Immigrants often had a hard time making a living when they arrived in America. As newcomers, lacking education and skills, they had to compete with each other for the lowest-paying job. (1)
A man could work twelve or fourteen hours a day and still not earn enough to support his family. Everyone had to help out. (2)
Working children were common everywhere. Kids eight or ten years old worked in factories, warehouses, laundries, and stores. They ran errands, delivered packages, hauled coal and firewood, sold newspapers, shined shoes. Almost everyone over fourteen was employed full time. Youngsters under fourteen were supposed to be in school, but the law was not strictly enforced. (3)
In 1890, an investigation by the Working Women’s Society of New York found that a majority of salesgirls and cashiers in retail stores were under age:
The girls are sent to the store before they have fairly entered their teens, because the money they earn there is needed for the support of the family. …To keep their places they are told to lie about their age and say they are over fourteen…. The Women’s Investigating Committee found the majority of the children employed in the stores to be under age, but heard only a single instance of the truant officers calling. In that case they came once a year and sent the youngest children home; but in a month’s time they were all back in their places and were not again disturbed. (4)
When it comes to factories, where hard physical labor is added to the long hours, stifling rooms, and starvation wages, matters are even worse. In
factories, the legal workday was ten hours a day, six days a week. Children under sixteen could not be employed unless they could read and write English. Children under fourteen could not legally be employed at all. But in factories as well as retail stores, the law was often ignored. (5)
Pauline Newman was an immigrant child who worked in a New York City clothing factory:
It was child’s work, since we were all children. We had a corner in the factory which was like a kindergarten. The work wasn’t difficult. The shirtwaist finished by the [sewing machine] operator would come to us, so we could cut off the thread left by the needle of the machine. You had little scissors because you were children. (6)
Somehow the employer knew when the inspector was coming. Materials came in high wooden cases, and when the inspector came we were put into them and covered with shirtwaists. By the time he arrived, there were no children.
In the busy season, we worked seven days a week. That’s why the sign went up on the freight elevator: If You Don’t Come In On Sunday, Don’t Come In On Monday. (7) / (1)What’s the author telling us so far?
When the immigrants came to America, they couldn’t make much money because they weren’t educated or trained enough to get even a bad job over someone else who had more skills. I wonder if that’s the main idea. I am going to read a little further before I decide.
(2) What’s this about?
To me this is saying that the man couldn’t get a job that paid enough so even when the man works hard he can’t make enough to live on so everyone had to help out by working.
(3)So what do we know about the immigrant children working?
It wasn’t unusual to see children working to help their family make a living. Once a child was fourteen, he/she probably had a job. It stated in the text that there were laws saying that children were supposed to be in school until they were over 14 but many worked instead. Children worked all kinds of jobs to make money for the family. Now I’m thinking that immigrant children working could be the main idea of this chapter. (Write on graphic organize-When immigrants came to America, many of the children didn’t attend school because they needed to work to help support the family.)
(4)Tell me about this Working Women’s Society of New York. (Follow up query) What’s going on in the stores?
A group of women did some checking to see how many of the girls working in the stores were under fourteen and they found that most of them were. They were sent to work to help make enough money for the family to survive. Even though they were breaking the law, they usually got away with it because they lied about their age and the officers hardly ever came to check on them. If they did, the under age children were sent away but always came back to work again. A detail that supports my main idea could be that under-aged girls lied about their age to work in stores. (Write this on the graphic organizer.)
(5)Do you notice anything that’s the same here as what you read in the last paragraph? (Follow up query) Tell me about the children’s workday.
There were laws about children working in the factories just like there were about children working in the stores. These laws weren’t enforced either.
The workday was very long even if you worked the amount of hours that were legal because ten hours a day, six days a week is a lot of hours to work. (Write on graphic organizer these two details:
- Under-aged children worked in factories for long hours.
- Laws about children working were ignored.)
The work was easy for the children. They put them in the corner and had them cut off the extra thread on the shirts that were being sewn. Since this is still about children working in the factories, I don’t think I’ll add anything from this section to my graphic organizer.
(7)What’s this section all about?
When the inspector came to the factory, the children had to hide in big wooden cases under the shirtwaists that were being made in the factory. During the busy season, the work hours got even longer. Everyone was expected to work seven days a week. I think there are two important details in this section. First, I will write, “Children working in the factories had to hide in wooden cases covered with shirtwaists when the inspector came.”. Next, I will write, “Children had to work seven days a week during the busy season.”. (Add to graphic organizer.)
While doing a think-aloud, use the graphic organizer to write a short summary about this first close read. (A summary is a good way to show understanding of Main Idea and Details or what the text says.)
When immigrants came to live in America, many of the children had to work to help support the family. In order for children to get an education, there were laws about children under the age of fourteen working; however, these laws weren’t enforced so they were broken. Young girls lied about their age so that they could work in stores. Children worked long hours in factories, hiding in wooden cases under shirtwaists whenever the inspector came in. During the busy season, children were often expected to work seven days a week.