HERB: Resources for Teachers

A Southern Cotton Mill Owner Justifies Child Labor

Daniel Augustus Tompkins was an owner and investor in numerous cotton mills in North Carolina. His beliefs reflected those of many mill owners, who argued in favor of child labor.

Tags: Child Labor
Item Type: Government Document
Date: 1901

A South Carolina Textile Mill Owner Explains Child Labor

In 1914 members of Congress were preparing to vote on the the Palmer-Owen Child Labor Bill, which would have banned interstate commerce in goods produced using the labor of children. Lewis Parker was the owner and manager of several textile mills, and he testified before the Congressional Committee on Labor about why his mills used children as…

Tags: Child Labor, Work
Item Type: Government Document
Date: 1914

Jacob Riis Describes "The Street Arab"

In this excerpt from How the Other Half Lives, his famous 1890 book about urban poverty, Jacob Riis describes the army of young newsboys and bootblacks who worked and lived in Manhattan's streets. Later in the book, Riis praises the work of the Children'a Aid Society in providing decent shelter and other assistance to these working children.

Tags: Progressivism
Item Type: Book (excerpt)
Date: 1890

A Reformer Describes Child Labor in the Coal Mines

John Spargo's The Bitter Cry of Children, published in 1906, was among the most influential and widely read accounts of child labor written during the Progressive era. Spargo described work at the coal breaker, the area outside the mine where coal was sorted and organized according to its quality, mostly by young children.

Tags: Child Labor, Progressivism, Work
Item Type: Book (excerpt)
Date: 1906

Background Essay and Worksheet on Immigrant Working Women

This is a shortened, edited version of Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars (excerpt) used in The Pay Envelope: A Role Play activity. It helps students to determine the main ideas of the text by matching summary statements to the paragraphs in which they appear.

Tags: Gender and Sexuality, Immigration and Migration, Work
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

"Life in the Shop" Analysis Worksheet

This worksheet helps students to determine the central ideas and information in "Life in the Shop": The Story of an Immigrant Garment Worker.

Tags: Common Core Reading, Gender and Sexuality, Work
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

"The Story of Sadie Frowne" Analysis Worksheet

This worksheet helps students to determine the main ideas in The Story of Sadie Frowne, A Brooklyn Sweatshop Girl.

Tags: Gender and Sexuality, Work
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

Farm vs. Factory: Citing Evidence Answer Key

This sheet provides answers for the classroom activity Farm vs. Factory: Citing Evidence.

Tags: Common Core Reading, Common Core Writing, Lowell, Work
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

Farm vs. Factory: Finding and Citing Evidence Worksheet

This worksheet helps students to gather evidence from two primary documents from young women who worked in the textile factories of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the 1830s and 1840s, and use that evidence in a paragraph.

Tags: Common Core Reading, Common Core Writing, Lowell, Work
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

Farm vs. Factory: Constructing a Paragraph Worksheet

This worksheet helps students to understand the component parts of a paragraph (claim/counterclaim, supporting details, conclusion/summary) using a paragraph about a cover image from The Lowell Offering.The Lowell Offeringwas a monthly magazine written by the young women who worked in the Lowell textile mills and published from 1840 to 1845.

Tags: Common Core Writing, Lowell
Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2012

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