Appetizer “Imagine that you come to school everyday and there is no heat, you are here for 14 hours a day, you eat lunch at your desk, the windows are locked shut, the front door is locked until dismissal. You may not go home if you are sick, you may not take a break. What would your daily life be like? How would you feel?”

Unsafe Factory Conditions in the Industrial Era

Hazardous Working Conditions  Lung damaging dust filled the air  Gas explosions were frequent  Low pay  Child labor  hour work days with no “breaks”  Serious injuries common

  No fresh air, windows & doors locked.   Gas lamps provided light. Factory Conditions

Unsafe Machinery   No laws existed to protect factory workers.   Machines were dangerous. .  Injuries common.

Child Labor   By million minors under age 15 work in dangerous factories throughout the country.

Low Pay   These young miners in Pennsylvania made 38 cents a day.   Worked underground up to 13 hours a day.

Sweatshop Mostly young women working on sewing machines in filthy and overcrowded factories.

??????  What does it sometimes take in order for a drastic change to be made in certain situations?

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire   March 25, 1911   145 workers died in this terrible fire.   After the fire the public would demand the government pass laws protecting workers.