23/11/15
Lesson 2: People and Machine pt.2
Learning Objective: I can assess impact of early industrial labor on British society and family.
DA: Explain why analyzing the concept of labor rights is an important aspect of the Industrial Revolution in England.
DA: Explain why analyzing the concept of labor rights is an important aspect of the Industrial Revolution in England.
Historical Background: Read individually or as a class.
- Conditions in factories were poor and machines could be unsafe.
- Long hours which meant exploitation of works, women/children, but demand for labor was high.
- Children were put to work asap, 4-8 yrs old.
- Few children gained much education, working mothers had to leave their children with relatives.
- Children were employed in numerous industries; wool, cotton, silk, lace-making, knitting (age 4), metal trades, and mining.
- Working in mines usually paid more. Men, called "colliers" mined the coal from the rock, while woman and children "hurriers" hauled coal through the tunnels to the surface.
- Working conditions improved when parliament passed numerous labor laws;
- 1832, Factory Act-Restricting hours of children. 1847, woman/children under age of eighteen could only work ten hour days and in 1867 all factory employment was reduced to ten hours.
- 1842, Children's Employment Act-Prohibited women, boy/girls under ten from working underground in coal mines.
- Poor working conditions persisted in the mines.
- Although parliament passed anti-child labor laws, exploitation of cheap child labor continued. For example, children could perform jobs better than adults based on their size, such as chimney sweeping. Many boys were crippled or killed in chimneys before a law was passed in 1875.
Activity: Break into groups of two and summarize (google doc) primary source documents 1-3, 4-9; discussing issues, view points and bias (minimum one paragraph for each document). Download document below: FYI, the primary sources are a collection of Parliamentary Papers which in this case are documents from external sources presented to the Parliament.
primary_sources.pdf | |
File Size: | 46 kb |
File Type: |
Discussion questions: Answer the following questions within your groups. Please include your responses on the google doc created from the previous activity.
Activity/HW: Working independently, identify and summarize (minimum 200 words) a modern example of exploitation of women or children in the workplace and upload to google drive. Also, look to identify similarities between your example and labor issues during the Industrial Revolution. Don't forget to include your MLA citation.
- Why were people upset by the conditions in the mines and chimneys?
- Who objected to women working? To children working? Who did not object?
- Were women who worked underground considered immoral? Why? What would we think today?
- What jobs did children do?
- Did the children have much education?
- Do you think that the information recorded is correct or accurate?
- What were common views of the time about children working?
- How were people limited by their choice of work? What effect did this have?
- Do you think that preventing women and children working underground improved their lives? If so how?
- How could life have been improved for older children still working underground?
- How might work have affected people's health?
- How much change has there been since the nineteenth century in attitudes towards working conditions and working hours? In many household today both parents work. How do you feel about this? Is the idea of women working in mines today controversial?
Activity/HW: Working independently, identify and summarize (minimum 200 words) a modern example of exploitation of women or children in the workplace and upload to google drive. Also, look to identify similarities between your example and labor issues during the Industrial Revolution. Don't forget to include your MLA citation.