Florence Kelley (1859-1932) refused to accept the terrible working conditions of her time. Her reforms completely changed the exploitative status quo and drastically shaped the world we live in today.
Florence Kelley (1859-1932) refused to accept the terrible working conditions of her time. Her reforms completely changed the exploitative status quo and drastically shaped the world we live in today.
You’re probably familiar with rebels without a cause, but what about rebels with a cause? This month on Womanica, we’re talking about women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. From the “Godmother of Title IX” Bernice Sandler, to the most prominent figure of the People Power Revolution, Corazon Aquino, to the “Queen of Civil Rights” Ruby Hurley, these women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about Rebels WITH a cause: women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. These women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
Today we are talking about a woman who refused to accept the terrible working conditions of her time. In fact, her reforms completely changed the exploitative status quo – and drastically shaped the world we live in today.
Please welcome Florence Kelley.
Florence was born on September 12, 1859 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were both abolitionists who influenced Florence’s early interests in social activism. Her father, William Darrah Kelley, was a congressman. He wanted his daughter to understand the world around her-- even its harsh realities.
He taught Florence to read using a book on child labor in England. When she was older, he brought Florence to glass and steel factories to witness people working in dangerous conditions– to see the people who were building America. It was there, by the light of red-hot ore and glass, that the rest of Florence’s life began to take shape.
Florence’s relationship with her father was central to her political education. The duty he felt to improve the lives of struggling people became her own philosophy. As she grew older, she spent time with him in Washington, D.C., attending galas and helping him write his speeches.
In 1876, Florence enrolled at Cornell University. After graduating, she traveled to Europe, where she continued her studies at the University of Zürich. She learned about socialism, befriended Friedrich Engels, and published an English translation of his book,The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844.
While in Zurich, Florence married a Russian medical student.
They moved to New York City, where they separated soon after. In 1889, Florence moved to Chicago with her three children. There, she joined Hull House, a social settlement. These houses were centers for social services and education. They were located in poor urban neighborhoods, but residents were often upper class women who came to carry out social work. At Hull House, Florence lived collectively with other women and undertook her first jobs as a social worker. One of her first assignments was to venture into the neighborhood and investigate the labor practices of nearby factories.
She got to know the neighborhood, its people, and the grueling conditions under which they worked. She saw children, as young as three and four years old, working in tenement sweatshops. She wrote up a report on everything she found and presented it to the Illinois State Legislature. The result: a law to limit the working day of women and girls to eight hours, and to prohibit the employment of children under 14 years of age. It was the first of several laws borne of Florence’s work.
As a result of this win, Florence was appointed Illinois’ first chief factory inspector– but enforcing the law proved more difficult than passing it. She tried suing several businesses that violated the law, but never won. She decided to increase her chances at success by becoming a lawyer. She graduated from Northwestern University’s law school in 1894.
In 1899, Florence moved back to New York City, where she became the general secretary of the National Consumers League (NCL). The league encouraged consumers to only buy products only from companies that met their standards of minimum wage and working conditions. As general secretary she waged powerful campaigns against employers who didn’t meet these standards, empowering workers and consumers to push for better working conditions. Florence also helped create 10-hour work days for women and initiated a minimum wage campaign that paved the way for later legislation.
These are just some of the successful fruits of her labor. Florence was tireless, and in her book, there was always more to do. She was key in shaping working conditions we may take for granted now, but her work had immediate effects too. The health and life expectancy of children rose more during the era of her campaigns than during any other period in American history. She was also instrumental to the organization of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the National American Women Suffrage Association, and the NAACP.
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter later said that Florence had “the largest single share in shaping the social history of the United States during the first 30 years of [the 20th] century.”
Florence died on February 17, 1932 in Philadelphia. She was 73 years old.
All month, we’re talking about rebels with a cause. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you on Monday!