4 5 22 mill girls (social studies)

Life on the FarmBefore textile mills and other factories were built in New England, most women worked on their family’s farm.. A New LifeThe opportunity to work in the textile mills prov

by Anne Kasper

Mill

Girls

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Len Ebert

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Bettmann/Corbis; Cover, 3–14 (border) © Getty Images; tp, 3–5 © Bettmann/Corbis;

5 © Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, National Child Labor Committee Collection,; 7–8 © Bettmann/ Corbis; 11 © Underwood & Underwood/Corbis; 13 13 © Polka Dot Images/SuperStock; 14 © Bob Sciarrino/Star Ledger/ Corbis.

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777

Printed in China

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02330-4

ISBN-10: 0-547-02330-8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited.

Mill

Girls

by Anne Kasper

Table of Contents

Moving to the City

In the early 1800s, thousands of young

women in New England left their farm homes They moved to cities to find work in America’s first textile mills These mills made woven cloth from cotton that was spun into thread Moving

to the city was a big change for these women

Textile mills were large and noisy factories Early textile mills were run by waterpower.

Life on the Farm

Before textile mills and other factories were built in New England, most women worked

on their family’s farm Life on the farm was hard work Women had to cook, clean, care for children, and help raise crops Many also made their own clothing, soap, and candles

Women used to spin

their own thread.

A New Life

The opportunity to work in the textile

mills provided women with a chance to live

on their own and earn their own money for

the first time in their lives In the 1830s and

1840s, these young “mill girls” worked in New England textile mills They often lived in

boardinghouses owned by the factories

Many workers spent their first earnings on new clothes.

Jobs at the Mill

The women had different duties at the mill Some workers watched over spinning machines that spun cotton into thread Others collected full bobbins of thread and carried them to the looms There, weavers operated giant looms that turned thread into cloth

A loom was a machine used in textile mills to weave cloth The bobbin was a part that held thread.

Bobbin

Loom

A Day in the Life

Imagine working at a textile mill in the

1840s Your day begins at five o’clock in the

morning Inside the mill, it is hot and noisy,

and the air is filled with lint The machinery is dangerous You might stand at a loom and tie broken threads again and again After twelve

hours, your shift ends, and it’s time to go home You are exhausted

Working in a mill meant that women were on their feet for hours.

Opening Doors

Although the work was exhausting, the textile mills changed the lives of the mill girls Many workers spent their free time reading and attending lectures or talks This showed the country that women were both intelligent and informed Some workers even saved their money to become some of the first women to attend college

Mill workers in Lowell,

Massachusetts,

published their own

magazine.

On Strike

As time passed, mill workers’ lives became more difficult Women worked longer hours

and earned less pay The factories also were

dangerous Some workers were injured when

their arms or hands were caught in machines

In many cases, the mill owners denied that

anything was wrong

To fight back, factory women began to

organize strikes called turn-outs Some were

well organized, while others were disorderly

The first turn-out occurred in Rhode Island,

in 1824, when several mills announced that

workers would have to work longer hours

Speaking Out

As mill workers learned about politics, they took their protests to the next level In the 1840s, women could not vote, so they began sending petitions to the Massachusetts legislature asking for an amendment to make a ten-hour workday the longest amount of time a person could

work The law wasn’t changed, but the women succeeded in getting their voices heard

In the 1840s, women working at mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, formed a group to protest low pay and poor conditions This group, led by a woman named Sarah Bagley, became the first official group of women to work together to fight for better conditions and higher pay.

Women’s Suffrage Movement

Because women did not have the right to

vote, mill workers did not get to approve the

candidates who made the laws that affected

them For this reason, many joined the women’s suffrage movement, a group that fought for the women’s right to go to the polls and vote

Women in the United States finally won the right to

vote in 1920.

How Women’s Work Has Changed

Before the Rise of

Factories and Mills

After the Rise of Factories and Mills

Today

housewife factory worker doctor

child caring telephone operator lawyer

schoolteacher nurse politician

servant secretary journalist

schoolteacher firefighter

police officer engineer accountant stockbroker FBI agent professor archaeologist astronaut much, much more

Creating Change

The story of New England’s female textile workers shows how a small group can change the country Throughout American history,

people have fought for change Harriet Tubman led enslaved workers to freedom on the

Underground Railroad, and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr led the civil rights movement Maybe one day you will change the world, too!

Today, women in the United States can pursue any

career they choose.

Nowadays, women not

only vote, they can be

mayors, governors, and

much more.

Important Dates in Women’s History

1793 — America’s first water-powered textile mill opens It was

built in Rhode Island by Samuel Slater.

1822 — First planned textile city developed in Lowell,

Massachusetts.

1824 — First turn-out held by textile workers.

1844 — Textile workers begin petitioning the Massachusetts

legislature for ten-hour workdays.

1869 — The National Women’s Suffrage Association formed to

fight for women’s right to vote.

1920 — The Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to

vote in the United States.

TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder The

word informed means “in the know.” What

things do people use to stay informed?

What things do they use for entertainment?

What things can both inform and entertain?

Write About It

Text to Self The mill girls felt strongly about

getting their voices heard Write a paragraph

in which you describe something that you feel

very strongly about Use two words from the

Word Builder in your writing.

Things Used to

Stay Informed

Things Used to

Be Entertained Both

Weather

report

?

Newspaper

?

Movies

?

TARGET VOCABULARY

amendment

approve

candidates

denied

disorderly

informed intelligent legislature politics polls

TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use text clues to figure out what isn’t directly stated by the author.

What vocabulary word rhymes with some-thing that woodpeckers make in trees?

ISBN-13:978-0-547-02330-4 ISBN-10:0-547-02330-8

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: S

DRA: 40

Social Studies

Strategy:

Infer/Predict

Word Count: 884

4.5.22 Build Vocabulary