Susan Campbell Bartoletti is the award-winning author of several books for young readers, including Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal. She lives in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Throughout much of the nation's history, young people were forced
by necessity into the labor market. This book focuses on children
and teenagers who endured unbearably long working days, dangerous
job responsibilities, and paltry wages, yet were empowered by their
quest for civil rights. Each chapter recounts an important labor
battle of the nineteenth or early twentieth century and explores
the role that children played in it. Some protests, including the
mill girls' strike for higher wages in 1836 New England and the New
York City rent protest led by sixteen-year-old Pauline Newman, were
organized by young people. Others, such as the turn-of-the-century
Pennsylvania coal strikes, were initiated by adult workers,
although children also participated. The well-designed book,
liberally illustrated with black-and-white archival photographs,
documents these events through the experiences of specific children
profiled in the lean, compelling text. The book is honest in
describing not only the strikes that ended in success but also
those that failed or resulted in limited victories. The final
chapter surveys the development of the National Child Labor
Committee and briefly touches on the plight of African-American
child laborers (who frequently worked for no pay at all) and the
pioneering art of Lewis Hine, whose photographs of child workers
brought the issue before the American public. Finally, it includes
information on the later life experiences of many of the children
discussed in the text. As memorable as their inspiring stories are,
they represent just a few of the children who worked and battled
for better lives. The anonymous children depicted in the
photographs-older than their years, dirty, sometimes maimed by
factory machinery-are equally haunting and affecting.
Bibliographical references, an index, and a helpful "Timeline of
Federal Child Labor Laws" are included.
Horn Book "A comprehensive examination of the socioeconomic factors
that spurred the formation of child organized strikes, this
historical tour de force elucidates why child labor laws were
developed and continue to be such a necessity. Bartoletti (No Man's
Land, p. 627, etc.) looks at the major industries that profited
from the exploitation of child labor and how those employed by such
operations worked to create a better environment for themselves and
others. While there is mention of the ``Newsie Strike'' in New York
City and the fate of the sharecroppers in the southern cotton
industry, the garment and coal mining industries loom as the real
villains in child labor issues. Bartoletti provides numerous
examples of how debilitating poverty drove entire families to work
in utter squalor and suffer cruel treatment at the hands of
profit-driven conglomerates. Personal stories illuminate the
wretched conditions under which many of these children labored,
with a focus on the instances when a child mobilized fellow workers
to demand their rights. The grit and determination of these
children who, in the face of police abuse, bureaucratic negligence,
and governmental (even presidential) indifference, banded together
for a common cause, and the startling black-and-white photographs,
ensure that readers will be alternately awed and appalled by this
stunning account of child labor in the US." Kirkus Reviews "Through
personal narratives and powerful photographs and reproductions,
this book tells the dynamic story of child labor in America and the
efforts to organize to achieve social justice." School Library
Journal --
Gr 5-8-This well-researched and well-illustrated account creates a vivid portrait of the working conditions of many American children in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Chapters are devoted to the Lowell, MA, textile-factory girls who worked 13-hour days as well as New York City's "newsies," who sold papers for Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The strikers included are not only those who protested unfair work conditions, but they also highlight individuals like Pauline Newman, who, at 16, organized residents to protest their high rents during the New York City rent strike of 1907. Another chapter includes Mother Jones's famous march from Philadelphia to Oyster Bay, Long Island, to meet with President Teddy Roosevelt. Like the Pied Piper, she led striking children, and others, in an effort to reform labor laws so that youngsters would no longer work under inhumane and unsafe conditions. Chapter notes and a time line of federal child-labor laws are appended. Many black-and-white photos of both children at work and on strike help to make their plight real and personalize their stories. A fine resource for research as well as a very readable book.-Carol Fazioli, The Brearley School, New York City Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Throughout much of the nation's history, young people were
forced by necessity into the labor market. This book focuses on
children and teenagers who endured unbearably long working days,
dangerous job responsibilities, and paltry wages, yet were
empowered by their quest for civil rights. Each chapter recounts an
important labor battle of the nineteenth or early twentieth century
and explores the role that children played in it. Some protests,
including the mill girls' strike for higher wages in 1836 New
England and the New York City rent protest led by sixteen-year-old
Pauline Newman, were organized by young people. Others, such as the
turn-of-the-century Pennsylvania coal strikes, were initiated by
adult workers, although children also participated. The
well-designed book, liberally illustrated with black-and-white
archival photographs, documents these events through the
experiences of specific children profiled in the lean, compelling
text. The book is honest in describing not only the strikes that
ended in success but also those that failed or resulted in limited
victories. The final chapter surveys the development of the
National Child Labor Committee and briefly touches on the plight of
African-American child laborers (who frequently worked for no pay
at all) and the pioneering art of Lewis Hine, whose photographs of
child workers brought the issue before the American public.
Finally, it includes information on the later life experiences of
many of the children discussed in the text. As memorable as their
inspiring stories are, they represent just a few of the children
who worked and battled for better lives. The anonymous children
depicted in the photographs-older than their years, dirty,
sometimes maimed by factory machinery-are equally haunting and
affecting. Bibliographical references, an index, and a helpful
"Timeline of Federal Child Labor Laws" are included.
Horn Book "A comprehensive examination of the socioeconomic factors
that spurred the formation of child organized strikes, this
historical tour de force elucidates why child labor laws were
developed and continue to be such a necessity. Bartoletti (No Man's
Land, p. 627, etc.) looks at the major industries that profited
from the exploitation of child labor and how those employed by such
operations worked to create a better environment for themselves and
others. While there is mention of the ``Newsie Strike'' in New York
City and the fate of the sharecroppers in the southern cotton
industry, the garment and coal mining industries loom as the real
villains in child labor issues. Bartoletti provides numerous
examples of how debilitating poverty drove entire families to work
in utter squalor and suffer cruel treatment at the hands of
profit-driven conglomerates. Personal stories illuminate the
wretched conditions under which many of these children labored,
with a focus on the instances when a child mobilized fellow workers
to demand their rights. The grit and determination of these
children who, in the face of police abuse, bureaucratic negligence,
and governmental (even presidential) indifference, banded together
for a common cause, and the startling black-and-white photographs,
ensure that readers will be alternately awed and appalled by this
stunning account of child labor in the US." Kirkus Reviews "Through
personal narratives and powerful photographs and reproductions,
this book tells the dynamic story of child labor in America and the
efforts to organize to achieve social justice." School Library
Journal --
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