Contextualization: Child Labor
WORLD HISTORY PROJECTAP/ LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABORUnless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Contextualization: Child Labor”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/1PurposeIn this activity, you’ll use the historical thinking practice of contextualization to understand how and why ideas about childhood began to change during this period. People today generally think of childhood as a distinct stage in the development process to becoming adults; however, this is a relatively recent way of thinking. By contextualizing this period, you’ll understand why these changes took place in the nineteenth century, and how they prompted industrial societies to see child labor as problematicin a way previous societies had not.PracticesClaim testing, causationYou’ll use your claim-testing skills to determine the best information to use to answer the prompt and contextualize the changes that occurred regarding child labor. You’ll also examine the time period in which these changes occurred to determine what historical events or processes caused these reforms to take place.ProcessIn this activity, you will use the event cards to complete the Contextualization Tool. Then, you’ll use the information from your completed tools and evidence from the article “Child Labor” to write a one-to two-paragraph response that answers the following question:What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?First, look at the pictures and read the passage below:Imagine you’re 8 years old and living in the nineteenth century. But instead of getting up and getting ready to go to school,you are getting up to go to work. At 4:00 AM! If you were a boy, there was a good chance you were headed off to a coal mine, whereyou would put in 13 hours or more. Coal mines were extremely dangerous and unhealthy with cramped passages, toxic coal dust, and explosive coal gas. And if you were a boy or girl who lived in the city,you were probably headed off to a textile (clothing) factory, also very unhealthy and dangerous. Now, that might sound awful—and to be clear, it was—but before the second half of the nineteenth century, the concept of “childhood” didn’t really exist. Children were expected to contribute to the economic well-being of the family. For most of human history, that meant helping secure and produce food. After the Industrial Revolution, it also meant mine or factory work to earn a meager wage for your family, but a nice profit for the mine or factory owner.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR2“Breaker Boys,” Pittston, PA, 1911. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Image courtesy of National Archives at College Park, Departmentof Commerce and Labor, Children’s Bureau, Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Group_of_breaker_boys._Smallest_is_Sam_Belloma._Pittston,_Pa._-_NARA_-_523383.jpg
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR3Pennsylvania coal breakers (Breaker Boys), 1912. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pennsylvania_coal_breakers,_(Breaker_Boys),_1912.jpg
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR4Children working in a textile mill, Macon, Georgia, 1909. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Image courtesy of the US Library of Congress. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mill_Children_in_Macon.jpg
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR5Next, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Contextualization—Child Labor worksheet. You should be familiar with the Contextualization Tool, which is included in the worksheet. Your teacher may ask you to work in pairs or in small groups to complete the tool.First, write the dates and locations where child labor occurred in industrialized countries (c. 1750 to c. 1900, mainly in Europe and North America), and then divide the event cards into broad and narrow context.You’ll share your broad and narrow context with the class by placing your event cards on the funnel on the board. Be sure to share your reasons for categorizing your event cards as broad or narrow context. You are allowed to move any event cards that you think were placed incorrectly by the prior group, but you must provide justification for doing so. After your group has moved any of the previous group’s event cards then you can place twoof your event cards that are not already up on the funnel and explain your reasoning to the class. Then, return to your group to answer the remaining questions on the tool.Finally, use your descriptions of broad and narrow context on the tool and information from the “Child Labor” article to individually write a one-to two-paragraph response to the question posed at the beginning of this activity:What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?Your thesis statements should be one or two sentences that directly answer the question being asked. Be sure to include evidence from your completed tools and the “Child Labor” article to support your thesis statement including information about the temporal (time), spatial (location), and cultural context, as well as this topic’s connection to the AP® themes. Your teacher will collect your completed worksheets and paragraphs to assess how your contextualization skills are progressing.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECTAP/ LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOREVENT CARDS6New technology was createdduringtheIndustrial Revolution including machinespoweredbysteam enginesthatwerehousedin factories to produce goods.Working conditions in factoriesandmineswere horrible,withwomenand childrenpaidafractionof men’s wages.Manyadult factoryand mine workers became upset that industrial capitalists were hiring more children to fill positionsbecausetheycould be paid less than adults.Industrial accidents happenedfrequentlyand manyworkers,including children, were seriously injured.Industrialization began in Great Britain in the mid-eighteenth century and quickly spread to other areasofEuropeandNorth America.Familiesbeganmoving near factories to find employment.Factories were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week inordertomaximizeprofits. Workers,includingchildren, oftenworked12to13hours a day.Reformers, many of whom werewomendisgustedwith the working conditions, low pay, and health concerns associated with factoryand mining work, began organizingtodemandchanges to labor laws.Children often went toworkinfactoriesandmines wheretheywereseparated from their families.Factorieswerebuiltacross Europe and along the northeast coast of North America.Reporters and reformers beganusingnewtechnology like photography to show the deplorable conditions in which children worked.Miningwasessentialto procurethefossilfuels necessarytopowerthe factories and industrial machines.For centuries, children worked alongside their families either on farms or inthehomecraftingartisan goods.Industrial capitalists paid factoryworkerslowwages to operate the machines in order to maximize profits.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR7CONTEXTUALIZATION TOOLDirections:Respond to each of the prompts below.1.Write the date(s) and location(s) of the historical event being studied.2.Take the event cards and divide them up into broad and narrow context.3.Place them on the funnel in their appropriate location. Be prepared to explain your placement.4.Write one to two sentences that describe the broad context.5.Write one to two sentences that describe the narrow context.Broad: Does the context represent broader themes, trends, events, eras, or regions related to the historical development at hand?Does it represent a long-term (underlying) cause or contributing factor?Narrow: Does the context represent themes, trends, events, eras, or regions that are more closely tied in time/place to the historical development at hand?Does it help us see the short-term (immediate) causes or contributing factors?
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR86.Write one to two sentences analyzing how the broad and narrow context help you better understand the historical event.7.Use information from the Contextualization Tool and the article “Child Labor” to write a one-to two-paragraph response that answers the following prompt: What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.9ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: CHILD LABOR9Historical Event/DevelopmentBroadContextNarrowContext