Children Robbed of Childhood
Child labor has been a big part of American history. You don’t have to back more than 60 years to find pictures of children 5 years of age picking cotton in the cotton fields of California. It wasn’t a matter of parents being cruel or mean, it was more about survival, traditions and habits. Some people had large families simply to help with the work and keep the family land and business. It was the only way to survive.During theIndustrial Revolutionthe children of America were truly exploited. Children had to work in factories, long hours and in unacceptable conditions. Sometimes children would be used because they were small enough to crawl in tiny spaces. Often it was simply necessary to keep the family fed. Sometimes, it was just considered the norm. Americans placed great value on hard work.So what changed? In the early 1900’s there were ripples. People began to be concerned thatchildrenwere missing out on even a primary education. Instead of learning basic math, reading and science, they were working long hours. There was very little pay. Not a lot was accomplished, but people were becoming more aware of the issue.They were being told that there was a problem with child labor.Two of the most formidable voices for the children were Florence Kelly and Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. Mary Harris needed a cause after her husband and children died of yellow fever. Because of their fight all but 9 states had passed laws setting the minimum age of 14, but it only applied in factories.If any good thing came from the Great Depression, it was a political change. With no money and very few jobs, child labor laws became a reality.TheFair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)was passed. It provided guidelines for the types of jobs, age of workers and working conditions for the young workers. The FLSA was a federal law, so it was imposed on all states. The laws remained standard for a very long time. There was a major revision done in 2010.The laws are hard to enforce, especially in rural locations in the agricultural areas where working on the family land is a revered tradition. Many children work harder and sooner than is allowed, but if they are able to attend school and keep the grades up in rural areas it’s mostly ignored.Sometimes motivating and enforcing laws based on specific morals and opinions are more specific to one area than another. At least standards and expectations have been set and children themselves can report infractions.
