Industrial Revolution Newsie

In the 1800s the industrial revolution created new jobs for millions of people including children. Most children during the industrial revolution were employed many in manufacturing and mining. One of the most widely recognized jobs for children was as a “Newsie” or “Newsboy”. This job was held by young children, usually boys while girls usually worked in the Mills. Many of these children were orphaned or homeless and were forced to work in order to make money for their families to survive (THE GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY). Many Newsies would get ill during the winter due to inadequate clothing, nutrition and shelter. News boys usually wore felt caps, sometimes called newsboy caps. Most newsies in the late 19th century wore outer jackets with knee pants and knicker suits and long black stockings, while some of the older boys wore long pants (Historical Boys' Clothing Staff) The only meals that Newsies received …show more content…
These young children were often orphans or homeless children that lived in horrible conditions. Many children didn’t have shoes, or appropriate clothing for the conditions in winter. The Newsboys were made up of mostly poor orphans and runaways. They slept on the streets of New York with no place to go and no families to see. The only way they made money was from selling newspapers throughout the streets of New York. In addition, all of the money they earned from selling newspapers is the money that they used to purchase important needs for survival and they also had to store some of their money so that they could pay for more papers to sell the next day. These Newsboys needed to be very persuasive so that they could sell more papers, if a Newsboy did not sell enough papers, the Newsboy would not be able to sell more papers the next day. Which meant no money for food or important supplies needed for their survival (Digital