Taking a job in the cotton mill meant enduring difficult conditions and long hours. A typical day lasted from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with an hour off for midday dinner. Police reports in the Charleston News and Courier told of the many women working at the mill who faced harassment— men often stood outside and “interfered with” women who were walking to work in the dark.
What was life like in the cotton mill?
A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mills, Clinton, South Carolina, December 1908. During this era, it was common for the mill to control most aspects of life for the mill workers. They'd live in mill housing, go to a mill school, and shop at a mill store.
What was the cotton mill process like in the Industrial Revolution?
The milling process started in the picker-house, a separate building on the southeast end of the mill. The six “picker” machines could each process fifteen bales a day, amounting to 40,000 pounds of cotton that cycled through the mill every twenty-four hours.
What are the dangers of working in a cotton mill?
As well as battling the heat and ear-splitting noise, even breathing the air within the mill could have dangerous consequences for the workers. Cotton particles filled the air making breathing them in unavoidable. With nothing in the way of modern day PPE, this put workers at risk of developing a lung disease called Byssinosis.
What are the working hours of a cotton mill worker?
Taking a job in the cotton mill meant enduring difficult conditions and long hours. A typical day lasted from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with an hour off for midday dinner.
What was life like in a cotton mill?
They would work 12 -14 hours a day, as well as being exposed to brutal discipline if they made mistakes, were late work or – through sheer exhaustion – were caught falling asleep at their machines. Punishments included beatings, having heavy weights tied around their necks or even having their ears nailed to tables.
What was life like for a mill worker?
Most textile workers toiled for 12 to 14 hours a day and half a day on Saturdays; the mills were closed on Sundays. Typically, mill girls were employed for nine to ten months of the year, and many left the factories during part of the summer to visit back home.
What were cotton mill workers paid?
The young men who were piecers on mules and card strippers were paid $4 to $4.50 per week. The weaving in a cotton mill was done by older girls and women, who ran four looms and averaged $1 per loom a week.
What were some difficulties of working in a mill?
Between poor building structures, dangerous machinery, crowded boardinghouses, and a variety of frequent accidents, these women worked at their own risk. Work hazards were compounded by exhaustion, a frequent topic of reporting from inside and outside the mill.
How much money did mill girls make?
On average, the Lowell mill girls earned between three and four dollars per week. The cost of boarding ranged between seventy-five cents and $1.25, giving them the ability to acquire good clothes, books, and savings.
Where did the mill girls sleep?
The girls lived in a boarding house where they shared a room with others and ate their meals; this closeness created a close bond amongst the girls. They had to abide by a curfew and follow a code of conduct, working 12 to 14 hours in the factory.
What was the job of a mill girl?
The job of the Mill Girls was to turn cotton into fabric. They operated fabric-weaving machines called looms. The women often worked for 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. And back then, there were no safety rules.
What did mill workers wear?
The one piece of clothing which was clearly in evidence in all three sources was a smock-like garment known as a “house apron,” which the women in the Queen City Cotton Mill clearly wore to protect their clothing from getting dirty while on the job.
How long did mill workers work for?
Long working hours - normal shifts were usually 12-14 hours a day, with extra time required during busy periods.
What were cotton mill workers called?
Boys were usually employed as doffers or sweepers, and men worked as weavers, loom fixers, carders, or supervisors.
What were the dangers cotton mills?
Eye inflammation, deafness, tuberculosis, cancer of the mouth and of the groin (mule-spinners cancer) could also be attributed to the working conditions in the mills. Long hours, difficult working conditions and moving machinery proved a dangerous combination.
What was life like for a Lowell girl?
Difficult Factory Conditions These women worked in very sub-par conditions, upwards of 70 hours a week in grueling environments. The air was very hot in these rooms that were full of machines that generated heat, the air quality was poor, and the windows were often closed.
How was life in the mills?
Life in the Iron Mills is a short story written by Rebecca Harding Davis in 1861, set in the factory world of the nineteenth century. It is one of the earliest American realist works, and is an important text for those who study labor and women's issues....Life in the Iron Mills.CountryUnited StatesISBN97809353123935 more rows
What does mill worker do?
A mill worker or sawyer processes timber products in a mill. A mill worker can perform a variety of tasks, including acting as a machine operator who cuts logs, strips bark, or performs other operations to prepare raw timber for sale or usage in building projects.
What was life like in a mill village?
Mill folk lived close to the bone. In the 1910s kerosene lamps lit a majority of their houses, and open fireplaces provided heat. Families drew their water from wells or hydrants shared with neighbors, and almost all households had outdoor toilets rather than indoor plumbing. Village houses were very small.
What was it like to work in a factory in the 1800s?
The working conditions in factories were often harsh. Hours were long, typically ten to twelve hours a day. Working conditions were frequently unsafe and led to deadly accidents. Tasks tended to be divided for efficiency's sake which led to repetitive and monotonous work for employees.
Who died from a cotton mill?
Drawing of the inside of a cotton mill. The cause of the disease was highlighted in Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1855 novel North and South, in which Bessy Higgins, a nineteen-year-old worker in a cotton mill dies from the condition. As she explains, the manufacture of cotton released ‘Fluff. ]
Why did the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act of 1802 require that mills and factories have sufficient windows for?
While the 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act had required that mills and factories have sufficient windows for proper ventilation, the reason for this had been to reduce bad smells in the working environment, not to try to remove harmful fibres from the air. This was because at the time diseases were believed to be transmitted by miasmata: decomposed material found in foul-smelling air, dirty water, and unhygienic living conditions. It was not until the Factory and Workshop Act of 1878 that it was stipulated that ventilation needed to be adequate ‘to render harmless, so far as is practicable, all the gases, vapours, dust, or other impurities generated in the course of the manufacturing process or handicraft carried on therein that may be injurious to health’. As a result, in the 1850s when Gaskell was writing, despite there being an association between lung conditions and working in cotton mills, it was up to the factory owner to decide if they would take any measures to protect the health of their workers. Some cotton mill owners would install a fan at one end of the carding room to carry off the cotton dust, but many chose not to as it was a large expense that brought in no profit. This meant that, as an article in the medical journal the Lancet noted in 1863, ‘A carder seldom lives in a cardroom beyond forty years of age. Many have to give up working much younger’.
What was the common killer of the 1830s?
In the early 1830s Dr James Phillips Kay exposed cotton as a common killer. After treating many workers from cotton mills, he noticed that many of his patients complained of bad lungs. He wrote that in many of the people he saw, ‘Entrance into the atmosphere of the mill immediately occasions a dry cough, which harasses him considerably in the day, but ceases immediately after he leaves the mills. ] these symptoms become gradually more severe’ until they are ‘harassed by a frequent cough’. He labelled the condition ‘spinners’ phthisis’ – phthisis being the common term used for pulmonary tuberculosis – and noted that if the condition was allowed to progress it could be fatal.
Did cotton mill workers get byssinosis?
Nevertheless, a study in 1948 by the Department of Health at Manchester University found that a substantial number of Lancashire workers involved in the blowing and carding rooms in cotton mills still suffered from the disease. Out of 103 men with at least 10 years of exposure to cotton dust, they found that 52% had symptoms of early byssinosis, ...
Is cotton dust harmful?
Furthermore, cotton is not the only harmful substance that people continue to breathe in in the workplace. IOSH’s No Time to Lose campaign has been highlighting the carcinogenic exposure issues associated with workers inhaling silica dust and asbestos fibres. The awareness of risks associated with the inhalation of silica dust is even older than that linked to cotton dust, dating back to the Ancient Greeks when the physician Hippocrates noted that miners tended to suffer from breathlessness. Despite this, how silica dust actually causes lung cancer continues to be unclear, and it is estimated that in Britain alone, around 800 people a year die from lung cancer caused by work-related silica exposure. In addition, despite the fact that the use of asbestos is now banned in the UK, it is still present in materials in so many buildings that approximately 5000 people die annually from being exposed to asbestos at work.
What were the machines that made the cotton into a roll called?
Workers in other parts of the mill tended to be women, who guided the fiber through machines that cleaned and smoothed the cotton into “laps” or rolls, which were then folded together by machines called “finishers.”. The “laps” then went into the main building and were formed into strips around three inches in diameter.
When was the Cotton Factory Village built?
Acting on this assumption, the company built a small “cotton factory village” just south of the Almshouse in 1884, erecting twelve two-story cottages made of gray “artificial stone” blocks, arranged along a court that fronted on Drake Street. Rent was fifty cents per room per week.
Why did the workers refuse to work at one company?
Employers saw workers’ refusal to commit to one company or one source of income as laziness or disrespect; workers saw it as a way to increase their free time and control their own lives. Operatives at the Charleston Cotton Manufacturing Company did not organize a union or go on strike, as workers were doing across the nation in the 1880s—they simply did what they felt like doing, working in the factory when other jobs were scarce but seeking higher wages and better conditions when these were available elsewhere.
What was the goal of the Kol?
Though the KOL’s goals of shorter hours, equal pay, and an end to child labor were not realized until decades later, in Charleston and elsewhere, the very existence of the KOL encouraged workers to fight for higher wages and safer working conditions.
How did the task system affect the behavior of black workers?
Historians often point out that the “task system” used to allocate work to enslaved people on Lowcountry rice plantations influenced the behavior of black workers employed in many industries, including phosphate mining, long after emancipation. Black workers who were accustomed to accomplishing set amounts of work at their own pace pushed back against the idea that they should work regular hours. Significantly, at the Charleston factory, white workers evidently subscribed to the same work ethic.
Why did workers leave the factory without notice?
In addition, while wages were steady, they were low. As a result, workers were prone to leaving without notice for higher-paying seasonal jobs, especially weeding and picking potatoes, strawberries, snap beans, and other crops on farms only a short walk north of the factory.
Why did managers revisit the idea of providing company housing?
Rather than raise wages, managers revisited the idea of providing company housing, assuming that workers who lived in buildings owned by the factory could be more easily controlled. After all, a worker who lived on mill property and skipped days or slowed down on the job put her family’s well being at risk.
What was common for the mill to control most aspects of life for the mill workers?
During this era, it was common for the mill to control most aspects of life for the mill workers. They'd live in mill housing, go to a mill school, and shop at a mill store. It was common for children to come and go as they pleased in the factory, eventually lending a hand to an older family member and then getting hired when they were of legal age.
When did cotton mills start in South Carolina?
South Carolina cotton mills sprang up in the mid-to-late 1800s and were a leading industry in South Carolina well into the depression era when the price of cotton plummeted and many mills went under. The lives of the mill workers during this era remain a point of curiosity, almost as much as the lives of our ancestors who lived through ...
What is a doffer in a mill?
A "doffer" is someone who removes bobbins, spindles and pirns holding spun fiber (thread-like) from the spinning frame and then replaces them with empty ones.
What was the name of the man who documented child labor in the Carolinas?
A man by the name of Lewis Wickes Hine was a social photographer and was employed to document illegal child labor practices in the mills in the Carolinas. At the time, it was illegal to employ anyone under the age of 12 in a spinning room. This young boy is covered in lint. Carding machines took raw cotton and smashed it into flat sheets (cards). Workers in this stage of the process often inhaled a lot of lint and were often diagnosed with a condition known as "brown lung."
What was the name of the man who was employed to document illegal child labor practices in the mills in the Carolinas?
A man by the name of Lewis Wickes Hine was a social photographer and was employed to document illegal child labor practices in the mills in the Carolinas. At the time, it was illegal to employ anyone under the age of 12 in a spinning room. This young boy is covered in lint. Carding machines took raw cotton and smashed it into flat sheets (cards). Workers in this stage of the process often inhaled a lot of lint and were often diagnosed with a condition known as "brown lung."
How old were mill workers in South Carolina in 1910?
You have to love the matching outfits including the bonnets! One source claims that between 1880 and 1910 about one-fourth of all mill workers in South Carolina was under the age of 16.
Where did John Ghent work?
Library of Congress/LOT 7479, v. 1, no. 0337 [P&P] The young boy worked at Lancaster Cotton Mill in Lancaster, South Carolina. The photo appears to have been taken in the mill "village.".
Why did children work at cotton mills?
Children worked for the delight of the cotton mill owners, there was a cheap alternative to paying children with actual money. Because of the dangerous ways of city life such as endless smoke from coal powered factories, poor hygiene, and horrible working conditions, many children were left without parents.
What were the conditions in cotton mills?
In cotton mills, children had to work day and night. They were exposed to the dangerous moving parts of the machinery and had to work in very warm atmospheres to spin the cotton. Children were also given discipline and harsh punishments. Because of the horrible conditions that child laborers had to work in, laws were later passed which would give ...
What were the first places to use child labor during the Industrial Revolution?
Cotton mills were one of the first places to utilize child labor during the Industrial Revolution. The first jobs for children were in water powered cotton mills near the river. With the invention of the cotton spinning jenny and the steam engine, cotton could be spun much faster and cotton mills could be moved into the cities.
What were the problems of the Parish Apprentice?
The supplies given to Parish apprentice children were very limited and left many children malnourished. The children living in cotton mills also had another problem to deal with. Working conditions for children were worse than they were for adults. In cotton mills, children had to work day and night. They were exposed to the dangerous moving parts ...
What did the Mill people do in the 1910s?
Mill folk lived close to the bone. In the 1910s kerosene lamps lit a majority of their houses, and open fireplaces provided heat. Families drew their water from wells or hydrants shared with neighbors, and almost all households had outdoor toilets rather than indoor plumbing. Village houses were very small. The average southern mill family of seven lived in a four-room cottage that offered little privacy. Bessie Buchanan, who grew up with eight brothers and sisters, remembered what it was like. “The boys slept in one room, and the girls slept in another one. And Mother and Daddy had a room. We didn’t have a living room or a den or nothing like that.”
What did the mill hands do?
Like farmers, mill hands worked hard to grow much of their own food. A family’s wages from the mill barely made ends meet, so a good garden often made the difference between a healthy diet and going hungry. Edna Hargett’s father planted vegetables every spring but could not afford a mule to help break the land.
How long did Bessie's mother work in the mill?
After working in the mill for ten or twelve hours, Bessie’s mother and other village women came home to cook on wood stoves and to wash clothes in large iron kettles over open fires. Edna Hargett told how difficult it was to combine factory labor and household chores. “It was a job.
What percentage of southern textile families lived in factory housing?
At the turn of the century 95 percent of southern textile families lived in factory housing. For these people, perhaps more than for any other industrial work force in America, the company town established the patterns of everyday life. But the mill village was more than a place to work and earn a living. It was also the setting in which men and ...
Why did mills start in villages?
Mill owners first constructed villages because they needed a place to house their workers. Individual families and groups of local investors built most early mills in the countryside. Run by waterwheels, small factories clung to the streams that flowed rapidly from the North Carolina Mountains toward the coast. In such remote locations companies had little choice but to provide housing where none existed before. A typical village consisted of a superintendent’s residence, a cluster of single-family dwellings, a frame church, a small school, and a company store. These facilities were essential to recruiting workers and carrying on the business of the mills, yet manufacturers also saw in them the means of exercising control over their employees. Investigators from the United States Bureau of Labor reported in 1910 that “all the affairs of the village and the conditions of living of all the people” seemed be “regulated by the mill company. Practically speaking, the company owns everything and controls everything, and to a large extent controls everybody in the mill village.”
When did children go to work in the mills?
Even after the passage of effective child labor laws in the 1910s, most children went to work in the mills by age fourteen. Inevitably they met their spouses on the job and courted there as well. Grover and Alice Hardin fell in love in the mill. “My wife worked in the spinning room,” Grover recalled.
What did the Lowell Mills do during the Industrial Revolution?
The Lowell Mills tried to create a community for their young workers. Shutterstock. While many factory owners and employers during the Industrial Revolution blatantly took advantage of and mistreated their workers, there were a few that tried to create positive work environments.
What was the Industrial Revolution like?
Ruthless employers readily took advantage of their employees, overworking them in dangerous environments for the sake of productivity and profits. And eventually, laborers would be forced to fight for their rights. Here's what it was really like as a worker during the Industrial Revolution.
Why did employers take advantage of immigrants?
Employers took advantage of immigrants to fill their factories. Heritage Images/Getty Images. Immigrants played a huge role during the Industrial Revolution, not just because they were a significant percentage of the workforce, but because their presence accelerated industrialization, as well.
What was the risk of working in factories during the Industrial Revolution?
Workers were prone to be injured from the running machinery, getting chronic diseases from the toxic chemicals they breathed in every day, and even dying from the dangerous conditions of the factories.
What would have happened without the Industrial Revolution?
Much of life today would never have existed without the Industrial Revolution. A time of dramatic innovation, industrialization made us go from a society that farmed and made everything by hand to one where goods could be mass-produced by machinery for a fraction of the cost. People started moving away from their family farms to work in factories ...
How long did industrial workers sweat?
Between the awful conditions of their workplace and their homes, poor Industrial Revolution workers also had to suffer terrible hygiene. After spending over 12 hours sweating in a factory, they would go home to no running water or sanitation system, according to History Crunch.
What were the common aspects of working class jobs during the Industrial Revolution?
A common aspect of working-class jobs during the Industrial Revolution was extremely low wages. According to History Crunch, the pay would be barely enough to cover living costs, which was a big reason why even little kids had to work in these jobs and help support the family.
