Activity
Day 1
1. Display on overhead:
In
1860 there were 900,000 factory jobs.
By 1890 there were 3.2 million.
Factory workers were, often, unskilled laborers who ‘tended’ to
machines.
Factory jobs were repetitive.
1890
Average work hours were 10-14 hours a day 6-7 days
a week. How many hours is this? (This equals 60-80
hours a week.) Depending on age and gender, pay
would
range from $3 to $12 dollars a week.
Average
yearly wage for an adult would be $400 - $500 a year.
Minimum annual income to maintain a decent standard of
living was $600 a year for a small family. The larger
the family the more expensive to
maintain
a
standard of living.
How
would you and your parents deal with this dilemma? Discuss..
(Answer: more family members working including
spouses and children)
2.
Have students look through their textbooks and read the
chapters pertaining to Industry
before 1900 and after
1900. Search for the following information:
- Wage
information comparing men to women.
- Wage
and age information for children.
Students
research information on a variety of jobs (including
sweatshop rates) if that is mentioned.
- Search
for wage differences between black and white workers.
- Search
for rent information to see if that was different in
cities between black and white families.
- Search
for wage or rent differences between immigrant groups.
Some
statistics can be shared later if not in your textbook:
1 of 5 women earned $6 - $8 a week. By 1900 20% of the workers
were
female.
In 1885,
there were
340,000 school age children in New York City. Of this number
90,000 held full time jobs. By 1910 1 out of 5 children below
the age
of 15
worked.
Sweatshop rates in 1910 for an average week of 100 hours
was $5. Rent could cost a
fifth
the earnings of white workers, while it would cost a third
to half the earnings of black workers. Days
2-4
3. Have students share information they found to create
a list of data on the board or using an overhead. Perhaps
a student can lead
the discussion
(ask
for a volunteer). List must be written in their notes.
4.
When done with the list, pose the following question
(to be written
in their notes):
What are the implications of children working full time?
Topics for discussion:
- Health
issues
- No
access to education
- How
can a child move ahead?
5.
New question:
What are the implications of a society of employees
working long hours for low wage, 6-7 days a week?
Topics for discussion:
- Discontent
- Depression
- Early
death
- Health
issues
6.
Final question:
What could be done to raise awareness to the problem
of worker conditions and what could be done to change
these
conditions?
7.
Class project: Students will conduct individual investigations
into different industries of the time. A
list is provided.
The teacher must
assign a topic
for students to explore. Information to gather is displayed
on Overhead 1. The student is to divide a sheet of
paper into six
parts to write
down their
notes. Images or photos collected must be on separate
sheets of paper and will be individually analyzed (Handout
1).
8.
Students will be given one day of library research
and one day for internet research to look for images
and additional
information (see
resources for
image websites).
Days
5-6
9. Students will be paired with another person who
investigated the same industry. They will create
a poster combining
their information and images.
Allow them
to arrange the data and images on their poster.
Day
7
10. Posters will be turned in and immediately displayed.
Another pair of students will conduct a critical
evaluation of a poster
(other than
their
own) on a
different industry.
11.
They will fill out two identical versions of Handout
2. When done, this analysis
will be
turned
in and given
to the
authors
of the poster
analyzed.
Closure
End by asking the question introduced in step 6:
What
could be done to raise awareness to the problem of
worker conditions and what could be done
to change these conditions?
The
following lesson will address these issues in depth. Homework
More research
if not completed in class or during library and computer time.
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