Florence Kelley Child Labor Speech Summary

The speaker of the speech is Florence Kelley. She was a political and social reformer that fought heavily for the fairness of children’s rights in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The occasion for writing this piece was the amount of children working in factories during the period to support their families. The intended audience of the speech were America’s leaders since she wanted to give children regulations work hours. The purpose of writing this speech is to get her message across which is that children should have to be work in the factories, that is for older men and women.

She repeats this to emphasize that the demographic of young women joining the workforce is increasing immensely. She uses the repetition

Before the days of labor laws and unions, there was a time in which laws were not able to keep up with a rapidly changing industrial economy. As machinery and technology advanced, so did the possible amount of revenue being generated. Unfortunately, this machinery made it so unexperienced workers, such as children and teenagers, could work hours on end creating products. With little legislation in place, these vulnerable workers were exploited in factories and mills. Many individuals, such as Florence Kelley, called for change by creating speeches that would be presented in large conventions and rallies.

Accomplish an understanding is possible due to the internal dialogues that the author use. By mean of a different style of letters: Italic type and the utilization of questions and exclamation marks manifest disbelief, reflections, doubts and self-persuasion: “I’ve never gone backpacking! ,” “How could I carry a backpack more than 1,000 miles over rugged mountains and waterless deserts if I couldn’t even budge it an inch in an air-conditioned motel room?,” I was a PCT hiker, right? Right.” Detail descriptions that could make easy producing a storyboard and the introduction of literary figures, when the actual word is not enough to describe the magnitude of the situation, allow us perceive the complex of what Cheryl is living.

Simply saying things without backing it up makes an argument worthless. Kelley uses pathos or logical appeal through evidence, when she lists facts such as “no contingent so doubles from census to census period (both by percent…) as the contingent of girls between twelve and twenty. They are in commerce, in offices in manufacturing” by stating this she gives evidence about how child labor is increasing more and more. This in turn gives her fuel to use her emotional appeal. As she can back up what she is saying.

Florence Kelley was an activist who fought against child labor in the late 1800'-early 1900's. She fought very hard for child labor and for better working conditions for our women. On the day of July 22, 1905 Kelley gave her speech regarding her reasoning of why child labor should end. To get a better understanding of her speech Florence Kelley implies pathos, ethos, and logos,which will catch the audience attention. The author reflects the sense of ethos playing the role of Florence Kelley.

Children are having their childhoods took away from them everyday due to many reasons, but a major reason is child laboring. Florence Kelley, United States social worker discusses the negative effects of child laboring using rhetorical devices such as imagery, credibility, and emotions to explain to the National American Suffrage Association the affects that child laboring has on a child’s childhood. In this speech Florence Kelley displays many different emotions such as guilt, anger, pity and sadness. “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night though, in the deafening noise……” Kelley reveals an emotion of sadness.

Child Labor Analysis Child Labor was one of Florence Kelley’s main topics at a speech she gave in Philadelphia during a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Kelley talks about all the horrors children were going through and the injustices they were suffering. She talks of the conditions children working in, the hours they were going in, and all in all, how wrong child labor was. Her purpose for this was to gain support of people to petition for the end of child labor. Kelley’s appeals to Ethos, Pathos and Logos through the use of great rhetoric is what allows her to achieve her purpose.

The principal claim in “The American Negro in the World War” 1919, is that a colored woman that worked during war time had a lower wage than a man doing the same work and considerable fraction below that of a white woman in the same service, also, they were forced to work in the most unsafe posts but also in the most delicate jobs as well (Doc 4). The author’s purpose was to express to the government how the citizens of the United States are being deprived of their rights, especially the colored men and women during time of war. In 1920 a union called, The American Civil Liberties Union was formed to change the unfairness and to better the American society by protecting the independent rights and liberties that the laws and Constitution of the United States promises everyone. In the photograph “An Appliance Showroom in Louisville, Kentucky” in 1920, it shows woman working in an appliance showroom (Doc 5). The purpose of this photograph was to show how women got the opportunity to work in stores and almost anywhere they desired and it began to change the American society and the social norm of woman just saying at home and only being good to make babies.

In America’s history, child labor was fiercely criticized. Many activists of child labor laws and women’s suffrage strived to introduce their own viewpoints to the country. Florence Kelley was a reformer who successfully changed the mindset of many Americans through her powerful and persuading arguments. Florence Kelley’s carefully crafted rhetoric strategies such as pathos, repetition, and sarcasm generates an effective and thought provoking tone that was in favor of women’s suffrage and child labor laws. Florence Kelley uses pathos continuously throughout her speech.

In her speech to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelly descriptively vocalizes about chid labor. She talks about the horrible conditions young children face in the states. Kelly uses repetition to put emphasis on little girls working in textile mills, “while we sleep” is repeated 3 times this makes the audience feel guilty for enjoying life while little girls are working. Kelly also uses pathos, appealing to the emotion of her

During the Industrial Revolution while the United States economy boomed it was at the expense of the underprivileged lower class. Florence Kelley was a prominent figure during this tumultuous time who brought light to issues such as women's rights, and child labor. She spoke to various conventions including the National American Woman Suffrage Association about these issues in an attempt to spark change. Specifically at this event she discusses the topic of child labor and calls women to action even though they cannot yet vote. Kelley utilizes logos, imagery, and theoretical examples to convince these women to petition and spread the ideas for preventative legislation surrounding child labor.

This puts stress on the mother and shows how much the mother wants a great education for her daughter and what she will do to try and get it. We learn throughout “The First Day” that the mother is very ashamed of herself. “My mother looks at me, then looks away. I know almost all of her looks, but this one is brand new to me.” (Jones, 87)

In Florence Kelley’s speech, through her use of parallel structure and detailed description to describe the conditions of child labor, anecdotes that relay its prominence, appeals to emotion and motherhood, she conveys an effective message that child labor is unjust. Kelley illustrates a sweaty, brutal environment in which children are responsible for the production of many items that people use daily. According to Kelley, “Under the sweating system, tiny children make artificial flowers and neckwear for us to buy.” Words like “tiny children” and “sweating system” describe an environment that no one will feel comfortable in.

Child labor was a great concern in the Industrial revolution but very few people did something to stop it. Women and Children were forced to work more than 10 hours a day with only forty minutes to have lunch. Elizabeth Bentley once said that they didn’t have any time to have breakfast or drink anything during the day. They worked standing up and if they didn’t do their work on time they were strapped (whipped). Children were treating like they were not important, like they didn’t deserve a better life.