Child Labor
Supporting Questions Addressed
1. What were key social movements of the Progressive Era?
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Child Labor
2. Who was involved?
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Grave Abbott
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John Spargo
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Jane Addams
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Lewis Hine
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President Theodore Roosevelt
3. How did social movements work? How were they operated? What was successful?
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The National Child Labor Committee Legislation Efforts were successful in advertising and fighting for legislation to pass.
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Books and publication were successful in unveiling the realities of the labor force.
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Graphic images were successful in revealing life in child labor.
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The individual picket efforts or walkouts were unsuccessful. They did not catch the attention of public and political figures.
4. Why were social movements started/necessary?
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Children were getting injured, killed, or not getting an education.
Child Labor Overview:
These lessons allow students to experience similar conditions to factory life for children during the Progressive Era through a simulation. Students are able to debrief and ask questions before starting the next portion of the lesson. The second portion of the lesson includes sorting a variety of documents in chronological order. As a class they will go through the documents, talking about their importance and impact on child labor in the Progressive Era. The assessment of this lesson requires students to create a historically fictional character biography based on the documents using key terms, opinions, and voice.