Picking slate in Scranton, PA, n.d.

Boys in Scranton, Pennsylvania pick slate from coal. Industrial change transformed the nature of work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and young children often labored in the new industries instead of attending school or remaining at home in order to supplement the family income. While many believed these modern forms of child labor were wrong, there was disagreement as to how to respond to the matter in a way that didn't violate accepted strongly held economic and political beliefs.


This item is part of the background material for the 1919 Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction section.

no date

American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives