ORGANIZERS

In Massachusetts, the Lowell family's textile mills worked to attract the unmarried daughters of farm families, expecting them to work a few years before marriage. These young women factory workers were termed “Lowell Mill Girls." Their average length of employment was three years.

In 1844, Lowell Mill factory workers organized the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA) to press for better pay and working conditions.  SARAH BAGLEY became the first President of the LFLRA. Bagley testified about the working conditions before the Massachusetts house that same year. When the LFLRA was unable to bargain with the owners, they joined with the New England Workingmen's Association. Despite its lack of significant effect, the LFLRA was the first organization of working women in the United States to try to bargain collectively for better conditions and higher pay.

QUIZ: Who led a march of Pennsylvania child mill workers to President Roosevelt's home on Long Island to dramatize the evils of child labor?

 

ANSWER: MARY HARRIS (AKA) MOTHER JONES

 

Source:  womenshistory.about.com