Exhibition Script - Museum on Main Street

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The Way We Worked script“I remember the days when we used to lug around as consultantsthose 55-pound early portable computers. No wonder my lowerback kills me today!”--Laura E. Campbell, recalling her work for a consulting firm, ca.1980WORKERS UNITEThe rapid rise of industry in America increased productivity, but gave little concern forsafety. Many workers faced the possibility of physical injury, exploitation, anddiscrimination on the job. Some banded together in associations and unions, making theturn of the 20 th century into a hotbed of labor unrest from the mines to the railroads.Workers continue to rebuke injustice and affirm their rights.“And by union what we willCan be accomplished still.Drops of water turn a mill,Singly none, singly none.”--American Miners’ Association song, 1864In March 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New YorkCity killed 146 workers. Later protests led to new laws governingworking conditions.--National Archives, General Records of the Department of LaborChild LaborImagine this: It is 1912. You are 11 years old. Your father works in a shoe factory, andyour mother sews shirts at home. What is your job?Children traditionally helped with chores in the home or on the family farm. But in the1800s, many American children also worked in factories, mines, and mills.Employers liked to hire children because they could pay them low wages. Small fingerscould reach into looms when fibers were stuck. Small bodies could squeeze into tightspaces in mines. Many jobs were dangerous, but many families needed the moneydesperately.Minimum age rules for child workers were finally set by the Fair Labor Standards Act in1938.Children string beans at a packing company, Georgia,--by Lewis W. Hine, June 1909.National Archives, Records of the Children’s BureauDOCUMENTING WORKLewis Hine photographed children at work around the country for the NationalChild Labor Committee. Children’s advocates used Hine’s photographs to enddangerous and abusive child labor practices.Young loom workers at Bibb Mill No. 1 in Macon, Georgia,--by Lewis W. Hine, January 1909.National Archives, Records of the Children’s Bureau18
The Way We Worked scriptA four-year-old child picks berries in Maryland,--by Lewis W. Hine, June 1909.National Archives, Records of the Children’s BureauA “newsie,” St. Louis, Missouri,--by Lewis W. Hine, May 1910.National Archives, Records of the Children’s Bureau“ . . . no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!”--Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, workers’ rights advocateDEMANDING ACTIONEither in a union or independently, American workers have never been afraid todemand better wages and working conditions. Highly visible events such asstrikes, sit-ins, boycotts, and protest songs, like those written by union organizerElla May Wiggins, could bring injustices to light and force change. Wiggins wasmurdered for her part in the Loray Mill strike in North Carolina in 1929.Buttons from union supporters, ca. 1900–1950.[Interactive: Audio Box-Labor Songs]“Roll the Union On”by John Handcox, 1937Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkway“Links on the Chain”by The Broadside Singers with Phil Ochs, 1964The Best of Broadside 1962-1988: Anthems of the AmericanUnderground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine“When Kentucky Had No Union Men”by George Davis, 1967When Kentucky Had No Union Men“De Colores”by Baldemar Velasquez and Aguila Negra, 1995Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways“One Day More”by Elaine Purkey, 1995Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian FolkwaysAll songs provided courtesy Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.Early silver miner, Virginia City, Nevada,by Timothy O’Sullivan, 1867.National Archives, Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers“But understand, all workers,19
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