Workers were mainly immigrants and they were not often treated as equals in the work environment. Specifically, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, workers in textile factories earned an average of $8.76 for as much as 56 hours of work (Klein 3). Following a government mandate designed to provide some protection to women and children working in factoriesthat, the factory owners limited the maximum work hours per week to 54 for women and children - but also reduced their weekly salaries (Klein 3). The cut applied to more people than not because the owners were hiring many unskilled, female immigrants as a result of the decreased need for manual labor (Neeley 5). Workers were already barely making do on the meager salaries; “bread, molasses, and beans were the staple diet of most mill workers,” and meat was a luxury (Kornbluh). This cut in pay ultimately led to the worker’s decisions to strike in order to make a change in the …show more content…
Martin Luther King, Jr., writes about injustice throughout America because of racial segregation. Although the letter is written much later after the Bread and Roses strike, it proves how impactful the strike was on future ideas and protests. Dr. King is writing to Alabama clergymen from a jail cell he was heldput in for protesting. The letter is meant to be a message to all of America in order to allow people to fight for what they believe is right. Dr. King was a leader of the Civil Rights Movements, that, for years, has been restricted by government officials and the police from protesting against racial injustice. This literary work greatly connects with the Bread and Roses Sstrike because both represent the fight for equality. For example, in histhe letter, Dr. King writes “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” This reflects the ideas of the protesters in the Bread and Roses strike because a lot of them were factory workers who had recently immigrated from other countries to America. They have been treated unequally because they are seen as outsiders, which is a strong example of injustice. Injustice is an important factor in both of these works. Dr. King wrote “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This statement reflects the larger picture behind the Bread and Roses strike. At the time, the goal of the strike was for it was all about