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How Did Florence Kelley Child Labor

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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

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