The Industrial RevolutionThe Life of a Factory Worker

1860 - 1900

What is the Industrial Revolution?

• SCIENTISTS WITH NEW

IDEAS

• ENTREPRENEURS

WHO WANT TO INVEST $$$

• EXPLOSION OF NEW INVENTIONS AND

INDUSTRY

• FACTORIES ARE CREATED

• NEED FOR WORKERS

Who were the workers?

•Men

•Women

•Children

Work Conditions•Dark

•Cramped

•Long Hours (12-18 hour days)

•Piecework = paid by what you made

•Little pay

•Dangerous

•Exhausting work

•Boring

•No ventilation

•Loud noise

Rules

-Ruled by the Clock

-Viewed as machines

-Discipline was strict

Docked Pay if…

-Come late

-Talking

-Missing Sunday shifts

-Taking too long in the restroom

Families

No one person earned enough to

survive

Children left school to work (as young as 6)

Ill, death, no job children

step in

No welfare

Children -Wages brought

dinner to the family-Made up 5% of workforce

-Child Labor Laws were ignored

-Stunted their bodies and minds

The Mill

Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back the empty bobbins.

Premature death, lack of education, physical punishment were all vices children faced.

Newsies

Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older.

Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pa.

Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk of his life. St. Louis, Mo.

Miners

•Thick Dust

•Get into lungs

•Overseer kicks them to get them to work

Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily

The factory

Cigar Makers

Oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All but the very smallest babies work. Began work at 3:30 a.m. and expected to work until 5 p.m.

Oyster Shuckers

A boy carrying hats in New York City.

Bowling Alley boys. Many of them work setting pins until past midnight. New Haven, Conn.

Children hired in violation of child labor laws were helped to hide in large boxes of cloth on the rare occasion when inspectors arrived.

The Great Strikes

Ways Workers Revolted• Industrial/trade

Unions: provide help for workers (wages/conditions)

• Strikes: won’t work until needs are met

• Socialism/Marxism?

Reaction of Employers• Feared and disliked

unions• Sign oaths/contracts• Detectives• Fired union members• Blacklist• Lockouts• Hired scabs