Need of Compulsory Education in the South [NCLC Pamphlet No. 192]
Pamphlet by W.H. Hand, State High School Inspector, Columbia, South Carolina. Reprint from the Child Labor Bulletin, 1/1, June 1912. Includes data from the 1910 U.S. Census. Excerpts: p. 6 "...in a democracy where manhood suffrage practically prevails, institutional life is exposed to tremendous dangers when twelve per cent. of the voting population are unable to read the names printed on the ballots they are supposed to cast intelligently for the government of the State. Ignorance stands for narrowness, bigotry, selfishness and stagnation ; intelligence stands for liberty, liberality, tolerance, sympathy and growth. We must choose between the two." p. 8 "The material prosperity of the present South is one of the marvels of modern times. The faith and courage with which our people rebuilt their ruined homes, reclaimed their neglected fields, bridged the rivers, tunneled the mountains, built factories and constructed railroads challenge the admiration of the civilized world. In that struggle to rise from the ashes the greatest hindrance has been our load of illiteracy, and to-day it is our heaviest burden." p. 8 "Who are these illiterate white children of the South, and why are they not in school?" p. 9 "Argument against the right of the State to send a chld to school is specious and superficial. Those who make such argument would not for one moment deny the right of the State to compel the parent to vaccinate his child, to compel the parent to feed and clothe his child, or to compel him to fight for his country, and to shoot him if he deserted. The State has the right to carry the law-breaking child to the reformatory or to jail to protect society. Has not the State as much right to carry the child to the schoolhouse to save him from the reformatory or the jail and to train him to benefit society?" p. 12 "Temporizing patriots, with one ear listening to the call of duty and the other listening to the hostile rabble, declare for compulsory education when pressed to take a stand, but they usually add that the people are not quite ready for it." p. 12 "The argument against compulsory education on account of the negro has been worn threadbare ; surely the time has come to let it drop....Is it wise or expedient to permit thousands of white boys and girls to grow up in ignorance, lest in forcing them to school we should awaken the aspirations of the negro child? Shall we remain ignorant in order to encourage the negro to remain ignorant? Is it better for white and black to remain ignorant than to have both intelligent? The only logical conclusion to such argument is that the ignorant white man can compete successfully with the ignorant negro, but that the educated white man cannot compete with the educated negro. Then what becomes of the boasted superiority of the white man? Has the white man so nearly reached the zenith of his possibilities that he cannot keep well in advance of the ambitious negro?" (For similar arguments with regard to woman suffrage, see The Negro Vote in the South.)
Child Labor Pamphlets, 1908-1935. No. 84, digital collection, William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/
The Southern Frontier, vol. 1, no. 5 [Texas Issue]
Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South. As described by the then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the most turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time. “The Texas Issue” contains contributions by: Lulu Daniel Ames Mary E. Branch J. L. Brock C. H. Bynum Thomas W. Currie John M. Hanna Francis R. Weber Lynn Landrum J. L. Brock Gordon B. Hancock Frederick D. Patterson Articles include: “Texans Look Into Negro Education” – An article detailing the meeting of the Texas State Department of Education, the Texas Interracial Committee, and the Texas State Colored Teachers Association to discuss plans to provide in-state graduate education for African American Texans. “Holy Cross Clinic, Austin, Will Open in Early July” – An article detailing the opening of the Holy Cross Cross Clinic, a clinic caring for African Americans on small wages.
Jessie Daniel Ames Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching collection, 1930-1944, Austin Seminary Archives, Stitt Library, Austin Presbyterian Seminary Library
Austin Seminary Archives, Stitt Library, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Library
The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Learn more: Pullen, Ann Ellis (2013). "Commission on Interracial Cooperation" New Georgia Encyclopedia. Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Social Welfare History Image Portal
The Southern Frontier, vol. 1, no. 4 [South Carolina Issue]
Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South. As described by the then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the most turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time. The “South Carolina Issue” contains contributions by: Geo. E. Davis Adele Minahan Mary E. Frayser F. Clyde Helms Marion Paul Mack M. Goss Clelia P. McGowan Jeannie Heywood Haskell Lucile Jewell John Temple Graves, II Articles include: “A Tribute Is Due” – Profiles on Clelia Peronneau McGowan and Marion Birnie Wilkinson, who “laid the foundation stones for interracial cooperation in [South Carolina].” “The Marion Birnie Wilkinson Home” – An article about the home for orphaned and underprivileged African American children, operated by African American women of South Carolina. "Negroes Use Libraries" about efforts to extend library service to African Americans in South Carolina. A brief article about Maggie L. Walker high school of Richmond, Va., notes that it cost $500,000 and is "one of the finest institutions of its kind in the South."
The Southern Frontier, vol. 1, no. 3 [Mississippi Issue]
Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South. As described by the then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the most turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time. The “Mississippi Issue” contains contributions by: J. Morgan Stevens M. M. Hubert A. J. Finch R. L. Hunt Theodore D. Bratton P. H. Easom Anselm Joseph Finch Horace Mann Bond R. B. Eleazer Will W. Alexander Articles include: “The South’s Problem Number One” – An article discussing poverty and over-population in the South. “The Wm. Johnson Community Center, Jackson, Miss.” – An article discussing a church-owned clinic serving the African American communities of Jackson, Mississippi. "Jim Crow Legislation" - An article about the defeat of Jim Crow amendments to a Mississippi Free Text Book Bill. State Senator H. L. Davis of Oxford is quoted as saying, "Under the Constitution the Negro is a citizen and of course we know and accept that. But he can never expect to be given the same educational and social privileges with the white man and he doesn't expect them. The best education we can give him is to use his hands, because that's how he must earn his living. It always has and it always will be." "An Oscar for Hattie" - An article about Hattie McDaniel's Academy Award for her role as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind."
Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South. As described by the then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the a turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time. Vol. 1, no.2 contains contributions by: Geo. E. Davis Mack Goss W. L. Anderson L. D. Ames J. D. Lawhorn A. J. Finch Articles include: “Ku Klux Klan Needs Airing” – An article urging more newspapers to alert the public of the return to activity by the Ku Klux Klan. “The Education of Public Opinion” – An article discussing the education of public opinion by the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the topics of mobs and lynching, and tax-supported education for Negroes. Rosenwald schools are discussed, as well as the public misconception the blacks make no real financial contributions toward their education. (Public education was segregated at this time.) "'More Libraries, More Racial Pride'" - An article about libraries for African Americans in rural areas. "It was agreed that information about members of their race who succeeded in art, literature, and business is essential to the creation of racial pride in Negro children."
The Southern Frontier, vol. 1, no. 1 [Georgia Issue]
Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South. As described by the then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the most turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time. “The Georgia Issue,” contains contributions by: Howard W. Odum, President of the CIC Rufus E. Clement, Vice-Chairman of the Georgia Committee of the CIC H. A. Hunt R. L. Russell W. B. Sheftal M. E. Tilly W. A. Turner Articles include: “An Astounding Situation” – An article about The Training School for Negro Girls, donated to the State of Georgia by the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, and left unused and unappropriated of funding by the Georgia legislature “Around Georgia” – A column highlighting the opening of the Booker T. Washington Community Center in Macon, the advisory board of the Bethlehem House, Negro Community Center in Augusta Georgia, hosting a multiracial community Christmas pageant, and other regional stories "Atlanta Pianist Plays at the White House" - A notice that pianist Josephine Harreld played for Eleanor Roosevelt and guests at the White House on December 12, 1939. "A Man of Distinction" - An obituary of Dr. Kelley (Kelly) Miller, the first African American student to attend Johns Hopkins University.
"Child Labor" Legislation [Anti- Child labor legislation pamphlet]
Pamphlet by John F. Schenck, Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the North Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association, arguing against legal protections for child workers in cotton mills and other Southern industries. Excerpts: p. 6-7 "UNTRAMMELED AND WHOLESOME COMPETITION AMONG THE MANUFACTURERS THEMSELVES HAS AMELIORATED THE CONDITIONS OF TEXTILE LABORERS, AND ADDED MORE TO THEIR WELFARE IN THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS THAN LABOR LEGISLATION CAN EVER ACCOMPLISH, BUT NOT A WHIT MORE THAN A LITTLE HASTY AND UNCALLED-FOR LEGISLATION CAN UNDO." p.8 "The fact that this child labor movement craze may have accomplished some things, seemingly good, in other States, and has captured a large following throughout this nation, is no conclusive proof of great and wonderful merit. Nor is it sufficient reason for any respectable class of North Carolinians to surrender in despair their individuality, and tamely submit to the humiliation of being singled out from other classes, and at the instance of a foreign-born organization of agitators, be regulated by penal statutes and inspected by government spies. This State is a sovereign and independent organization , so far as the questions at issue are concerned. It is slow to adopt foolish and tyrannical fads. It has never burned women for witchcraft nor persecuted men for their religious beliefs, as have some States who would presume to teach us humanity." p. 12 "The doctrine that children should not labor is new; and practical men do not believe a word of it." p. 13 "The manufacturers of this State not only profess an interest in child welfare, but the practice it. They are epecially interested in the educational idea. As evidence of it, we point to the excellent schools which are built and maintained by most of the mills for the benefit of their employees' children and espcially to the resolution of our last Spinners' Association endorsing Compulsory Education. Why not by law compel every child, whether at a factory, or on a farm, or in a city, to attend school regulary?"
Schenck, John F. (John Franklin), 1865-1945
Child Labor Pamphlets, 1908-1935. No. 155, digital collection, William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
North Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association (also called North Carolina Spinners' Association)
Learn more: Child Labor, Social Welfare History Project Child Labor, Social Welfare History Image Portal Dawley, Thomas Robinson (c.1912). The Child That Toileth Not. Harvard Library. Open Collections Program.
Here in Massachusetts [Massachusetts Child Labor Committee pamphlet]
Here in Massachusetts: A fund raising pamphlet issued by the Massachusetts Child Labor Committee to promote regulation of working conditions and employment for children. The pamphlet cites statistics on child labor and industrial accidents and argues that work detracts from education, offers no real future benefits, and impairs health. The first page shows a photograph of a boy with the caption “Worth a Chance? How Much is That Chance Worth to You!” The pamphlet includes a word puzzle, “An Old Problem and a New Year.: the Corner Stones of a Square Deal” The puzzle identifies play, work, health, and school as rights of childhood.
Paul U. Kellogg papers.Child Labor Amendment, 1923-1927. Box: 22, Folder: 197. Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Letter from Owen R. Lovejoy to Dr. Samuel McCuns Lindsay, January 27, 1925
Letter to Dr. Samuel McCuns Lindsay, Chairman, National Child Labor Committee from Owen R. Lovejoy, General Secretary, National Child Labor Committee Dated January 27, 1925. In the letter Lovejoy reflects on the campaign against child labor and discusses his reasons for resigning his post.
Survey Associates records. Lovejoy, Owen R., 1921-1949. Box: 95, Folder: 714-715. Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
Learn more: National Child Labor Committee, Social Welfare History Project Owen Reed Lovejoy, Michigan Biographical Dictionary 2008-2009, by Caryn Hannan. Owen R. Lovejoy, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
What Did Miss Abbott Really Say? [NCLC pamphlet]
A pamphlet issued by the National Child Labor Committee to present testimony by Grace Abbott, former head of the United States Children’s Bureau, before the House Judiciary Committee on February 15, 1924. The pamphlet was issued in order to counter claims regarding her testimony made in a legal brief written in 1934 by William D. Guthrie, “The Child Labor Amendment: Argument in Opposition to Ratification.”
Gertrude Zimand papers. Articles and Studies, 1924-1965. Box: 2, Folder: 17. Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Learn more: Child Labor Amendment, Social Welfare History Image Portal "A Needed Amendment To Restrict Child Labor" The Nation. January, 1934. Social Welfare History Project Child Labor, Social Welfare History Project Grace Abbott, Social Welfare History Project
"The Child Labor Amendment" to U.S. Constitution. [Anti- Child Labor Amendment pamphlet]
A report by the Committee on Industrial Relations to the New York Board of Trade and Transportation. The pamphlet states that a child labor amendment is not needed and that “…it makes a natural and sympathetic appeal calculated to forestall criticism or disarm antagonism…” (p.1) It also outlines arguments against the amendment, including that many problems of child labor have already been addressed; the amendment impinges on parent child relationships; that child labor issues are local rather than national ones and that states have the “necessary powers” to oversee them; and that an amendment would lead to the “Communistic or Bolshevistic Nationalization of Children.” (p. 6) The report is signed by the Committee on Industrial Relations William McCarroll, Chairman August Goldsmith Edwin S. Bayer Frank B. McCord E. C. Miller John G. Walber Dudley Farrand Adopted December 10, 1924 by New York Board of Trade and Transportation.
Committee on Industrial Relations to the New York Board of Trade and Transportation
Paul U. Kellogg papers. Child Labor Amendment 1923-1927, Box 22 Folder 197, Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Learn more: Child Labor Amendment, Social Welfare History Image Portal "A Needed Amendment To Restrict Child Labor" The Nation. January, 1934. Social Welfare History Project Child Labor, Social Welfare History Project
Some Constitutional Aspects of the Child Labor Amendment [Anti- Child Labor Amendment materials]
Materials sent to pastors in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), urging them to contact their state representatives to oppose ratification of the Child Labor Amendment, which was adopted by Congress in 1924. Included are a note from Rev. William Crowe of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Saint Louis, Mo; a letter from Sterling E. Edmunds, Director of the Missouri Committee for the Protection of Child, Family, School and Church; and a pamphlet produced by the Sentinels of the Republic containing an address titled, "Some Constitutional Aspects of the Child Labor Amendment" by Sterling E. Edmunds. Sterling Edmunds begins his cover letter, "Dear Sir: A well-financed organized lobby, under the direction of the women of the Labor Department in Washington, will storm your Legislature at Richmond on January 10, 1934, and seek immediate ratification of the so-called Child Labor Amendment, before its dangerous import can become known." In the pamphlet, Edmunds argues that term "labor" in the amendment also refers to mental labor such as takes place by students in school. He states that the Child Labor Amendment would therefore allow Congress to take control of all public and private schools. This, he claims, is socialism. The Sentinels of the Republic was a national organization that opposed what it saw as federal encroachment on the rights of the States and of the individual. The group was highly active in the 1920s and 1930s, during which it worked against child labor legislation and the New Deal. The Child Labor Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in 1924, but never ratified by the required number of U.S. state legislatures. Excerpts: Pamphlet p. 4 "It is this aspect of the so-called Child Labor Amendment which, in my opinion, would give to Congress ultimate control over all education, public as well as private, with respect to persons up to their 18th year. And from my search into the history of the activities of the women who founded and have directed the federal Children's Bureau, and who drafted this amendment, I am convinced that is one of their objects. This is a piece of socialism, which would alter the underlying principles of our free system of government. I view the Amendment as treason to the unrepresented and voiceless millions of today and of the future who will be deprived by it of their constitutional rights and regimented under a socialistic tyranny."
Edmunds, Sterling E., 1880-1944 Crowe, William
Child Labor Pamphlets, 1908 - 1935 digital collection, William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the organization that has made the Item available, but the organization was unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Child Labor in Virginia. NCLC Pamphlet No. 171
Pamphlet by Alexander Jeffrey McKelway, Secretary for the Southern States, National Child Labor Committee. With photographs by Lewis W. Hine, staff photographer for the NCLC. Lewis Hine made a photographic investigation of child labor in Virginia in May and June of 1911. This pamphlet discusses the extent of child labor in the state where children were employed in cotton, silk and knitting mills, coal mines, cigarette factories, glass factories, shoe factories, and as newsboys, messenger boys, and actors on stage. Excerpts: p.3-4 "The cotton mills have often put themselves forward as patrons of education. The figures of the Federal Bureau of Labor do not bear out this claim. The Census shows that 9 per cent. of the white children ten to fourteen years of age throughout the state are illiterate. In the cotton mills 70 per cent. of the children under fourteen were found to be illiterate by the agents of the Bureau of Labor, a greater percentage than are to be found, even in the cotton mill families of any other state, north or south." p.5 "...there was no necessity for the labor of these children under fourteen; while it is admitted by all philanthropic agencies that even if there were in individual cases such need, the last expedient that should be adopted is the putting of the burden of family support upon the shoulders of the immature child." p. 9 "It is true, therefore, that a large majority of the industries of Virginia do not employ children under fourteen, and these establishments should be protected from the competition of the child-employing industries, which are here mentioned and illustrated."
Child Labor Pamphlets, 1908 - 1935, No. 68, digital collection, William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Learn more: Alexander Jeffrey McKelway, 1866-1918, Documenting the American South. From Dictionary of North Carolina Biography edited by William S. Powell. Child Labor, Social Welfare History Project National Child Labor Committee, Social Welfare History Project Lewis Wickes Hine: Documentary Photographs, 1905 - 1938, New York Public Library Digital Collections
Use of Mexican Workers Does Not Depress Farm Wages
This article compares the hourly wages of farm workers state-by-state, along with the number of Mexican workers employed in 1962. The document's author states, "The current average hourly farm wage of the 21 States in which Mexican workers were used in 1962 is $1.13 per hour. The average of the 27 States in which no Mexican nationals were used in 1962 is $1.04 per hour...." "One conclusion, however is obvious; that factors other than employment of Mexican nationals dominate in the establishment of farm wage rates and if there is any correlation whatever between the employment of Mexican nationals, or the number employed, and the level of farm wages in the various States, it is that farm wages tend to be higher in States where substantial numbers of Mexican workers are employed."
Box 241, f. 13, W. R. Poage Papers, The W. R. Poage Legislative Library Political Collections, Baylor University Libraries
http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
Learn more: Hazelton, A. J. (2017). Farmworker Advocacy through Guestworker Policy: Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell and the Bracero Program. Journal of Policy History 29 (July), p. 431-461. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898030617000185 Cosgrove, B. (2013) Bitter Harvest: LIFE With America's Migrant Workers, 1959. LIFE magazine Mar 10, 2013. (Previously unpublished photographs by Michael Rougier). Migrant Children and Youth, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Sent to Congressman W. R. Poage (Texas) with a cover letter signed by Betty Jane Whitaker of the Texas Committee on Migrant Farm Workers. This paper was written by Florence R. Wyckoff, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Families Who Follow the Crops, California Governor's Advisory Committee on Children and Youth. It was originally prepared for The National Conference on Problems of Rural Youth in a Changing Environment held in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on September 22-25, 1963. This copy was reproduced by the Texas Committee on Migrant Farm Workers. Wyckoff's paper was written to educate people about migrant workers and their status. The author discusses families of migrant workers, and why they migrate, as well as the effect of high mobility on migrant children and youth. Wyckoff's intent was to inform the politicians who may be unaware of the struggles of migrant workers, but are writing bills affecting them and their families. Excerpts: p.2 "There are many kinds of migratory workers in America, but we are mainly concerned with the agricultural migrant and his family because 'agricultural labor' is specifically exempted from much protective legislation covering other types of workers who move about, such as construction workers or lumber workers. For example, workers employed in agriculture are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, Federal Wage and Hour Law. All states except Hawaii exempt them from unemployment insurance and all but California exempt them from disability insurance. Only a limited number are covered under social security. Residence requirements make it difficult for them to qualify for assistance benefits." p.3 "Economically, the migrant farm worker occupies the lowest level of any major group in the American economy."
Learn more: Cosgrove, B. (2013) Bitter Harvest: LIFE With America's Migrant Workers, 1959. LIFE magazine Mar 10, 2013. (Previously unpublished photographs by Michael Rougier). The Position of Farm Workers in Federal and State Legislation, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Texas Committee on Migrant Farm Workers. Letter to Congressman W. R. Poage from Betty Jane Whitaker
This letter was written to Congressman W. R. Poage by Betty Jane Whitaker, Co-chairman of the Texas Committee on Migrant Farm Workers, asking him to help improve the lives of migrant workers and their children. Whitaker asks for this to be done through better schooling and healthcare. A paper titled "Migrant Children and Youth" by Florence R. Wyckoff was included with this letter.
Box 241, folder 13, W. R. Poage Papers, The W. R. Poage Legislative Library Political Collections, Baylor University Libraries.
Position of Farm Workers in Federal and State Legislation
This pamphlet, written by Robin Myers and published by the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor, describes the rights of migrant farm workers in the late 1950s. This excerpt describes the conditions and the rights of child workers at both the state and national legislative levels. The National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor (NACFL) grew out of the work of the National Sharecroppers Fund. The NACFL was organized in 1958 as a fact-finding, reporting agency whose goal was to build public awareness of the substandard living and working conditions of farm laborers. (Reuther Library, n.d.) Leaders included Eleanor Roosevelt, Socialist party presidental candidate Norman Thomas, Catholic Archbishop Robert Emmet Lucey, Rabbi Eugene Lipman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Presbyterian theologian Dr. John A. Mackay, and Tuskegee Institute president, Dr. L. H. Foster (Hazelton, 2017). In 1958 and 1964, the NACFL held public hearings on farm labor and rural poverty. The agency dissolved in 1968. Excerpts: p. 34 "Children of migrant agricultural workers suffer from all the disadvantages and disabilities that handicap the whole migrant community -- unusual health hazards, inadequate food and housing due to low income level, lack of stable family life, and rejection by the community. In addition, two aspects of the migrant situation particularly affect the children and their future. The first is the common use of child workers, both legally and illegally. The second is their deprivation of such educational opportunities as would enable them to make their own lives an improvement over those of their parents." p. 35 "'Many of the Nation's farms do not come under the provisions of these Federal Acts. Only 6 States, 3 Territories, and the District of Columbia expressly provide a minimum age for agricultural work outside school hours, and only 13 States, 2 Territories, and the District of Columbia expressly provide a minimum age during school hours.'" (quoted from Child Workers in Agriculture, Leaflet No. 4, U. S. Dept. of Labor, 1959) p. 37 "The most common reason for the employment of child workers in agriculture, to an extent no longer acceptable in other industries, is that the low wage of the bread-winner of the family is not sufficient (averaging under $900 a year) to pay minimum family expenses, and so everyone works who can. This in turn creates the vicxious cycle of child labor lowering wage standards and contributing to the perpetuation of subnormal wages." p. 38 "In most places, the local schools cannot handle and do not want migrant children."
Box 248, O. C. Fisher Congressional Collection, The W. R. Poage Legislative Library Political Collections, Baylor University Libraries
Learn more: Hazelton, A. J. (2017). Farmworker Advocacy through Guestworker Policy: Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell and the Bracero Program. Journal of Policy History 29 (July), p. 431-461. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898030617000185 National Sharecropper Fund Records, Walter P. Reuther Library (finding aid). Cosgrove, B. (2013) Bitter Harvest: LIFE With America's Migrant Workers, 1959. LIFE magazine Mar 10, 2013. (Previously unpublished photographs by Michael Rougier). Furman, M. (1959). Some Facts for Young Workers about Work and Labor Laws. Washington : U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards.
Candlelight AIDS memorial vigil on E. Grace Street, from St. Paul's Episcopal Church to Capitol Square, Richmond, Va.
In 1981, Dr. Michael Gottlieb of UCLA identified a new disease that, among its many signs, severely weakened the immune system. Named acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), this disease was initially seen among gay men in large cities. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), identified in 1985, is transmitted through blood, genital fluids (such as semen) and breastmilk. The earliest confirmed case of AIDS in the U.S. was in 1968, with the first case in Virginia reported in 1982. With no known cure, HIV/AIDS was initially a death sentence for those infected. Participants in this 1987 candlelight AIDS memorial vigil walked down E. Grace Street from St. Paul's Episcopal Churh to Capitol Square in Richmond, Va.
V.88.68.144, Richmond Times-Dispatch Collection, The Valentine
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I've had my chest x-ray [pinback button]
"I've Had My Chest X-Ray" button with red double-bar cross that was the emblem of the National Tuberculosis Association anti-TB crusade. People can be exposed to tuberculosis bacteria and become infected. Some who are infected go on to develop active TB disease; those who do not are said to have latent infection. Latent infection can be found through a skin test or a blood test; however, a chest x-ray and laboratory testing of a mucus sample are needed to determine if someone has active TB disease. In 1946, the Richmond Health Department worked with medical and civic organizations to launch the city’s first chest x-ray campaign.
V.83.158.20, The Valentine
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Learn more: Tuberculosis, Social Welfare History Project Tuberculosis, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Anti-tuberculosis play at Lyric Theatre, 901 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Va.
French bacteriologists Albert Calmette (1863–1933) and Camille Guérin (1872–1961) finalized the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis in 1921. The vaccine remains the only tuberculosis vaccine in use today. While not perfect, it is one of the most widely used vaccines and reaches more than 80 percent of all children in countries where the disease is common. The BCG vaccine was a major weapon in public health efforts to fight tuberculosis—an ongoing battle dramatized by Richmond children in this 1921 play. In this panoramic photograph, a "Modern Health Crusader" brandishes a sword shaped like the double-barred cross that was the emblem of the crusade. The crusader carries a "Modern Health Crusader" shield and fights "Tuberculosis" who is dressed all in black. The Modern Health Crusaders campaign was devised by Charles De Forest of the National Tuberculosis Association.
Cook Collection, The Valentine
NO COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY This Work has been digitized in a public-private partnership. As part of this partnership, the partners have agreed to limit commercial uses of this digital representation of the Work by third parties. You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions of the organization that has made the Item available. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/
Learn more: Chores of Modern Health Crusaders, Social Welfare History Image Portal The Modern Health Crusade. A National Program of Health Instruction in Schools, Internet Archive Stamping out tuberculosis with Christmas Seals. University of Virginia. Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library Tuberculosis, Social Welfare History Project
“Open-air” classroom at Moore Street School, 1113 W. Moore Street, Richmond, Va.
In the early-20th century, Europe and the U.S. saw the rise of “open air” schools intended to create healthy environments to combat tuberculosis using the principles of sanatoria. Sometimes purpose-built, and sometimes converted spaces, open air schools provided fresh air and extra nutrition for at-risk youth. In the May 1917 issue of The Modern City, John H. Ferguson wrote about Richmond’s 16 open air schools: “Each school has a capacity of 20 children; and each one is always crowded, with a long waiting list. The children are selected from the entire public school system of the city by the school physician…Few of these children have tuberculosis even in its non-communicative forms, but they are all below par, physically, just in the right receptive condition to be fertile soil for the development of the disease.” A Richmond Times-Dispatch notice of March 2, 1915 (p. 7) noted fundraising activities of "prominent society women" in support of the open-air schools. These women served as tearoom hostesses in the palm garden of the Jefferson Hotel. Indoor golf was a popular activity for which "two handsome silver cups" were to be awarded at the conclusion of the season.
Cook 1657, Cook Collection, The Valentine
Learn more: Tuberculosis, Social Welfare History Project Tuberculosis, Social Welfare History Image Portal Carr, Laura (2017). Open air schools: The fight against tuberculosis. The Valentine (blog) Open-Air Schools. Bulletin 1916, No. 23. Bureau of Education. Department of the Interior. via ERIC Goldsberry collection of open-air school photographs, Library of Congress 1930s: Open-Air Schools, Retronaut Does Cold Weather Sharpen a Schoolboy's Wits? The Scrap Book, 1908. pp. 883-884. via HathiTrust.org Nierenberg, A. (2019 October 27). Classrooms without walls and hopefully covid. New York Times.
Students washing hands before lunch, old Cary Street School (Madison School).
Students from the old Cary Street School (Madison School) in Richmond, Va., demonstrate handwashing before having lunch. Washing hands regularly with soap and water remains one of the most important steps in preventing the spread of many illnesses. The school was located at 219 W. Cary Street, Richmond, Va. The photograph was taken in the early-20th century.
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Learn more: Bonis, R. (2010) Madison School, Corner Cary and Madison St. (1872-1973) and Playground Kids, 1940s. The Shockoe Examiner (blog).
Promotional materials for "Stop Polio Sunday. Second Dose Jan. 19." A hand drops the vaccine onto a sugar cube. Text: "everyone needs Sabin Vaccine. For complete protection against polio, EVERYONE over two months old needs ALL THREE TYPES of Sabin oral vaccine. Sabin school clincis will be open JANUARY 19 from NOON TO 6 P.M. to offer you your second dose of Sabin oral vaccine. BE SURE AND ATTEND YOUR LOCAL SABIN CLINIC AND TAKE THE SECOND DOSE OF SABIN VACCINE. HELP TO BANISH POLIO FROM THE RICHMOND AREA FOREVER. Check the other side for clinic nearest you." ------ The (near) elimination of polio is one of medicine’s great success stories. Jonas Salk (1914–1995) developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1953. Albert Sabin (1906–1993) developed an oral version of the vaccine in 1956. Polio cases dropped dramatically wherever the vaccines were used, and polio was eliminated in the U.S. by 1979. Through the efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, formed in 1988, worldwide polio cases were down to 37 by 2016. Poliomyelitis vaccines were not without problems, though, especially initially. The Sabin version was more effective and easier to administer, but in very rare cases (1 in 2.9 million), it could produce a form of polio. It was abandoned in the U.S. by 2000. The Sabin vaccine required three doses, given six to eight weeks apart. In Richmond, Sunday vaccine drives were organized in the 1960s, leading to widespread city vaccination rates.
FIC.037526, The Valentine
Learn more: Paul, Catherine A. (2017). Polio. Social Welfare History Project. The History of Vaccines. An educational resource by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
Typhoid fever study, Richmond, Va. [lantern slide]
Lantern slide. Image taken in Richmond, Va in 1907. The Richmond Health Department formed in 1906. One of its early initiatives (1907) was to investigate 433 cases of typhoid fever, creating the city’s first systematic study of infectious disease. In 1908, Dr. Ernest C. Levy (1868–1938), head of the Richmond Health Department, published the survey findings in The Old Dominion Journal of Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Levy discussed the generally declining rate of typhoid fever cases in Richmond from 1880 to 1907 but noted several outbreaks of the disease in 1881, 1884 and 1900. While one cluster of outbreaks in Church Hill was determined to come from a typhoid-infected confectioner, a larger proportion of cases were from properties on the outskirts of the city that generally used well water and lacked sewage systems.
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Learn more: Levy, E. C. and Freeman, A. W. (1908). Certain conclusions concerning typhoid fever in the south, as deduced from a study of typhoid fever in Richmond Virginia. The Old Dominion Journal of Medicine and Surgery, VII (5), November 1908, 315-338. Carr, Laura (2014).Typhoid fever! The Valentine (blog). Hughes, Megan (2018). Typhoid fever! The Valentine (blog). Society for the Betterment of Housing and Living Conditions in Richmond, Virginia (1913). Report on housing and living conditions in the neglected sections of Richmond, Virginia.
Cholera Parade Float at Adventure Days, Richmond, Va.
This parade float from Richmond’s Adventure Days (1929) served as a public health reminder of cholera, noting “Richmonders Died at the Average Age of 24 in 1872.”
V.45.15.1024, W. Palmer Gray Collection, The Valentine