Social Reform Research and PowerPoint: Empathy

Mrs. Avery-Wollenhaupt

Social Reform Definition Social Reform is trying to make a change in society. The

methods are more peaceful then taking revolutionary action, which can sometimes be violent. Social reform is also usually more drastic in nature, as opposed to a revolution which is drastic and explosive.

Social Reform in History: Child Labor Laws in the U.S.

Forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout American history. As industrialization moved workers from farms and home workshops into urban areas and factory work, children were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike. Growing opposition to child labor in the North caused many factories to move to the South. By 1900, states varied considerably in whether they had child labor standards and in their content and degree of enforcement. By then, American children worked in large numbers in mines, glass factories, textiles, agriculture, canneries, home industries, and as newsboys, messengers, bootblacks, and peddlers.

Spinning RoomCornell MillFall River, Mass.Photo: Lewis Hine

Child Labor Laws (cont.) In the early decades of the twentieth

century, the numbers of child laborers in the U.S. peaked. Child labor began to decline as the labor and reform movements grew and labor standards in general began improving, increasing the political power of working people and other social reformers to demand legislation regulating child labor. Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined, and common initiatives were conducted by organizations led by working women and middle class consumers, such as state Consumers’ Leagues and Working Women’s Societies.

Boy Lost Arm Running Saw in Box Factory

Child Labor Laws (cont 3) These organizations generated the

National Consumers’ League in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, which shared goals of challenging child labor, including through anti-sweatshop campaigns and labeling programs. The National Child Labor Committee’s work to end child labor was combined with efforts to provide free, compulsory education for all children, and culminated in the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which set federal standards for child labor.

Addie Card, 12 years. Spinner in North Pormal [i.e., Pownal] Cotton Mill. Vt. Girls in mill say she is ten years. She admitted to me she was twelve; that she started during school vacation and new would "stay."

My Social Reform Issue: Empathy

Empathy is important because it means putting yourself in another’s shoes. It is more intense and heartfelt then simply sympathizing with someone, because it implies actually feeling the same emotions as the person.

One Individual Who Wants to Increase Empathy – Ellen DeGeneres

Started as a comedian and became an actress and a talk show host. As a lesbian woman, she is involved in LGBT rights and is an advocate for others. She is also very involved in anti-bullying movement.

She talks to the press and uses her talk show to get the message of empathy across

Ellen DeGeneres (cont) The visual and artistic forms she uses are as

follows: Her show, commercials for anti-bullying “It Gets Better”, speaking out against gay teen suicides

Youtube link to Ellen Show: http://youtu.be/_B-hVWQnjjM

1st Poster

2nd Poster

3rd Poster

Sources Used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-hVWQnjj

M&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_movement http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr

/child_labor/about/us_history.html http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/davis/photog

raphy/reform/progressive_era.html http://www.history.com/topics/child-labor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_DeGeneres