of two children in
your collection of articles.
S t e p 3 . Complete the Venn diagram below to compare the lives of children on colonial farms
with the lives of children in America today:
a) In the left-hand part of the first circle, write things that are true of children on
colonial farms but are not true of children today.
b) In the right-hand part of the second circle, write things that are true of
children today but were not true of children who lived on colonial farms.
c) In the section of the circles that overlap, write things that are true of both
groups of children.
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 4
A NA LY Z I N G P R I M A RY S O U RC E D O C U M E N T S
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
Step 1
Read the excerpt from Horace Greeley’s autobiography, “Recollections of a Busy Life,” on page 4
of Children Who Built America, and underline and label the clues that reveal the following:
a) Whom is the story about?
b) What event does the excerpt from this historical document describe?
(If there is more than one event, list them in order.)
c) When did this event happen?
d) Where did this event happen?
e) Why did this event happen?
f) How did this event happen?
Step 2
Select a newspaper article about children and answer the questions in Step 1 for the article.
Step 3
Write an editorial in response to the news article you have selected, using facts from both the
historical document about Horace Greeley and the article itself. Study editorials in the
newspaper as models for your writing.
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 5
IDENTIFYING POINTS OF VIEW
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
In a way, history’s stories are similar to the story of a group of blind people, each of whom touched
a different part of an elephant, then described what he or she thought an elephant looked like. Each
ended up describing a different animal, depending on the part he or she had touched.
In other words, history’s stories assume different points of view — and to gain a more complete
understanding of history, it must be studied from different points of view.
Step 1
A. Select one of the memoirs on pages 4-5 of Children Who Built America.
B. Write a few sentences expressing the viewpoint of each of the people mentioned in the memoir.
1) Viewpoint #1:
2) Viewpoint #2:
3) Viewpoint #3:
4) Viewpoint #4:
Step 2
A. Find and read an article about children in the newspaper.
B. List the different people mentioned in the article.
Step 3
Write a few sentences expressing the points of view of each of the people you identified in the
newspaper article in Part B of Step 2 . Use direct quotes from the article when possible.
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 6
C H A N G I N G RO L E S I N A C H A N G I N G E C O N O M Y
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
Step 1
Read page 6 of Children Who Built America. Create a chart that compares the life of a girl
working in a textile mill with that of a girl working on a farm. Use the chart below as a model
for your chart.
Farm Girl
Mill Girl
Step 2
Search the newspaper for stories that feature women. List the names of the women and why
they are in the news.
Create a chart that compares women’s roles today with women’s roles in the early years of the
Industrial Revolution.
Women’s Roles at the Start
of the Industrial Revolution
Women’s Roles Today
S t e p 3 : P u t I t A l l To g e t h e r !
Choose one of the following activities to explain how young women’s social and economic roles
have changed — and how they have stayed the same — from pre-industrial times to the present.
A. Write an essay in the style of the Op-Ed page of the newspaper. Study Op-Ed columns and
essays as models for your writing. (For practice in analyzing Op-Ed columns and essays,
complete the Appendix A Worksheet, Analyzing a newspaper Op-Ed Column)
B. Write and present a short film script or play on the subject.
C. Write and perform a song or a poem.
D. Create a comic book on the subject.
E. Create a painting or a collage using relevant images and text.
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 7
DRAMATIZING A CHILD IN HISTORY AND A CHILD IN THE NEWS TODAY
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
R o l e - p l ay : a c h i l d f r o m t h e p a s t .
1. Select a child featured on pages 8-9 of Children Who Built America.
2. Complete the following to compile a list of details about that person’s life, based on the
information provided in the documents.
Who:_______________________________________________________________________________
What: _____________________________________________________________________________
When: _____________________________________________________________________________
Where: ____________________________________________________________________________
Why:_______________________________________________________________________________
How:_______________________________________________________________________________
3. Write a speech that might be given by the child you selected. Be sure to write in the firstperson format. Present your speech to the class. Staying in the role of the child you selected,
answer questions from the class. (Other students should write about the presentation and
discussion in the form of a news article and submit it to the student newspaper.)
R o l e - p l a y a c h i l d i n t o d a y ’s n e w s .
1. Find an article in the newspaper that reports on an event affecting the lives of children.
List the children affected and identify their points of view.
Using the facts in the article, write a speech from the point of view of a child who is affected by
the news event in the article. Present your speech to the class. Staying in the role of the child
you selected, answer questions from the class. (Other students should write up the presentation
and discussion in the form of a news article and submit it to the student newspaper.)
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 8
WHAT OBITUARIES TELL
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
The obituaries and memoirs on pages 8-9 of Children Who Built America provide facts and
opinions about the experiences of children who lived in the past.
A. Identify the facts and opinions in the obituaries and memoirs on pages 8-9 of Children
Who Built America. Answer the following questions:
1. What does each fact contribute to the understanding of the time period in which
these people lived?
2. What do the opinions tell us about the time period?
3. Would an all-opinion obituary be as interesting or informative? How about an
all-facts obituary?
B. Find reviews in the arts/entertainment section of the newspaper that feature young
actors in a movie, show or TV program. Select a review and, from that review, select one
performer. Identify and list the facts and opinions in the review about that performer.
Headline of Review: __________________________________________________________________
Movie/Play/TV Show Being Reviewed: ________________________________________________
Date of review: _______________________________________________________________________
Page number:_________________________________________________________________________
Name of performer: __________________________________________________________________
Facts: ________________________________________________________________________________
Opinions: ____________________________________________________________________________
C. Using these facts and opinions, write an obituary for the performer you selected. Study
the obituaries in the newspaper as models for the obituary you write. What would the
obituary you wrote tell people in the future about life in present-day America?
J O U R NA L I S M N O T E
Newspaper obituaries for famous people are written and continually updated while they are still
alive. This makes it easier for newspapers to have a comprehensive obituary on hand when a
notable person dies.
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Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 9
T R AC K I N G C H A N G E S I N C H I L D R E N ’ S RO L E S OV E R T I M E
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
A. Create a timeline to put in historic sequence the events covered on pages 2-11 of Children Who
Built America. Incorporate events described in the passage below:
C h i l d r e n a n d t h e I n d u s t r i a l Revo l u t i o n
In the second half of the 19th century, child labor was on the increase and getting out
of control. In large cities, poor children only six or seven years old were sent out by
parents to earn their keep and contribute to the household economy. The youngest
worked as scavengers, gathering trash they could sell to junk dealers or peddle to
neighbors — items like cinders, rope and metal bottles. Older kids worked as streetpeddlers or huckstering. Certain low-paying jobs were reserved for children: streetsweeping for girls, and boot blacking and newspaper hawking for boys. Children who
worked in the streets and without adult supervision often fell into illegal activities, like
gambling, prostitution or theft. Other children worked in glass factories in front of
fiery furnaces, in dark textile mills and in coal mines, hauling coal on their backs and
breathing coal dust for 10 hours at a time.
In 1870, when the U.S. Census counted child laborers for the first time, it reported
750,000 workers age 15 and under — a number that did not include children working on
family farms and in family businesses. Throughout the rest of the 19th century and
into the 20th, advancing industrialization increased these numbers. Finally, in the
early 1900’s, through the efforts of social reformers and child-labor organizations, the
plight of America’s working children became a subject of increasing concern.
Opponents of child labor focused attention on the crowded and unsanitary factory
conditions that led to disease, the rigorous jobs that resulted in injury or even death,
and the fact that child laborers generally received little or no education.
In addition, waves of immigrants, beginning with the Irish in 1840 and continuing
after 1880 with immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe, poured into Atlantic
coastal cities. Many of these immigrants came from rural backgrounds, and they had
much the same attitude toward child labor as Americans had in the previous century.
This new pool of child workers was matched by a tremendous expansion of American
industry, causing a rise in the percentage of children 10 to 15 years of age who were
forced to work. At the end of the 19th century, at least 1.75 million worked,
representing about 18% of children in that age group nationwide. Ultimately, women
and adult immigrants replaced these children in the textile industry, but child labor
continued in other areas of business.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 9
T R AC K I N G C H A N G E S I N C H I L D R E N ’ S RO L E S OV E R T I M E
B. The timeline you created based on information in pages 2-11 of Children Who Built America and
the passage above shows how the role of children has changed as the U.S. economy shifted from a
primarily agrarian base to a primarily industrial one. If you were to remove the dates from your
timeline, you would be left with a sequence of events that occur as all economies change from
agrarian to industrial — a timeline of economic transition.
1. From your clipping-folder collection of newspaper materials on child labor today, select
articles about child labor in one country.
2. Identify the economic roles children play in that country, and indicate where on your
timeline of economic transition this country would fall.
C. Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper describing where along the economic-transition
timeline the children in your selected country are at present. Explain what history tells us is
likely to happen next.
What actions do you think people should or shouldn’t take? Take a position on the issue of child
labor and support that position in your letter. (Locate the e-mail address for sending Letters to the
Editor on either the Editorials page, where letters are published, or in the Information and Services
Directory, which usually runs on the Weather page.)
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 10
MEDIA IGNITES REFORM
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
A. Study the photographs by Jacob Riis on pages 12-13 of Children Who Built America.
1. Make a list of all the details you see in the photos.
2. Write a paragraph describing the people, settings, events and any artifacts that you see.
Think about what is happening beyond the edges of the photograph.
B. Today, as in the past, journalists continue to tell the stories of people who are powerless to speak
or write for themselves.
1. Look through your newspaper clipping-project file and today’s newspaper for
photographs of children.
2. Use these photos to create a photo exhibition designed to educate people about the
conditions faced by working children today.
3. Write captions and pull quotes for each image in your exhibition. Include additional
details that will help people understand what the photos are about. Study captions in
the newspaper as models for your own writing.
Background Information
L ew i s W. H i n e ( 1 8 7 4 - 1 9 4 0 )
Lewis W. Hine was another photographer who used his craft to inform people about the
conditions of working children. Hine knew that a photograph could tell a powerful story. In 1908
the National Child Labor Committee gave Hine the assignment to photograph child labor
around the nation. For the next several years, Hine traveled extensively, photographing children
in mines, factories, canneries, textile mills, street trades and agriculture. His photographs
showed the public that child labor deprived children of good health, education and a chance for
a good future — in short, it deprived them of their childhood. His work played an important role
in the fight for stricter child-labor laws.
To view a selection of Lewis W. Hine’s photographs, go to:
http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/nclc/occupations.html
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 11
“ M OTHER JONES”
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
One of the most powerful voices for abolishing child labor was that of Mary Harris Jones, a 73year-old woman known as “Mother Jones.” In 1903, Mother Jones led a “children’s crusade” to
bring attention to the plight of young textile mill workers. To make her point, she and the
children marched nearly 270 miles from a Pennsylvania mill town to President Theodore
Roosevelt’s home in Long Island, N.Y.
A. Read Mother Jones’s personal account of this historic march. As you read, underline and label
the parts of her memoir that tell the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of the march.
In the spring of 1903 I went to Kensington, Pa., where 75,000 textile workers were on strike. Of
this number at least 10,000 were little children. The workers were striking for more pay and
shorter hours. Every day little children came into Union Headquarters, some with the thumb
missing, some with their fingers off at the knuckle. They were stooped things, roundshouldered and skinny. Many of them were not over 10 years of age; state law prohibited
their working before they were 12 years of age.
The law was poorly enforced and the mothers of these children often swore falsely as to their
children’s ages. In a single block in Kensington, 14 women, mothers of 22 children all under
12, explained it was a question of starvation or perjury, that the fathers had been killed or
maimed at the mines.
I asked the newspapermen why they didn’t publish the facts about child labor in
Pennsylvania. They said they couldn’t because the mill owners had stock in the papers.
“Well, I’ve got stock in these little children,” said I, “and I’ll arrange a little publicity.”
I asked some of the parents if they would let me have their little boys and girls for a week or
10 days, promising to bring them back safe and sound. They consented. A man named Sweeny
was marshal for our “army.” A few men and women went with me to help with the children.
They were on strike and I thought they might well have a little recreation.
The children carried knapsacks on their backs that held a knife and fork, a tin cup and plate.
We took along a wash boiler in which to cook the food on the road. One little fellow had a
drum and another had a fife. That was our band. We carried banners that said, “We want
more schools and less hospitals.” “We want time to play.” “Prosperity is here. Where is ours?”
S o u r c e : “ M o t h e r Jo n e s a n d t h e M a rch o f t h e M i l l C h i l d re n ” ( 1 9 0 3 ) , b y M o t h e r Jo n e s
A. Look through the newspaper for examples of protests of any kind in articles
or photos. Select one example and list the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of
the protest.
B. Work with a partner to identify two positions on the protest. Select one of the two
positions and write a position statement. Your partner should write an opposing position
statement. Discuss the issue with your partner, with each of you taking the position you
have selected. Rewrite your position statements after the discussion. In the rewrite,
counter arguments raised by your partner.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 12
T H E C H I L D L A B O R D E BAT E
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
The struggle for child-labor reform lasted decades. While reformers protested the poverty, working
conditions and loss of childhood experienced by child workers, some officials claimed the federal
government did not have the right to regulate labor practices in the states. Farm, factory and textilemill owners argued that child labor was essential to their industries and that the government should
not interfere in private business. Some civic leaders were concerned that if children did not work,
they would fail to develop a good work ethic.
Step 1
A. Find the answer to the following questions in the Timeline of Child Labor Reform below.
1. In what year was the first lobbying group for child-labor reform established in the United
States?
2. In which years did the U.S. Supreme Court declare child-labor reform laws
unconstitutional?
3. What was the name of the Act that prevented companies with federal contracts from using
child labor?
4. Which President signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law?
TIMELINE OF CHILD LABOR REFORM
1904 The National Child Labor Committee, the first effective lobbying group for child labor reform,
is established in the United States.
1906 Senator Albert Beveridge (R-Ind.) introduces the first bill to regulate child labor.
1912 The U. S. Children’s Bureau, the first federal agency devoted expressly to the welfare of
children, is established.
1916 Congress passes and President Woodrow Wilson signs the Keating-Owens Act, the first federal
legislation regulating child labor.
1917 The U. S. Supreme Court declares the Keating-Owens Act unconstitutional.
1919 Congress passes the Child Labor Tax Act, which places a heavy tax on goods produced using
child labor.
1922 The U. S. Supreme Court declares the Child Labor Tax Act unconstitutional.
1924 Congress proposes a Child Labor Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The proposed
amendment is never ratified.
1930 Delegates to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection prepare the
Children’s Charter, a set of 19 principles that includes a Bill of Rights for the Handicapped
Child.
1933 The National Recovery Act includes a prohibition on labor by children under the age of 16.
1936 The Walsh-Healy Act becomes law, preventing companies with federal contracts from using
child labor.
1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act, containing child-labor provisions, is signed into law by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1941 The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is
still in force today.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
ACTIVITY 12
T H E C H I L D L A B O R D E BAT E
NA M E _______________________________________________________________________
Step 2
Read the arguments from the debate in the early 20th century over the establishment of child-labor
laws, found on pages 14-15 of Children Who Built America.
A. Look for examples of similar arguments for and against child labor in the newspaper materials
you have collected to date. Write an argument supporting one side of the issue using both the
historical documents and contemporary material from the newspaper.
M y p o s i t i o n : ________________________________________________________________________________
P o i n t s t h at s u p p o r t my p o s i t i o n : __________________________________________________________
A r g u m e n t s a g a i n s t my p o s i t i o n : ___________________________________________________________
R e b u t t a l t o a rg u m e n t s a g a i n s t my p o s i t i o n : _______________________________________________
B. Have a Class Debate
Organize your class into three groups:
Group 1: Debate team in favor of child labor.
Group 2: Debate team opposed to child labor.
Group 3: Reporters covering the debate.
Have the debate teams work together to build their arguments. Set a date and time for the
debate and invite others to attend. Hold the debate. The reporters listen to the debate and
write news articles about the debate. Select one of their articles and submit it to your
school newspaper.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
Appendix A
A NA LY Z I N G A N E W S PA P E R O P - E D C O LU M N
1. Select a column or essay from the Op-Ed page of the newspaper. Complete the following
information about the column:
T i t l e : ________________________________________________________________________________________
Au t h o r : _____________________________________________________________________________________
S e c t i o n a n d Pa g e N u m b e r: __________________________________________________________________
2. Answer the following questions about the article:
a.) What is the subject?
b.) What is the author’s opinion about this subject?
c.) List the statements that the author uses to support his or her opinion:
d.) What key words and phrases does the author use to persuade the reader in the conclusion
of this article?
3. Find an opinion piece that has a different point of view. Repeat this activity with that column.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Children Who Built America: Child Labor Issues in American History and Today’s Newspaper
APPENDIX B
FILM REVIEW
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