Florence Kelley’s first and unwavering commitment was to to improving the lives of the tens of thousands of girls and boys who worked. Her own writings returned again and again to the conditions under which children operated sewing machines in the tenements, carried water and molten glass through the night in the factories, stood knee deep in blood and entrails at the stockyards, and operated machinery which often claimed an arm, a leg, a hand, or a their eyesight.
For Florence Kelley, the children should be out of the sweatshops and bars and off the factory floor and streets, and in school. Always a teacher herself, her multiplicity of projects always had as their goal getting the children out from under their workloads and into a school.
Mothers and children were a primary focus of the Hull-House mission, whether it was providing food for those who had none, or just offering a temporary spot to leave the baby.
In the Nineteenth Ward the mothers worked, the fathers if they were present, worked; the older children took care of the younger children; as soon as they were old enough the children worked. Since the homes where every one worked, ate and slept were crowded, the children were often out on the street, in the back alleys or foraging in the streets or railroad yards.
Then there was the question of the health of the children in the nineteenth ward and, generally, in the factories and tenements in Illinois. factory inspection reports Florence Kelley and the other women who documented how people worked and lived were fanatical about the need for fresh air and clean water.
The health issues were always primary, whether it was vaccination or containing the smallpox epidemic, or getting rid of the garbage. Advocacy for the health of women became the central tenet of the legal battle in Ritchie v. People and the subsequent cases before the United States Supreme Court.
Forty per cent of the children in the nineteenth ward did not live to five, and the causes were mostly simple: the absence of clean water, bad milk, no indoor plumbing or water, communicable diseases (such as cholera and diarrhea), as well as unclean food and not enough food. In depressions such as that in 1893 children and adults died of malnutrition and hunger.
The children were also the hope of the community. Pictures of them tell the story of the times and how people lived and survived.
Next: John Peter Altgeld
Children digging with pick axes on a Chicago street. Description: Children digging with pick axes on a Chicago street; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52108. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1898.
Chicago Commons Association, children playing ball in street. Description: Chicago Commons Association, children playing ball in street; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-18398. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: n.d.
Children at Milton Avenue, a shoeless boy holding the hand of a bigger girl. Image of a shoeless boy, holding the hand of a bigger girl and standing on the sidewalk of Cleveland Avenue (formerly Milton Avenue) in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. This street was one of four, including West Chicago, Cambridge Avenue, and West Oak Street that were the boundaries of one of Chicago's most overpopulated areas. Source: DN-0063682, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1914 Nov. 13.
Children outside Mary McDowell Settlement 4630 S. McDowell Street. Description: Children outside Mary McDowell Settlement 4630 S. McDowell Street; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52106. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1900-1929.
Children playing in a nursery. Description: Children playing in a nursery; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52104. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: unknown.
Children playing on sidewalk. Children playing on sidewalk Chicago, IL; ca. 1905 photographer unknown.
Children standing in a sprinkler attached to a horse-drawn wagon on a street. Informal full-length portrait of children wearing bathing suits, standing in a sprinkler attached to a horse-drawn wagon on a street in Chicago, Illinois. Source: DN-0083661, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. Date: 1927.
Children with sleds and boxes on a street corner by the Salvation Army salvage store. Image of a group of children with sleds and boxes on a street corner by the Salvation Army salvage store in Chicago, Illinois, where coal was distributed to the poor at cost. Source: DN-0000496, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: ca. 1903.
Children, holding Norwegian flags, assembled for a Norwegian Independence Day celebration. Image of children, holding Norwegian flags, assembled for a Norwegian Independence Day celebration in Chicago, Illinois. The parade formed at North Leavitt Street and North Avenue and moved west to Humboldt Park. Source: DN-0004972, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1907 May 17.
Children waiting for work permits. Description: Children waiting for work permits; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-21017. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1911.
Christmas scene at Cook County Hospital, person dressed as Santa Claus holding a child on his lap with two other children standing nearby. Image of a Christmas scene at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. A person dressed as Santa Claus holding a child on his lap with two other children standing nearby. Source: DN-0007024, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1909.
Gathering bar for lollipops. Description: Gathering bar for lollipops; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-03820. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer - Lewis Hine. Date: unknown.
Girl wearing a ruffled hat in a group of children assembled for a fresh air outing. Image of many children, some with packages and bags, standing and sitting on a sidewalk and in a street, as part of a Chicago Daily News Fresh-Air Fund outing, possibly outside a train station in Chicago, Illinois. A few adults are standing with the children. Source: DN-0000076, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: ca. 1902.
Girls at vacation school playing in the yard. Image of girls at vacation school playing in the yard in Chicago, Illinois. Source: DN-0001456, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1903 Aug. 11.
Group of children on street. Description: Group of children on street; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-24067. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photograph, photographer unknown. Date: ca. 1905.
Group of children, summer 1892. Description: Group of children, Summer 1892; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52110. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: Summer 1892.
Group of well dressed children. Description: Group of well dressed children; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52124. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1912.
Lantern Slide #85 'What the Children Want.' Description: Lantern Slide #85 'What the Children Want;' Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-14084. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1920.
Large group of children standing under showers over the street. Image of a large group of children standing under showers over the street in Chicago, Illinois. Source: DN-0076144, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. Date: 1923
Mrs. Kozlouski kid + Bessemer Park swimming. Description: Mrs. Kozlouski kid + Bessemer Park swimming; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52126. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1910.
Newsboy selling newspapers. Image of a newsboy, with a stack of papers under his arm, holding a paper out on a commercial street in Chicago, Illinois. A pedestrian is visible in the foreground. Source: DN-0001792, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1904 Aug. 11.
Montessori School children at Mary Crane Nursery and Health Center at lunch. Description: Montessori School children at Mary Crane Nursery and Health Center at lunch, Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52127. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1900-1929.
Orphans standing by their beds. Description: Orphans standing by their beds; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52265. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer - Miller. Date: unknown.
Playing in an empty lot at 45th and Laflin. Description: Playing in an empty lot at 45th and Laflin; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-31535. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: n.d.
Post-mastoiditis surgical patients (young children) at Cook County Contagion Hospital. Description: Post-mastoiditis surgical patients (young children) at Cook County Contagion Hospital; Chicago, IL (G1986:484). Source: ICHi-26997. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photograph, photographer unknown. Date: 1912.
Seven boys kneeling, playing marbles on a playground, while two boys stand and look on, a girl is visible in the right on the image, swingsets are visible in the background. Group portrait of seven boys kneeling, playing marbles on a playground in Chicago, Illinois. Two boys stand and look on, a girl is visible in the right on the image, swingsets are visible in the background. Text on negative reads: Spring Picture. Source: DN-0062448, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: ca. 1914 Mar. 30.
Sterilizing milk for children at Northwestern University settlement house. Image of women and children, some holding bottles of milk, standing around a table and a man standing behind the table at a Northwestern University settlement house in Chicago, Illinois. Source: DN-0000806, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. Date: 1903 July 6.
Two boys playing leap frog while other children watch United Charities. Description: Two boys playing leap frog while other children watch United Charities, Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-52125. Reproduction of photographic print, photographer unknown. Date: 1911-1920.
Two girls in athletic costumes. Description: Two girls in athletic costumes; Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-25327. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photograph, photographer unknown. Date: ca. 1890.
Two girls, one barefoot, in front of George Washington School. Description: Two girls, one barefoot, in front of George Washington School, Chicago, IL. Source: ICHi-26833. Chicago History Museum. Reproduction of photograph, photographer unknown. Date: ca. 1900-1939.
