Florence Kelley
Leader, Supporter, Reformer
Secondary Sources
What was Florence Kelley trying to reform? What methods did she use to achieve her goal? What impact did she have on her reform movement?
In 1892 she conducted investigations into slum conditions in Chicago and into sweatshops in the tenements, and she wrote an extended report on the sweatshop problem (britannica.com). Her recommendations were then adopted by the Illinois legislature, which in 1893 passed a law limiting women and children's working hours to 8 a day, prohibiting sweatshops, and creating a factory inspector's office with a staff of 12, half of them had to be women (ebscohost.com).
In 1899 Kelley moved to New York City to become general secretary of the new National Consumers League. She worked to promote federal legislation on hours-and-wages and child labour, as well as other reforms (britannica.com). In 1912 the Congress established the Children’s Bureau which was an agency proposed by Florence Kelley and Lillian Wald. From 1899 to 1932 Kelley was the general secretary to the National Consumers League (worldbookonline.com). Kelley was then made chief factory inspector and summarised her highly effective reform strategy in 4 words: investigate, educate, legislate, enforce (ebscohost.com). Kelley was also a leader in the women’s suffrage movement. She was an incredible women who spent her whole life working to help others. Thanks to her children had to work much less, women had more rights, workers had to work for a reasonable amount of time, and many were treated more equally (worldbookonline.com)
Child Labor
Child Labor
Florence Kelley Quote
~Florence Kelley
This quote by Florence Kelley explains how women were treated unfairly, they weren't (according to people in those times) equal to men. If they wanted to get a job like the one a man had they and to work harder, and better to get the job. This is an example of the traditional submission of women to men.
Primary Source
Analysis
Florence Kelley is the author of this speech, she is talking against child labor in the U.S. and for women suffrage
The speech took place on July 22, 1905 in Philadelphia
Florence Kelley was a woman suffragist, she fought for women and children's rights, and for the amount of hours spent working
The speech was for the National American Women Association
Kelley wrote this speech to inform the women and the people who read or heard the speech about child labor at the time. She wanted to inform everyone on the different age ranges and the different hours the children had to work, and how she was against it.
The speech is about child labor. Kelley talks about the different ages and the different work hours. She explains how simply inhuman and not healthy it was for such a young child to work for that many hours. She talks about how some states have no laws at all against child labor and how unfair it is. She also explains that if women had the right to vote the child la or would of been abolished long before
This speech is incredibly important, because is shows what kind of a woman she was and what she wanted to do. She believed strongly in her ideas and talked to others about the problems of the time to find a solution. She helped spread “awareness” on the situation of the time. With her speech she reveals that the women’s suffrage movement was closely related, in this case, with the prohibition of child labor movement
Multiple Choice Questions
Florence Kelley fought against..
a) women suffrage
b) child labor
c) 8 hour work wage
d) sweatshops
e) b and d