Horrific Conditions 

 

During the Industrial Revolution, life was awful for most child workers. Children as young as three years old would often work ten to fourteen hours a day and be paid only two dollars a week. In coal mines, breaker boys as young as five years old had to work without gloves so their hands often became cracked, bloody and swollen from sorting. Occasionally, a boy would accidentally fall into a coal crusher and be ground to bits. Many were also injured or killed through poisonous gases released by coal mining, collapsed tunnels and explosions.

 

Mr. Von Schilling, now in his sixties, reflects on his experiences as a child laborer working in a coal mine. Click to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           

                                                           

                                                       Source: James Von Schilling Breaker Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVQBtrLXog&feature=youtu.be

             

 

In textile mills, working conditions weren't much better due to dangerous machinery. Children had a high risk of losing their fingers, experienced eyestrain from watching the rapidly spinning threads, and put up with poor ventilation. Child laborers who worked in sweatshops often worked in crowded tenements swarming with vermin and had to work behind locked doors to ensure that they worked for their full shift, which meant that there was no way to escape during fires or other emergencies.

 

Those who labored on city streets had to face extreme cold during the wintertime and were required to be on their feet for hours on end if they were employed to deliver messages or newspapers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At fifteen years old, Estelle Poiriere had her finger cut off when             Twelve-year old Clinton Stewart and his mowing machine which cut off

it got caught in a card machine she was working.                                        his hand. 

 

Source: http://www.demilked.com/usa-child-labour-lewis-hines/        Source: http://www.demilked.com/usa-child-labour-lewis-hines/