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Boys throughout history have worked. America's history is relatively short, but since the founding of America boys have labored at their father's side and then done apprenticeships. Boys have been involved in a wide range of labor. Boys have traditionally learned various crafts. As American industrialized, children were heavily involved in industry. Many boys even at the turn of the 20th century had to work rather than go to school. Gender differences existed in the jobs open to children. There were also racial differences. Only boys woked in mines, but both boys and girls worked in factories, especially textile mills. Boys in cities earned money shining shoes. Other sold newspapers and were commonly called "newsies". Boys were involved in major industries, both mines and factories. A peculiarly America work area was pin spotting in bowling allies.
A peculiarly America work area was pin spotting in bowling allies. The photographer, Lewis Hine noted: "Photo of boys working in Arcade Bowling Alley, Trenton, New Jersey. Photo taken late at night. The boys work until midnight and later. I found practically no small boys selling late in the evening and several persons said it was not done except in baseball season." The photograph was taken December 1909.
We do not have a lot of information about golf caddies. Boys commonly caddied for golfers. This was mostly at country clubs. There may have been some municipal or commercial golf courses, but I think most were maintained by country clubs. I'm not sure just abougt boys were recruited to work as caddies. We tghink this may have been more of a part-time job than working in a mine, but here we are not sure, especially in the early 20th century. We do know that it was a part-time job after child labor laws were enacted. Nor are we sure how well the boys were paid. We think that tips may have been the principal rewards.
Both boys and girls worked in factories, especially textile mills.
We do not have much information about child labor used un mines in general, but the photographic record shows that large numbers of boys were employed in coal mines as late as the ealy 20th century. We note boys working in anthracite coal minds in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. The younger boys by the early 20th century were often employed as breaker boys or tippler boys. By this time it was increasingly being seen as child abuse. Congressioinal investigations were conducted during the Theodore Roosevely administration. Social photographers documented the use of boys. Only boys woked in mines.
The images produced had a powerful impact on the American public. Coal mining was especially dangerous work. And even the jobs assigned to the boys, such as the breaker boys, could cause serious injuries.
Other sold newspapers and were commonly called "newsies". We note boys selling newspapers in American during the late 19th century. We know less about other countries. Selling newspapers was an important source of income for boys from low-income urban families. The boys were called Newsies. Here we see New York newsboys at the Brooklyn Bridge early in the morning before delivering their papers in the city. They wear typical newsboy clothes: outer jackets, knee pants, long black stockings, and flat caps.
We note a range of portraits in the 19th century of children, mostly boys in fanciful outfits. These appear to be boys involved in performamve arts, mostly acrobatics. They would hasve performed in circuses or on the stage. I believe these woyld have been mostly family roteins, but do not know much about it. I'm also not etirely sure about the purpose of the portraits. Some may have been family keeposakes, but they also may have been a form of publicity as well. Theu also may have been sold as people at the time often added portraits of famous people and actotrrs to albums and scrapbooks. Vaudeville was a popular entertainment before the novies began to dominate local stages after World War I. The costumes varied greatly, but almost always included tights.
Sharecropping is an agricultural system which developed in the Southern states during the Civil War. It was a farm tenancy system in which families worked a farm or section of land in return for a share of the crop rather than wages. Sharecropping replaced the plantation system destroyed by the Civil War. The victorious Federal authorities which occupied the South did not seize plantations, but empancipation meant that the owners no longer had a captive laor force. The former planters, even those activly engged in rebellion, for the most part still had their land, but no slaves or money to pay wages. The former slaves on the other hand did not have jobs or land and because they had been denied education, had few options. Sharecropping developed because the former slaves and planters needed each other. The principal crop continued to be cotton. And the planters under the sharecropping system contnued to a large degree to control the lives of the blacks working their land. While the system at first developed to obtain black labor, eventually poor whites also entered the sharecropping system. The system varied, but in many cases all the cropper brouht to the arrangement was his labor. The planter provided the land, but also commonly animals, equipment, seeds and other items. The land owners also commonly advanced credits for the family's living expences until the crop was harvested. After World War II, migrtion to the North, farm mechinization, education, other employment options, and the Civil Rights movement brought the system to an end.
Boys in cities earned money shining shoes. Boys were involved in major industries, both mines and factories.
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