Child Labor

State Regulations and Culture

Materials:

Objective:

- After looking at maps showing the distribution of ages and grades of children that work in child labor, students will be able to explain at least one reason why two different states have different age requirements for child labor (SS.4.16).

- After looking at maps and having a class discussion, students will be able to cite at least two maps to answer how the demographic of a specific state influenced the age requirements for child labor (SS.4.22).

 

Description of Activity:

- Teacher will discuss with students about how different areas of the United States had different rules for Child Labor. Refer to the maps and discuss why certain areas would have different regulations. For example, Texas had no grade requirement for children under the age of 16 to go to work, whereas Iowa says that children have to be in at least sixth grade to miss school to go to work. The teacher could ask the students why they think it is this way. (What different jobs did students do in Texas compared to Iowa? What was the cultural differences in Texas vs. Iowa?) Then, the teacher will ask the question, why do we think that different states had different rules? We don’t actually know exactly why they were less strict in the southern states. However, maybe Texas’s laws were looser because they didn’t care as much about black and brown kids. Slavery was still taking place, and was more prominent in the south. (Child Labor: Facts and Figures, pg. 38-48).

 

- After the discussion, the teacher will ask the students to do some research about different state’s regulations for Child Labor during the Progressive Era. The students will have access to technology in order to pull up the following resources: PDF copy of Child Labor: Facts and Figures and maps from the resources. It will be up to the teacher to decide which pages will benefit their students. The students will look at the resources, and make connections to the culture of certain states, and how that related to the rules and regulations of Child Labor.

 

- After they spend some time researching, and finding information, the teacher will ask the students to write a paragraph about how the culture of specific states affects their rules for Child Labor.

Assessment:

  Students will write a paragraph about how the culture of specific states affects different states rules and regulations of Child Labor during the Progressive Era.

Checklist: