Homeless Children During The 1800s

554 Words3 Pages

Throughout history bias and tunnel mindedness has been demonstrated by all, whether it be during the holocaust, wars, famous speakers, religion disputes, terrorist attacks and more. Almost everyone, including America, tends to tell their side of the story, like we are always the heros. When in reality it is virtually impossible to be correct 100% of the time. This quote demonstrates this perfectly. For example, during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s The Childrens Aid Society invented “Orphan” Trains, used to transport orphaned and homeless children from the slums of NY into central America to farming families who would help the minors get back on track. Many of the kids did become successful and good citizens when they grew up. Now by the sound of this, this “child …show more content…

But after further research I actually learned that a good amount of these “orphans” were healthy children pulled from their birth families in NY, that the CAS took right from under the parents. The children were often used as free labor, similar to slavery. Once the children arrived in western america after their long journey, they were forced to line up on the train platform in front of a crowd of families looking for a new addition, parents looking for a first child, and quite a few of male farmers looking for strong boys to work the fields or little girls to do the household chores. The children would be inspected, poked and prodded. If they met the crowds standards they would go home with someone. If they didnt, whether it be that they were too ugly, too fat,