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Child Labor in Rural America Lesson
Since the early days of America’s colonization, families have worked together on farms in rural America. During the 18th, 19th, and early years of the 20th centuries, children were expected to help with the work, learning to do chores as soon as they were old enough to carry buckets or pull weeds.
It was believed that children needed to begin learning these necessary skills at an early age. Many were also expected to contribute to their family's survival. By the time children were old enough to attend school, many had learned to do their jobs so well that their families depended on them to continue helping on the farm. They could not afford to let their children attend school if there was work to be done. For many families school was simply a luxury they could not afford.
Children from poor families often were forced to labor at a very young age, sometimes as young as 4 and 5. Farms were not the only place where children worked in rural America. Many children learned alongside their parents who took them to work in fields, mines, and canneries.
Oyster shuckers in a canning factory often worked 13 hours a day.
Fishing industries near the coast frequently used child labor. Factories that canned fish, shrimp, sardines and oysters hired children to work long hours at dangerous jobs. Boys and girls as young as 7 years old worked with razor-sharp knives as fish cutters. Some began working before daylight and worked until nightfall. Their wages were often less than 50 cents a day. The money they earned would help their families buy food and pay the rent.
In rural areas where coal mines provided a living, young boys often worked long days deep underground. The work was hard, dangerous, and dirty. The air was filled with black dust which caused the miners to cough and choke. It was sometimes difficult to see. Accidents were common. Miners frequently died at an early age from lung diseases they got from breathing the coal dust.
The children who worked 12-13 hours a day or more, six days a week, in farm fields, canneries, and coal mines did not want to work. They wanted to go to school and learn to read and write. They wanted to play games and have fun with other children. Sadly, many of them knew no other way of life.
*rural: countryside or in the country *luxury: an extra treat Photographs by Lewis W. Hine)
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