British Library
British Library: Blake's 'The Chimney Sweeper': Literature & Injustice
In this lesson, learners will explore sources related to the lives of chimney sweepers in the early 19th century, highlighting the conditions endured by the children whose plight William Blake highlights in his 'Chimney Sweeper' poems.[PDF]
British Library
British Library: Barrett Browning's Poetry: Social & Political Commentary
Elizabeth Barrett Browning gave a voice, in her poems, to many of those oppressed by contemporary injustice: child laborers, the poor, and the enslaved. In this lesson, students will give these voices dramatic form, using the techniques...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Organized Labor
Industrial workers, as industry emerged and grew in the last half of the 19th century, did not profit as the business tycoons did. Read about the very beginnings of attempts to organize as a force to demand higher wages, a shorter work...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Yearning to Breathe Free Webisode 10
This wonderful website, Freedom, a History of US, based on the series by Joy Hakim, presents the tenth webisode, Yearning to be Breathe Free. Through text, photographs, and audio segments you can get a good picture of the state of...
Other
On the Lower East Side: Observations of Life in Lower Manhattan
Links to contemporary essays about life on the Lower East Side of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These essays cover a range of topics and are well worth exploring to find out what problems writers were exposing...
Other
Msha's Page for Kids: The Dirty Children
A report on the terrible conditions children had to face in the coal mines during the late 19th century.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Education
A result of one of the social reforms that attacked child labor was the increase in public education. See how education for all was addressed in the late 19th century, and read about the increased availability of higher education for...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Religious Revival: The "Social Gospel"
Social reform and teaching in the church which reflected social reform joined forces in latter part of the 19th century. Read about how an urban revivalist movement addressed such problems as poverty, child labor, and working conditions.