ipl-logo

The Outsiders: The Lowell Girls Of The Industrial Revolution

492 Words2 Pages

The Women of the Industrial Revolution Lowell, Massachusetts is known to be the kickstarter of the Industrial Revolution (“Lowell Massachusetts History |Lowell History”). The Lowell Girls, women who worked in the factories in Lowell, made up almost all of the textile workers of the 1840s (Commons). The friends and families of the Lowell Girls were told that they were treated properly and were given respect (“Lowell Mill Girls and the Factory System, 1840”). In reality, the deaths and accidents inside the factories were as common as ants at a picnic (Commons). The working quarters were densely packed, and diseases spread quickly (Commons). Sadly, not many people know about these hardworking women, and how they impacted the lives of women today. …show more content…

According to Joy Hakim on page 144 of her book, The Outsiders, “Lowell Mill Girls worked twelve hours a day, six days a week.” They were all forced to wear the same clothes (Hakim 144). They stayed in a house similar to a boarding home for most of their time working (Hakim 144). They typically worked three to five years ("Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States"). Sometimes, they worked in the factories for their whole lives, marrying the machinists ("Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States"). They earned around $3.50 per week ("Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States"). The total deaths of the Lowell Girls in 1842 were 473 (Commons). This was caused by diseases like measles, croup, inflammation of the brain, dysentery, and many other things (Commons). The Lowell Girls were fed up with this flawed system of labor. In 1998, Robinson said that they chanted, “Oh! Isn’t it a pity, such a pretty girl as I-should be sent to the factory to pine away and die? Oh! I cannot be a slave, I will not be a slave, for I’m so fond of liberty that I cannot be a slave.” They stopped working, but were soon forced to again (“Women’s History Month: The “Mill Girls” of Lowell, Mass”). They even gathered paperwork to defend themselves (“Women’s History Month: The “Mill Girls” of Lowell, Mass”). The Lowell Mill Girls shaped the way women of the United States work today. Without them,

Show More
Related

  • Industrial Revolution In Lynn Chapter Summary

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Industrial Revolution in Lynn explores the impact of the 19th-century revolution on the shoemaking community of Lynn, Massachusetts. Before the Industrial Revolution, those workers were part of a system of masters and apprentices with the household as the center of the community and of work. After the revolution, the apprenticeship system was broken, and workers became dependent on the factory, weakening the household as the center of life and work. Limits of class conflict and corruptness of factory employers, the workers went through hardships to improve conditions that held the community and its people together in equality.

    Read More

  • Sarah And Avery Dbq

    743 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1820’s and 1830’s, New England was undergoing a major transformation. With the Industrial Revolution underway, thousands of individuals packed up their belongings and relocated from the farms into the cities. As the Industrial Revolution emerged, thousands of girls took the opportunity as a means of obtaining freedom and independence to gain knowledge, income, and a sense of belonging. The murder of Sarah Cornell and the trial of Avery resulted in a clash between two emerging institutions in New England modernization during their lifetime, the textile mills and the Methodist Church, both of which believed that the opportunity for future growth relied heavily on a favorable verdict from the jury. This decision would determine both institutions future respectability and progress, as both Sarah and Avery’s reputation would reflect the reputation of the new economic development and methodist denomination.

    Read More

  • What Impact Did Sister Irene Have On America

    917 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is encouraging to see how powerless women can come together to build an empowering impact. The beginning of the paper showed how people from all backgrounds came together to honor the late Sister Mary Irene. This single individual was able to use her life to create an organization for women and children. It was said how history books tend to leave her out as a public figure, but her achievements should be recognized worldwide. This subject matter relates back to our class discussions where we talked about the privileges women were deprived of.

    Read More

  • The Uprising Of The Twenty Thousand By Clara Lemlich

    453 Words  | 2 Pages

    The women would had experienced anything from sexual harassment, rubbed up against or felt on, to being locked into a room until they had finished their shift . Often the bosses would refer to the young preteen or teenage girls as the “working girls” . The working conditions of the women and young children could only be described as slave conditions, one worker described her experience while working for the Triangle Waist Company, “[w]e were like slaves,’ complained one women. ‘You couldn’t pick your head up. You couldn’t talk.

    Read More

  • Camelot On The Merrimack Analysis

    912 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yafa writes about Boston businessmen who made Lowell, Massachusetts the first planned industrial community. The mills (factories) were built, and instead of using men to run the textile (fabrics) mills, the Boston Associates used “healthy, young, farm girls to work the mills.” Often the girls were very young and were separated from their families, lived in boarding houses, and saved some of their very low wages to send back home to their parents and to save up for their dowries (to give to future husbands).

    Read More

  • A Synopsis Of 'The Most They Ever Had'

    1157 Words  | 5 Pages

    The mills were virtually their only option to provide for their families. Though today we learn about the tragedies of mill working, the mill workers

    Read More

  • Join The Knights Of Labour By Leonaora M. Barry

    1075 Words  | 5 Pages

    Within the 1880's there was a woman named Leonora M. Barry. She was no average women. As times were inhuman and cruel for women workers she experienced how hard it was to work as women. But, she just did not continue to face the cruel treatment. Joining the Knights of Labor, she wrote Organizing Women Workers to open societies and the Order's minds about the oppressed women within America.

    Read More

  • How Did Manifest Destiny Affect Society

    521 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the time of the Industrial Revolution, which was throughout the Manifest Destiny, the cotton gin increased demand for cotton, which led to an increase in children working in the employment industry. The video says, “In the eighteen thirties, a ten year old mill girl described her life. [She said] we were paid two dollars a week and the working hours of all the girls extended from five o’clock in the morning till seven in the evening, with one half hour for breakfast and for dinner”(Turning Points in History- Industrial Revolution). This demonstrates that the working conditions were long and tiresome. The girls were paid the bare minimum for their prolonged, strenuous

    Read More

  • Second Great Awakening Essay

    1340 Words  | 6 Pages

    During the mid-1800s the roles of women were considered to only be taking care of the children and the home. Only 1 in 5 women worked for wages in the workplace. Two women who fought actively for Women’s Rights were Sarah and Angelina Grimke. Angelina published An Appeal to Christian Women of the South, which told women “to overthrow this horrible system of oppression and cruelty”. Few men supported the women’s efforts for equal rights but they still continued to fight by holding national conventions.

    Read More

  • Revolutionary War Women

    1350 Words  | 6 Pages

    When most people think of the Revolutionary War, they envision heroic battles fought by men such as George Washington and Paul Revere. But equally important in America’s victory were the heroic deeds of the women of the time, both on the front lines and behind the scenes.. One of the first ways women got involved in the revolutionary movement was by boycotting British items. Men believed that it was going to be hard to get the women to boycott, however it was not (Slavicek 17). Since the Patriots would not buy supplies from the British, women now needed to step up and take the job of making their own cloth and turning it into clothes (Slavicek).

    Read More

  • Samuel Slater: Turning Point Of The American Industrial Revolution

    1520 Words  | 7 Pages

    There are many events prior to the 1900s that could be construed as turning points in American history. Columbus’s discovery of America in the 1490s and the American Revolution from 1770 to 1779, for instance, are quite important in this way. However, the Industrial Revolution was a far more significant turning point. The American Industrial Revolution began around 1790 when Samuel Slater was inspired by British industrial success and brought the idea to the United States. Once it began, the Industrial Revolution did not just bring success.

    Read More

  • Impact Of Textile Workers In The Industrial Revolution

    729 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, industrial textile workers were immediately impacted by the high demand for goods. This affected the ages of workers employed, the length of shifts and the amount of materials required. As textile factory owners “extracted the greatest amount of labour from workers for the lowest wages possible” (Source A), many employed women and children to power machines to cope with the high demand as they could pay them less. This can be seen in Source H, as many of the people depicted are children and females.

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq

    1203 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout history women have constantly had fewer constitutional rights and profession openings than men, primarily because women have continuously been considered inferior to men. The working class also possessed fewer rights during the 1800s. Workers were bound to their employers and had little to no rights. As the years moved on, much of that began to change. Employed citizens had little to no voting rights, and they kept trying until they achieved what they wanted.

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Angelina Grimke's Speech

    1764 Words  | 8 Pages

    As committed as Angelina was to their new life mission, she was unaware at the time that this was the start to a long road of change ahead. Angelina Grimke’s ability to effectively speak rhetorically in a public setting about the oppressions and discrimination we face in society was a stepping stone in the introduction of the women’s rights movement. In February 1838 Angelina Grimke gave a speech before the Massachusetts Legislature in the Boston State House. In this speech Angelina discussed the need to end slavery and bring attention to how women have the ability to contribute in a large part to help towards this end goal.

    Read More

  • Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution Essay

    855 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the small towns they at least worked for their families but in the city the worked harder, in harsher conditions and for a huge company. This resulted in more hours of work and more sickness because of how hard they worked. Child labor is still present today. More than 59,600 of the workers in the U.S.A are under 14 and many other countries have it worst. We can see how child labor was present in the industrial revolution, but we can also see how it is still present today.

    Read More

More about The Outsiders: The Lowell Girls Of The Industrial Revolution

Open Document