“C” is for child labor. The transformation of the United States into an industrialized nation brought changes that adversely affected workers most new jobs required more machines and fewer skills, which enabled managers to hire relatively unskilled and workers who could be paid less in South Carolina children, come as young as five years of age were hired in great numbers by the state’s burgeoning textile industry. Cheap to employ, easily controlled, and with small, nimble fingers, children were well suited to perform the repetitive, minor tasks that the textile industry demanded. By the start of the 20th century children made-up more than one-fourth of the textile workforce. Beginning in 1903 South Carolina instituted reforms such as minimum ages for employment and compulsory education. Child labor gradually disappeared during the 1920s and 1930s because of changes within the textile industry.
“C” is for child labor.
