Florence Kelley was born on September 12, 1859 in Philadelphia and she would later become a famous child welfare advocate and social reformer. She was born to U.S. congressman William Darrah Kelley, who was a founding member of the Republican party, a radical deconstructionist, and an abolitionist. When Kelley was a child her father would take her to see the young boys working at the factories in dangerous conditions, to teach her about child laborers. Through her fathers influence and reading various books of her father’s on social reform, human rights and slavery, Kelley focused on advocacy for child labor reform. In 1876, Kelley enrolled at Cornell University and a few years later, moved to Europe and attended the University of Zürich. While …show more content…
The NLC, started by Josephine Shaw Lowell, encouraged people to buy products only from companies that met the NCL’s requirements for minimum wage and working conditions. One important thing the NCL did was the White Label. Factories, companies and employers who met the standards of the NCL by following the labor laws and keeping safe working conditions, were able to to display the White Label. NCL members urged citizens to boycott products that did not have a white label. Kelley went all over the country giving lectures and presentations in order to raise awareness of the working conditions in America. She led campaigns that changed the conditions in factories and places where goods were produced, to a high quality of standards and …show more content…
Kelley focusing on efforts to improve working conditions for women. Of coarse she met numerous obstacles that would make her influence and job very difficult. A large obstacle for Kelley was the repeated statements by the U.S. Supreme Court that legislative reforms, on a state or federal level, were unconstitutional. Kelley never gave up and each time an important case was in front of the Supreme Court, she prepared herself the best she possibly could have in order to defend it. When she finally was able to use field studies, scientific date and statistical evidence to support her arguments, her and Josephine Clara Goldmark made legal history with the Muller v. Oregon case. Kelley proved through an extensive range of evidence that long working days (12 to 14 hours) had a negative effect on women’s health. The Supreme Court declared the legality of a ten-hour work day for women which came as a huge win for Kelley. This victory was not only important in regulating women’s work, but also for the improvement of general working conditions in America. Her long fight to ban child labor finally resulted in Congress passing the Fair Labor Standards Act in
In the trial, Louis D. Brandeis defended the law successfully getting a vote of 9-0 that upheld the Oregon law, which made it to where women could not work for more than 10 hours a day. Brandeis showed the link between long work hours and women's health and explained that Oregon's law is a valid use of power. So his argument appealed to the court and influenced the final decision. In the end, a 9-0 vote upheld the Oregon law and successfully convicted Muller.
Such laws included maximum hours employees could work in a week. In Lochner v. New York (1905) the Supreme Court struck down time restrictions and declared them a violation to The Fourteenth Amendment under the due process clause. Lochner coincided with Adair in overturning a check on businesses, yet inconsistencies followed displaying the court's slow transition. Although the Court ruled in favor of the employer in Lochner, a later decision in Muller v. Oregon (1908) the ruling fell against the business owner. The court concluded a fine placed on Muller for his failure to comply with Oregon law's concerning women's work hours was constitutional. Though the later ruling seemingly contradicts the first, due to legal president argued, Muller did not overturn Lochner. The Brandies Brief which echoed the modernization of the time, not only included law, but phycological reasoning. The weaker status of the female anatomy enabled lawmakers to continue enforcing time restrictions on women for their health and in turn society's
Madam C. J. Walker was born on December 23rd, 1867 as Sarah Breedlove, to Owen and Minerva Breedlove, who were former slaves enslaved to Robert W. Burney’s Madison Parish. She was the first of child born into freedom among her five siblings, after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Her siblings included one older sister, Louvenia and four brethren: James, Solomon, Owen Jr. and Alexander. At six years of age, her mother passed away probably
Throughout history, the topic of suitable working conditions on children has been a prominent issue in regards to the limit of their actions. Nearly 2 million of America's laborers ranged within the ages of six and sixteen, which are considered to be crucial years for intellectual and social development. Instead of implementing the children’s time in necessary educational matters, their time was spent crafting society’s “stockings” and “artificial flowers”. One particular social worker and reformer, Florence Kelley, strived to bring attention to the tedious working hours abhorred by children in a speech presented at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In order to convey her message in an effective matter, Kelley
Florence Kelley, an active social worker and reformer of the 20th century, rants over the horrendous working conditions kids must endure. She presents this in her speech before National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia, which provides context and credibility for her argument. Kelley argues clearly of the terrible conditions and work hours kids suffer to bring about her message of, “enlisting the workingmen voters.” This is essentially to free the kids from the disastrous issue through her usage of credibility, empathetic tone to strike the audience, and her usage of examples of their conditions and state rules to support her message and purpose.
Bowen was a suffragette, author, children’s activist, philanthropist, feminist, wife, and mother of four, Bowen committed herself to helping those less fortunate. She wrote Safeguard for Youth at Work or at Play addressed the need for regulating drugs and providing a better environment for all children. Growing Up with a City discussed Louise’s involvement in the struggle for women’s and children’s rights. At the time, children were treated unequally within the legal system; thus, Bowen, along with other women who were reformers and the Chicago Bar Association, fought to separate delinquent children from adult offenders. The JPA disseminated public health and social welfare papers, and Louise served as president of the JPA for 25 years. Bowen, not only worked for the rights of young delinquents, but also encouraged young women to seek employment in government. She wanted to show that woman too had an opportunity to become involved in any form of government. Her
In the middle of the speech, Florence Kelley states the situation regarding the legality of child labor in many states, using firm facts, doleful repetition, and ironic diction to arouse within the audience a sympathetic response to want the children removed from their harmful situations along with the logical response of wanting to repeal the laws associated with allowing children in damaging manufacturing industries. Kelley employs several examples of different laws in different states allowing children to work long hours at young ages. One example given describes even the lack of restrictions on child labor whatsoever. “In Georgia there is no restriction whatever! A girl of six or seven years…may work eleven hours by day or by night.” Utilizing
As the economic changes swept through America with the Industrial Revolution, so did society and the traditional roles of men and women. These changes hit the lower class women particularly hard because not only did they have to work long hours at a factory; they also had to maintain the household as traditions required of women. With all of these responsibilities that women now had, perhaps the strain hit women because rarely had they been required to do so much. Oregon saw this and created a law in 1903 that stated that women were only allowed to work a maximum of ten hours a day. Similar laws had been passed in other states so it made some people wonder, did the Oregon law violate the women's freedom of
One of the many social issues in the early twentieth century involved child labor. Florence Kelley, a United States social worker and reformer, fought successfully for child labor laws as well as improving conditions for working women. Her 1905 speech to the National American Woman Suffrage Association possessed a powerful message towards freeing the children who suffer hours of work producing products for the people to use. She captured her audience by helping them realize the difficulties children faced day and night and presented the solution to the problem. Kelley precisely weaved her rhetorical strategies together with ethos, pathos, and logos to deliver an inspiring speech and furthermore submit a solution that would help children in the present and future.
Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. Throughout her speech to the Philadelphia Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she stresses the importance of changing the working conditions that are in place for children. By using child labor as her baseline, Kelley is able to talk about her main point, which is her suggestion for women’s rights with the help of repetition, strong word choice, and opposition.
This could take the pressure off a child with an injury that could hinder their work and therefore affect the amount of money they can earn for their families. Another contribution of hers is when she “advocated the establishment of a national Children’s Bureau- an agency that would promote the general welfare of children. Kelley’s efforts paid off in 1912 with the establishment of the United States Children’s Bureau” (“Florence Kelley”, 2001). This bureau gave working children the protection they needed while working in such dangerous conditions such as factories and warehouses. Another one of her contributions is “...when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act.
and Susie E. Perkins were blessed with a baby girl, who they named Fannie Coralie Perkins or as her parents spelled it, Fanny. Several years after Fannie was born, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins moved their family to Worcester Massachusetts, where their next child Ethel Perkins was born (Martin, 1976 p. 41). Fanny named after her mother’s older sister (Martin, 1976 p. 42) was always a curious and questioning child with big dreams and ideas. Growing up in the post-Civil War era into the peak of the Second Industrial Revolution, Perkins became exposed to the many social ills of her time. Due to this, the road to the Secretary of Labor for Frances became a long one.
Grace Abbott was born on Novemebr 17, 1878 in Grand Island, Nebraska to Lizzie and Othman. Grace grew up to be a spectacular human being who strived to make a change in this world, and she did so. Grace was a leading social reformer, who formed the Immigrants Protective League in 1909. Grace was the perfect candidate for something like this because she fought so hard for several years to improve and protect the lives of immigrants in the United States, which is what is so empowering to learn about due to her commitment in the field of Social Work. Grace Abbott didn’t stop there with her plans on changing the world, it wasn’t to shortly afterwards that she had moved to Washington D.C., to be a director of the Childrens Bureau.
On February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts, a woman by the name of Susan Brownell Anthony was born to parents Daniel and Lucy (Read) Anthony. She was the second born of a strongly rooted Quaker family of eight (Hist.Bio.-1). Because they lived in a Quaker neighborhood, Susan was not heavily exposed to slavery. The family made anti-slavery talks an almost daily conversation over the dinner table. She also saw men and women on the same level (Stoddard 36). “A hard working father, who was not only a cotton manufacturer, but a Quaker Abolitionist also, prevented his children from what he called childish things such as toys, games and music. He felt that they would distract his children from reaching their peak of
The women who founded and joined this club did this in hopes of an eight-hour workday, improved working environments, and an increase in wages. In 1908, the WTUL won a small victory with the Supreme court case Muller v. Oregon. This case is what established the 10-hour workday for women in Oregon. There was also pensions created by activists for women and widows to help support them. These women activists also provided support for the Children’s Bureau in the Department of Commerce and Labor which aided the fight to ban child labor. Following, this federal movement Congress passed a law banning child labor of children under the age of fourteen and the Shepherd-Towner Act which provided mothers with information on infant and maternal health