The film and subsequent play Newsies was written about the newsboys' strike in 1899 which changed child labour laws...
Originally shared by Jazzy Lemon
The film and subsequent play Newsies was written about the newsboys' strike in 1899 which changed child labour laws in the USA. Before that, the newspaper moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had children, mostly orphans and runaways, hawking their newspapers and working for them for wages that amounted to no more than slavery - like so many other employers of children. They sold papers to them to sell so the boys might make 30 cents a day if they were lucky, but sometimes couldn't sell all their newspapers and would not be allowed to sell them back. When the Newspaper giants decided to increase the price the newsboys had to pay for their papers in order to make more of a profit, the boys took it upon themselves to stand up against them. Their ranks grew and it became apparent that the newsboys were a union, even without hats or badges and they refused to back down and sell the newspapers at the new price. Eventually they attracted the attention of Teddy Roosevelt who was influential in the adoption of the child welfare rights bill signed by President Taft. They won their strike and the prices were put back and the newsboys union disbanded but they remain a model and inspiration for workers everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlY7dFzf7Bc
The film and subsequent play Newsies was written about the newsboys' strike in 1899 which changed child labour laws in the USA. Before that, the newspaper moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had children, mostly orphans and runaways, hawking their newspapers and working for them for wages that amounted to no more than slavery - like so many other employers of children. They sold papers to them to sell so the boys might make 30 cents a day if they were lucky, but sometimes couldn't sell all their newspapers and would not be allowed to sell them back. When the Newspaper giants decided to increase the price the newsboys had to pay for their papers in order to make more of a profit, the boys took it upon themselves to stand up against them. Their ranks grew and it became apparent that the newsboys were a union, even without hats or badges and they refused to back down and sell the newspapers at the new price. Eventually they attracted the attention of Teddy Roosevelt who was influential in the adoption of the child welfare rights bill signed by President Taft. They won their strike and the prices were put back and the newsboys union disbanded but they remain a model and inspiration for workers everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlY7dFzf7Bc
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