Social Studies Articles
Document A: Erin Bartels “Documenting the American South”
North Carolina's first cotton mills were built around 1880, and the industry grew rapidly. Child labor was common in mills, and the laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were lenient, permitting children to begin working at age 13, or at any age if they were orphans or had parents who could not work. Even these laws were not often enforced, and many children began working in the mills by age 10 and were "helping" years earlier. Factory inspection was not allowed, and employers had to "knowingly and willfully" violate the law before they could be prosecuted. Critics began speaking out against child labor in the mills almost as soon as it became common. Many objected on the grounds that it drove down wages for adult workers.
Question to Consider:
● Why do you think children were used to work in the mills?
● The author says that “many objected on the grounds that it drove down wages for adult workers”. Is that a reason why you would have thought people would be upset? Why or why not?
● How does this document help answer the question “How did technology impact life for children in N.C.?”
North Carolina's first cotton mills were built around 1880, and the industry grew rapidly. Child labor was common in mills, and the laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were lenient, permitting children to begin working at age 13, or at any age if they were orphans or had parents who could not work. Even these laws were not often enforced, and many children began working in the mills by age 10 and were "helping" years earlier. Factory inspection was not allowed, and employers had to "knowingly and willfully" violate the law before they could be prosecuted. Critics began speaking out against child labor in the mills almost as soon as it became common. Many objected on the grounds that it drove down wages for adult workers.
Question to Consider:
● Why do you think children were used to work in the mills?
● The author says that “many objected on the grounds that it drove down wages for adult workers”. Is that a reason why you would have thought people would be upset? Why or why not?
● How does this document help answer the question “How did technology impact life for children in N.C.?”