Radium Girls

Class Date: April 22nd

Location: Your couch! See your weekly e-mail for Zoom link!

Labor

This week we are talking about the Radium Girls and their battle against corporations for their very lives. Their multiple court cases and work helped to push the labor movement and unions forwards, but at great personal cost. Let’s take a look at labor issues at the time:

1886 - Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor

A variety of small craft unions united under the leadership of Samuel Gompers to form the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL gave each of the more 100 unions in the organization ‘exclusive jurisdiction’ over a craft. They did not engage in national political issues, but focused on collective bargaining for wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions.

1889 - Hull House opens in Chicago

Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened a settlement house to provide social services to poor immigrants. The Hull House originally opened as a kindergarten, but soon included a daycare nursery and infant care center. Eventually, the House provided educational facilities for secondary and college-level classes, as well as evening classes on civil rights and civic duties.

1890 - Jacob Riis published How the Other Half Lives

Jacob Riis, a photojournalist, took a series of photographs revealing the shocking living conditions of the poor in New York City. Many were shocked by the unsanitary and cramped conditions immigrants were living in.

The book inspired many to found organizations to help the immigrant population and many pushed for legislation to create better living and working conditions.

1890 - Sherman Antitrust Act passed

The Sherman Antitrust Act was the first Congressional move to limit businesses in forming monopolies through trusts. Many Americans were growing concerned about companies like Standard Oil, who were dominating the marketplace and stifling competition. While large business owners were growing rich, workers were struggling with poor working conditions and limited pay.

December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre

Despite the Ft. Laramie Treaty years before that promised peace between Native Nations and the United States, the U.S. Calvary fired on scores of gathered Lakota people at Wounded Knee. The massacre effectively ended organized resistance to U.S. encroachment on Native Lands and showed other Native Nations that treaties with the United States were not reliable.

For a 3 minute overview of the massacre, watch a video here:

May 1894 - Pullman Strike begins

At its peak, approximately a quarter million workers were on strike. Ultimately, the federal government intervened to put down the strike, violently. The strike represents a major turning point in labor relations in the United States. To read an overview of the strike and its significance, click here: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/on-this-day-the-pullman-strike-changes-labor-law

December, 1895 - The White House lights its Christmas tree using electric bulbs

Though electric lights were roughly a decade old, many people distrusted electricity. Many feared that dangerous vapors would harm them.

1899 - Newsies strike in New York

Highlighting the issues surrounding child labor, children working for Pulizter and Hearst organized a newsboy strike. To see a musical dramatization of the strike, you can catch the movie ‘Newsies’ on Disney+. (My sisters and I watched the movie constantly as kids and I still sing the songs occasionally!)

1902-1904 - Ida Tarbell published “The History of the Standard Oil Company”

Ida Tarbell was a famed investigative journalist, known as a ‘muckraker’, who often wrote about unethical business practices. She studied John D. Rockefeller and his creation of Standard Oil Company for years before publishing about the aggressive techniques he employed to create a giant monopoly. McClure’s Magazine published the work in 19 installments and it caught national attention.

1906 - The Jungle is published

Another muckraker, Upton Sinclair exposed food safety practices (or lack thereof) in the meat processing industry. His descriptions of rotten and contaminated meat shocked the American public and prompted new federal legislation on food safety.

March 25, 1911 - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is one of the most infamous industrial accidents in history. Located on the 8th-10th floors of the Asch building in Manhattan. The sweatshop employed teenaged immigrant girls, most of whom did not speak English, working elbow to elbow at sewing machines for 12 hours a day, every day. The building had 4 elevators up to the factory floors, but only 1 of them was working in 1911. There were 2 stairways to the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent theft and the other only opened inward. There was a small fire escape, but it was so narrow it would have taken hours to empty the factory of people. The owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, had a suspicious history of their factories burning down in off hours for fire insurance. They refused to install sprinklers or other fire safety measures, possibly because they might need to burn their factory again.

On March 25th, a Saturday afternoon, there were 600 workers in the factory. The fire started in a rag bin and found ready fuel in oil soaked fabric (sewing machines were regularly oiled to keep them running smoothly). The manager couldn’t use the fire hose to put out the flames because the valve was rusted shut and the hose was rotted. The only working elevator broke after only 4 trips (holding 12 people each). In total, after the fire burned for 18 minutes, 146 people, most of them teenaged workers, died in the fire.

The horror of the fire would spurn a wave of reforms.

1920 - 19th Amendment is passed

The 19th Amendment granted all female citizens the right to vote in U.S. elections. That same year, the League of Women Voters was formed as a grand ‘experiment’ to help women be informed voters.

That is where our timeline leaves us for this week! Check below for additional reading resources and tune in this week to learn about the Radium Girls.

Recommended Reading

To read more about this topic, here are some great books to get you started:

For kids:

The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark by Kate Moore

Amid the excitement of the early twentieth century, hundreds of young women spend their days hard at work painting watch dials with glow-in-the-dark radium paint. The painters consider themselves lucky―until they start suffering from a mysterious illness. As the corporations try to cover up a shocking secret, these shining girls suddenly find themselves at the center of a deadly scandal.

The Radium Girls: Young Readers Edition tells the unbelievable true story of these incredible women, whose determination to fight back saved countless lives.

This new edition of the national bestseller is perfect for:

Educators looking for history books for kids ages 9 to 12, nonfiction books for kids, biographies for kids, and real stories around the industrial revolution, chemistry, and science
Parents, educators, and librarians looking for stories about strong women, inspiring books for girls, children's books about women in history, and famous women books for girls
Young readers who want to read one of the most inspiring and shocking narratives of the early 20th century!

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the Fight for Workers’ Rights (Movements and Resistance) by Julie Kathleen Gilbert

In November 1909, thousands of factory workers walked off the job to protest the terrible working conditions in New York City factories. Joining the picket lines was dangerous, with thugs and police officers harassing picketers, but the protests stirred action. Many factory owners finally agreed to some of the workers' demands and improved conditions. But nothing changed for workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and those workers would pay a high price for the company's dangerous conditions. In 1911, a devastating fire swept through the Triangle factory, killing 146 workers. In the months following the tragedy, the rights of workers finally gained real traction as the state government formed a safety commission and enacted new safety laws.

For adults:

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

Discover the gripping and inspiring true story of The Radium Girls, a groundbreaking work by acclaimed author Kate Moore. Immerse yourself in this compelling narrative that unravels the extraordinary lives of these fearless women who fought against all odds.

The Radium Girls is a masterful blend of historical account and heartfelt tribute. Moore's vivid prose brings these forgotten heroines back to life, ensuring that their sacrifices and triumphs are forever etched in our collective memory. As you turn each page, you'll be captivated by their indelible legacy and inspired by their enduring spirit.

The Radium Girls is a must-read for history enthusiasts, feminists, and anyone seeking a remarkable story of resilience and empowerment.

Marking Time; The Radium Girls of Ottawa by Heinz Dietrich Suppan

The Doomed Legions of Ottawa. . .At the turn of the 20th Century radium became a miracle cure for almost any ailment and was advertised in several European nations. When radium was introduced into the United States it achieved a similar popularity. After World War I several companies decided to use radium to paint watch dials, a fad that resulted in the manufacture of luminous dials, and successful sales of wrist watches, pocket watches and alarm clocks. When a luminous dial processing company opened in Ottawa, Illinois, it offered great employment opportunities to many young girls who were paid very well for their work. Little did they know that the radium paint they used proved to be dangerous. Many of the girls became ill and died after using lip pointing techniques to paint the dial numerals and hands. The company denied there was such an illness as radium poisoning and did whatever it could to cover up its failure to determine what made their employees become sick and die. It took legal action and governmental intervention to end the death toll and to force the companies to take responsibility. Nearly a century later, the scar that stretched across the peaceful history of this small Illinois town continues to be exposed, as more areas of contaminated soil are being excavated. The community has come to terms with what happened and recognized those girls and their families that suffered through this dark time by erecting a statue to a radium dial girl, paying tribute to those dial painters and their work with radium.

Works Cited

https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-from-1890-to-1900-1774042

https://connecticuthistory.org/ida-tarbell-the-woman-who-took-on-standard-oil/

https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/children-dammed-st-francis-dam-disaster/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Federation-of-Labor-Congress-of-Industrial-Organizations

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hull-House

https://www.history.com/news/the-assassination-of-president-william-mckinley

https://connecticuthistory.org/ida-tarbell-the-woman-who-took-on-standard-oil/

https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

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