The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was an era of reform.  Muck-racking journalists to the corruption in city governments, brutal business practices employed by businessmen, and most importantly the exploitation of child labor.  Progressives enforced minimum wage laws for women workers, instituted industrial accident insurance, restricted child labor, and improved factory regulation.  The 1900 census reported that nearly 2 million children were working, making up six percent of America’s labor force.  Progressive reformers became alarmed at the growing number of child workers. They formed organizations in the early 1900s devoted to the healthy development of children.  Lewis Hines was one of the main contributors, he was hired by The National Child Labor Committee to photograph these children’s in their harsh work conditions. Hines was a school teacher who believed a picture could tell a powerful story, with that belief and his strong feeling against the abuse of children as workers he set out to be an investigative photographer. Hines also believed if the people could see the abuse and injustice of child labor then they would try to enforced a law against this cruelty. Grace Abbot was another progressive who promoted the end of abuse of child workers. She joined the department of labor and was assigned to the children's bureau. She soon started working on a law the would implement the first child labor federal law the would restrict child labor. Abbot also headed, in 1921, the children's bureau and led the the campaign for a constitutional  amendment limiting child labor. Although this amendment was never added it set a precedent for the new deal legislation regulating the labor of children under the age of 16. These people made a huge contribution to child labor. Without the progressive movement and everyone who contributed to it i am sure that child abuse in the working area would have gone on for much longer. We owe all of these people our thanks for what they did for our society in the 1800’s.


http://icue.nbcunifiles.com/icue/files/icue/site/pdf/6225.pdf

http://www.eiu.edu/eiutps/childhood.php

http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/hine.htm