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...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Giving Voice to Child Laborers Through Monologues
Contains plans for eight 45-minute lessons that ask students to write monologues from different perspectives in the child labor debate. In addition to student objectives and standards, these instructional plans contains links to PDF...
United Nations
United Nations: Children's Rights
Informative explanation from the United Nations about what children's rights are, the role that the U.N. is playing, and the current status of children's rights. (Published 1995)
United Nations
United Nations Cyberschoolbus: Child Labor Briefing Paper for Students
This site from the UN Cyberschool program provides a briefing for students on the global struggle against forced child labor. In addition to basic facts, it presents the personal stories of children, suggestions for further action,...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Progressive Movement 1890 1920: Progressivism at the Grassroots Level
Read about some of the grassroots movements at the heart of Progressivism, and the changes they were pushing for and what they accomplished. Discusses labor issues, including the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Also discusses...
C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: Inquiries: Global Trade
A learning module on global trade. It includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Students investigate what countries export and import, the factors...
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
Holmes Safety Association Bulletin: The Boys in the Breakers [Pdf]
A heartbreaking account of child labor in the coal mines at the turn of the century - 1904. Click on the article title in the table of contents to read this account published in 1904 by Peter Roberts.
University of Iowa
U Iowa: Continue to Learn: Child Labor Public Education Project: Causes
An article going into depth identifying what the causes are that have led to child labor still existing around the world in the 21st Century despite many laws and regulations.
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Art Appreciation: Unit 7: Photography
In this seventh and final unit of a course on Art Appreciation, students learn about photography and significant photographers. This is followed by a discussion of television and film. Students will learn terminology used, technical...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Child Labor in America
Historical photographs provide students with a firsthand look at the issue of child labor during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In this lesson plan, students will use photographs to further understanding of the...
Science Museum, London
Science Museum: Making the Modern World: Textiles: Domestic v Factory Production
Twelve-part learning module uses text-based overviews and rich media cut-away scenes to explain the role of the textile industry in driving the Industrial Revolution forward in Britain.
Other
Modern World History: Responses to the Industrial Revolution
This section of the text looks at how workers, owners, and the government responded differently to the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution. The Luddites rebelled against industrialization. Robert Owen, a wealthy socialist,...
Other
Modern World History: Effects of the Industrial Revolution
In this textbook unit, students learn about working and living conditions during the Industrial Revolution, the growth of cities, public health issues that emerged, child labor, the impact of factory work on families and on women, the...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Classic Reader provides numerous classic works from famous authors. First published as a serial in the Appeal to Reason 1905, one work is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. It exposed harsh working conditions in the meat packing industry.
Other
Kid Citizen: Congress and Child Labor
Congress is made up of a group of people who work together to improve the quality of lives of citizens throughout the nation. Long ago Congress decided that it was important to pass labor laws to protect children. Why did they think that...
British Library
British Library: Blake's 'The Chimney Sweeper': Literature & Injustice
In this lesson, students 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...
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley dedicated her life to social reform. She worked to end many social problems, including labor and racial discrimination.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History Unit: Period 7: 1890 1945: Muckrakers
The study resource from Khan Academy provides an overview of Period 7: 1890-1945 in American History. The Progressive Era's muckrakers are discussed in this lesson. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US History Test.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: America at the Centennial
A lesson plan requiring student to analyze primary documents from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Learners interpret what these historical artifacts say "about the lives and values of Americans in 1876" among other things.
Digital History
Digital History: National Recovery Administration
Resource provides an overview of the codes set by the National Recovery Administration that helped industry and labor in the 1930s and their positive and negative affects.
National Archives (UK)
National Archives: Victorian Britain: Industrial Nation
Mining in England early in the Industrial Revolution was very dangerous. Source 4 presents clippings from Lord Ashley's report illustrating the conditions of working in mines and factories in the early-mid nineteenth century England....
Library of Congress
Loc: National Child Labor Committee Collection
Newspaper clipping from 1911 illustrating the dangers of children working in factories while the Congresswas investigating the concerns voiced by families of workers.