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Life in the Canneries at the Turn of the Century
Teacher Guide
By Stephanie A. Boyanowski
Edited by Jerome Bird
Objectives:
At the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Recognize the importance of canneries as a source of employment at
the turn of the century.
- Understand the problems of canneries and child labor issues.
- Use a graph to interpret data, analyze information, and draw
conclusions.
- Analyze and draw conclusions from historical pictures and documents.
MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:
Social Studies, Grades 4-5
Skills and Processes
- Obtain, interpret, organize, and use information from reading,
asking questions, observing, and listening.
- Obtain, interpret, organize, and use print and non-print sources of
information such as pictures, graphics, maps, globes, and artifacts.
- Define and clarify problems drawn from history and the social
sciences.
- Identify resources, and prepare solutions based on available data.
Economic Outcome
- Describe the relationship between available resources and production
of goods and services.
- Explain how the exchange of goods and services connects Maryland
with world.
- Describe the relationship of supply and demand to the production and
consumption of goods and services.
- Analyze historical and economic factors which have contributed to
the growth and development of Maryland's economy.
Student Worksheets:
ALife in the Canneries Worksheet - 8 Activities
- Help Wanted Ad
- Jobs in the Cannery
- The Canning Process
- The Job Interview
- A Postcard Home
- Maryland Oyster Harvest
- Immigrant Worker Wages
- Child Labor Advocate
Key Web Sites Referenced in this Lesson:
Teacher background:
The canning industry of Baltimore brought jobs to its residents and
food for the nation. In the 19th century, Baltimore was a major
canning center. It was the first city to can oysters and the first
place where corn was canned commercially. Due to Baltimore's
proximity to the Chesapeake, along with its ready labor supply and
excellent rail and water transportation, the city was a mecca for the
canning industry. Rail and water transportation not only created a
means to get food supplies to Baltimore for canning, they also
transported canned food out of the city. For example, gold miners in
California enjoyed canned oysters from the Chesapeake! With steady
immigration into the state, adults laborers, as well as their
children, rapidly found work due to the constant demand from the
canneries.
Children were a common sight in the canneries in the late 1800s and
early 1900s until child labor began to become a major concern. A
major reason for the decline of child labor in the canning industry
was the passage of increasing restrictive child labor laws. Further,
child labor was found to be unreliable and inconsistent, particularly
with the advent of mechanization in the canning industry. Adult
laborers were usually more skilled, better-trained, and more reliable
in the working environment. Between the years 1880 to 1920, the
percentage of the children under the age of sixteen working in U.S.
manufacturing declined from 7% to 1%. In addition to restrictive
child labor laws and mechanization that demanded adult laborers,
another factor limited the use of children in the canning industry was
the passage of mandatory school attendance laws.
Laws protecting the rights of children were gradually tightened
throughout the early 1900s. In 1889, the law permitted children 10
years of age to work in the manufacturing sector for 10 hours a day or
60 hours a week. In 1901, the age was raised to 12 years and the
hours lowered to 9 hours a day or 54 hours per week. In 1905, the
minimum working age was raised to 14 , although children from 12 to 14
were allowed to work during their school vacations if they received a
vacation permit for their schools.
The child labor laws mentioned above applied primarily to the
manufacturing sector. Canneries usually were exempted under an
"horticultural pursuits" clause that specifically exempted canneries
from the child labor laws. School attendance legislation passed in
1911 and 1913 mandating minimum school attendance also exempted
canneries. In 1915, students under the age of 16 were still allowed
to work in the canneries during school hours if they obtained a
certificate verifying their ability to read and write English from
their local school. In 1916, a law was finally passed restricting
work hour for all employees under 18 years of age to 8 hours a day or
48 hours a week. These laws did not ban the employment of children in
the canneries, but they did place serious constraints on hiring them
through restrictive wage and hours provisions.
The impact of technological improvements was greater in city canneries
than in rural canneries. Mechanization eventually eliminating most
of the child labor in the cities, although rural canneries were more
tolerate of children. Located in remote locations with limited labor
pools, rural canneries depended on migrant labor. This kind of labor
often consisted of family groups with children relocating from urban
locations.
Seasonal canneries operating in rural areas were slower to adopt
mechanized processes and slower to implement regular hours and
time-rate payment systems associated with this technology. Urban
canneries had access to a variety of crops and usually operated for a
longer season. Therefore they adopted new machinery as it was
invented. Rural canneries, on the other hand, usually processed only
one crop over a short season. They tended to retain older, labor
intensive production techniques. Below is a report published by the
U.S. Buearu of Labor on the working conditions found in a Maryland
cannery in 1918.
"Sometimes the smaller children, who had to stand on boxes to reach
the peeling tables, worked with their mothers or other relatives, and
their earnings were added to older members of the family. Others
worked independently, and proudly exhibited the number of checks
earned.
While the adults worked steadily, the children were allowed
considerable freedom in coming and going, especially those who were
imported with their parents and lived in the labor camps. This was
even more noticeable in the corn-husking sheds, where smaller children
were more often found than in the tomato canneries. Those too small
to husk corn sometimes assisted their mothers by "silking the
corn," removing husks, and pushing the corn within their mothers'
reach.
The boys and girls who were time workers usually labeled cans and
rolled them down the chute and inspected cans passing on conveyors.
Boys were sometimes employed on time rate to do trucking, hauling and
removing skins, and general laboring work, such as carrying baskets of
tomatoes to steamers or to the peelers, and piling baskets, cans and
cases.... Sometimes children as young as 7 or 8 were regarded as good
workers by their parents, and worked with the steadiness and speed of
adult workers."
Teaching Tips:
This lesson is more effective when it involves discussion and
brain-storming. Encourage students to use their imaginations to
visualize would it would have been like to work in a cannery. Based
on the information they gather in the lesson , students will
effectively write a persuasive letter to the National Labor Council
clearly stating their viewpoints. Before beginning the letter, review
what a typical day would involve in a cannery and what one might see
and feel as a worker. This unit will help students empathize with
those who worked in the canneries. It will also help them to
understand the value of this industry.
Scoring Tool:
You will know if your students have done a good job if:
- Letters are written from the perspective of a child laborer.
- The letter includes persuasive evident to support child labor laws.
- The letter includes ideas to improve the working conditions in the
canneries.
Lesson Extensions:
To challenge your advanced readers, two primary source articles have
been provided.
- The first is a portion of a report published in 1911 by the U.S.
Bureau of Labor. It describes the horrific conditions
in which people worked in tomato canneries.
- The second is an editorial from a newspaper called Life and Labor
written by Mary E. Dreier in 1913. It is a call for
legislative protections for women and children in the workplace.
These articles can be read by the students or aloud by the teacher.
Both describe conditions and life of the turn-of-the-century cannery
worker.
Student References:
- Liddy by Katherine Patterson. This is a story written through the
eyes of a young girl caught up in the drudgery of the textile factory
life.
- The History of Labor, Cobblestone, October 1992
- Seeing was Believing by Mary Morton Cowan. v 13 n. 8. This issue
focuses on the labor movement, children's labor at the turn of the
century, and the benefits of the union.
Teacher References:
- The Celebrated Oysterhouse Cookbook, by Frederic J. Parks, 1985,
Parks Seafood, 435 N. 7th., Allentown, Pa. 18102
- Baltimore: Industrial Gateway on the Chesapeake, by Benjamin
Latrobe, Jr., 1985, Chapter of The Society for Industrial Archeology,
Baltimore, MD. Published by Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key
Highway Baltimore, MD 21230
- The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History, Elizabeth Fee,
Linda Shopes, Linda Zeidman, 1991, Temple University Press,
Philadelphia, PA 19122,
- "The Decline of Child Labor in the U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Canning
Industry: Law or Economics," in Business History Review, 1992, Vol.
66, #4, pp. 723-748. Harvard College
- The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay, John R. Wennersten, 1981,
Tidewater Publishers, Centerville, MD 21617
- Maryland's Vanishing Lives , John Sherwood, 1994, The John Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, MD
- Magazine of History; The Progressive Era, Spring 1999 Vol. 13, No.
3
This magazine is for teachers of history. Magazine of History,
Organization of American Historians, 112 N. Bryan St., Bloomington,
IN 47408-4199
Teacher Web Sites for Reference:
-
Historic Skipjack Kathryn (http://www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/nhl/kathryn.htm)
The National Historic Maritime Landmarks Commission maintains an
informative site including information about Kathryn, a turn of the
century skipjack. Kathryn was built in 1901 and used for dredging
oysters.
-
Down Around Biloxi: Culture and Identity in the Biloxi Seafood Industry (http://imp.cssc.olemiss.edu/publications/missfolk/backissues/biloxi.html)
Down Around Biloxi describes the culture and structure of the Biloxi
seafood industry. This site gives a good description of factory life
and it's people. Many experienced workers transferred from Baltimore
to Biloxi to fill a labor shortage there.
- Information About the Can (http://www.cancentral.com/educat.htm)
The Can Manufacturers Institute maintains an informative site that
contains extensive information about the making of cans. Pages
include: a history of cans, how cans are made, and recycling
information.
Field Trip:
Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway Baltimore, MD 21230,
Phone: 410/727-4808
Kid's Cannery: Activity length, 90 minutes; Audience, 3-8th grades;
Group size 10-35.
This is a wonderful hands-on learning experience in which students
become workers of the factory, from shuckers to managers. They earn
wages, pay union dues, and spend their salaries (what's left of it) at
the company store.
Web address:
www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/FT/Baltimore_Industry.html
Other Resources:
- Moses Myers House, Living History Program, Norfolk, VA.
Contact: Education Dept. 757/664-6239
- Scales and Tales, MD Department of Environment. A program that
brings rescued birds and animals to schools. Phone: 410-922-8825
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