Florence Kelley
Encyclopedia
Florence Kelley was an American social and political reformer. Her work against sweatshops and for the minimum wage
, eight-hour workdays
, and children's rights
is widely regarded today.
Florence Kelley was an early supporter of women's suffrage. In Zurich, she met various European socialists, including Polish-Russian medical student Lazare Wischnewetzky, whom she married in 1884 (the couple divorced in 1891). She is well-known for her translation of Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, written in 1844 by Friedrich Engels
, with whom she corresponded frequently. As The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
, it has been in print ever since. She appears there as 'Mrs. F. Kelley Wischnewetzky' and was also known as Florence Kelley.
Kelley studied at Cornell University
from 1876 to 1882, graduating with the class of 1882. She attained Phi Beta Kappa honors, before taking up post-graduate studies at the University of Zurich
. She was a member of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society
, an activist for woman suffrage and African-American civil rights. She was a follower of Karl Marx
and a friend of Friedrich Engels' whose book, The Condition of the Working Class in England, she translated into English. The translation she made is still used today.
From 1891 through 1899, Kelley lived at the Hull House
settlement in Chicago, where in 1893, Governor Peter Altgeld
made her the Chief Factory Inspector for the state of Illinois, a newly-created position and unheard-of for a woman. Hull House resident Alzina Stevens
served as one of Kelley's assistant factory inspectors. In the course of her Hull House work, she befriended Frank Alan Fetter
when he was asked by the University of Chicago
to conduct a study of Chicago neighborhoods. At Fetter's motion, she was made a member of Cornell's Irving Literary Society
as an alumna, when he joined the Cornell Faculty.
Kelley was known for her firmness and fierce energy. Hull House
founder Jane Addams
' nephew called Kelley "the toughest customer in the reform riot, the finest rough-and-tumble fighter for the good life for others, that Hull House ever knew,"
In 1913, she studied the federal patterns of distribution of funds for education. She noticed a lot of inequitable distributions for White schools as opposed to Black schools (Athey, 1971). This launched her to create the “The Sterling Discrimination Bill” which was an attack against the Sterling Towner Bill. This bill proposed a federal sanction of $2.98 per capita for teachers of colored children and $10.32 per capita children at White schools in 15 schools in the South and Washington, D.C. The NAACP held the position that this would perpetuate the continual discrimination and neglect of the public schools for the Colored. She and W.E.B. DuBois disagreed on how to attack this bill. She wanted to add the language that guaranteed equitable distribution of funding regardless of race. W.E.B. DuBois believed that there should be a clause added specific to race, because it would require the federal government to enforce that the schools for the Colored would be treated fairly. Kelley believed that if they added anything about race to the bill, it would not pass through Congress. She wanted to get the bill passed and then change the language. So when the bill was passed, it called for equal distribution to the schools to be handled by the states based on population. The issue remained on whether or not the states would distribute the money equally.
settlement house in New York City
. From there she founded the National Consumers League
, which was strongly anti-sweatshop
. She worked tirelessly to establish a work-day limited to eight hours. In 1907 she threw her influence into the Supreme Court
case Muller v. Oregon
, which sought to overturn limits to the hours female workers could work in non-hazardous professions. Kelley helped file the famous "Brandeis Brief", which included sociological and medical evidence of the hazards of working long hours, and set the precedent of the Supreme Court's recognition of sociological evidence, which was used to great effect later in the case "Brown v. Board of Education
".
In 1909 Kelley helped create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and thereafter became a friend and ally of W. E. B. Du Bois. She also worked to help the child labor laws and the working conditions.
In 1917 she again filed briefs in a Supreme Court case for an eight-hour workday, this time for male workers, in the case "Bunting v. Oregon".
Athey, L.L. (1971). Florence Kelley and the quest for negro equality. The Journal of Negro History,LV1(4), 249-261.
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
, eight-hour workdays
Eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
, and children's rights
Children's rights
Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...
is widely regarded today.
Family
Florence was the daughter of William Darrah Kelley (1814-1890) of Philadelphia, a self-made man who renounced his business activities to become an abolitionist, a founder of the Republican party and a judge, and worked for numerous political and social reforms, including the NAACP. William D. Kelley was the son of Hannah and David Kelley. Florence had two brothers and five sisters; all five sisters died in childhood. Three of the sisters were Josephine Bartram Kelley, Caroline Lincoln Kelley, and Anna Caroline Kelley. Josephine died at the age of seven months. Caroline died at the age of four months. Anna died at six years of age.Florence Kelley was an early supporter of women's suffrage. In Zurich, she met various European socialists, including Polish-Russian medical student Lazare Wischnewetzky, whom she married in 1884 (the couple divorced in 1891). She is well-known for her translation of Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, written in 1844 by Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
, with whom she corresponded frequently. As The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 is one of the best-known works of Friedrich Engels.Originally written in German as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, it is a study of the working class in Victorian England. It was also Engels' first book, written during his stay in...
, it has been in print ever since. She appears there as 'Mrs. F. Kelley Wischnewetzky' and was also known as Florence Kelley.
Socialism and Civil Rights
Kelley studied at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
from 1876 to 1882, graduating with the class of 1882. She attained Phi Beta Kappa honors, before taking up post-graduate studies at the University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
. She was a member of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society
Intercollegiate Socialist Society
The Intercollegiate Socialist Society was the a Socialist student organization from 1905-1921. It attracted many prominent intellectuals and writers and acted as the unofficial Socialist Party of America student wing...
, an activist for woman suffrage and African-American civil rights. She was a follower of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and a friend of Friedrich Engels' whose book, The Condition of the Working Class in England, she translated into English. The translation she made is still used today.
Factory inspection and child labor
Kelley's father had toured her through glass factories at night when she was little. http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=f_kelley Kelley fought to make it illegal for children under the age of 14 to work and to limit the hours of children under 16. She sought to give them the right of education, arguing children must be nurtured to be intelligent people.From 1891 through 1899, Kelley lived at the Hull House
Hull House
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
settlement in Chicago, where in 1893, Governor Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld was the 20th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s...
made her the Chief Factory Inspector for the state of Illinois, a newly-created position and unheard-of for a woman. Hull House resident Alzina Stevens
Alzina Stevens
Alzina Stevens was an American labor leader and journalist, active in Hull House. Stevens was born in Parsonsfield, Maine to Enoch Parsons and Louise Page. Although her early marriage ended in divorce, she kept her husband's name.By thirteen, she worked in a local textile company where she lost...
served as one of Kelley's assistant factory inspectors. In the course of her Hull House work, she befriended Frank Alan Fetter
Frank Fetter
Frank Albert Fetter was an American economist of the Austrian School. Fetter's treatise, The Principles of Economics, contributed to an increased American interest in the Austrian School, including the theories of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich...
when he was asked by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
to conduct a study of Chicago neighborhoods. At Fetter's motion, she was made a member of Cornell's Irving Literary Society
The Irving Literary Society (Cornell University)
Cornell literary societies were a group of 19th century student organizations at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, formed for the purpose of promoting language skills and oratory. The U.S...
as an alumna, when he joined the Cornell Faculty.
Kelley was known for her firmness and fierce energy. Hull House
Hull House
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
founder Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
' nephew called Kelley "the toughest customer in the reform riot, the finest rough-and-tumble fighter for the good life for others, that Hull House ever knew,"
In 1913, she studied the federal patterns of distribution of funds for education. She noticed a lot of inequitable distributions for White schools as opposed to Black schools (Athey, 1971). This launched her to create the “The Sterling Discrimination Bill” which was an attack against the Sterling Towner Bill. This bill proposed a federal sanction of $2.98 per capita for teachers of colored children and $10.32 per capita children at White schools in 15 schools in the South and Washington, D.C. The NAACP held the position that this would perpetuate the continual discrimination and neglect of the public schools for the Colored. She and W.E.B. DuBois disagreed on how to attack this bill. She wanted to add the language that guaranteed equitable distribution of funding regardless of race. W.E.B. DuBois believed that there should be a clause added specific to race, because it would require the federal government to enforce that the schools for the Colored would be treated fairly. Kelley believed that if they added anything about race to the bill, it would not pass through Congress. She wanted to get the bill passed and then change the language. So when the bill was passed, it called for equal distribution to the schools to be handled by the states based on population. The issue remained on whether or not the states would distribute the money equally.
National Consumers League and eight-hour workdays
From 1899 through 1926 she lived at the Henry StreetHenry Street Settlement
The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded in 1893 by Progressive reformer Lillian Wald.The...
settlement house in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. From there she founded the National Consumers League
National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is an American consumer organization. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues....
, which was strongly anti-sweatshop
Anti-sweatshop
Anti-Sweatshop refers to campaigning movements to improve the conditions of workers in Sweatshops, i.e. manufacturing places characterized by low wages, poor working conditions and often child labor...
. She worked tirelessly to establish a work-day limited to eight hours. In 1907 she threw her influence into the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon, , was a landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history, as it justifies both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time period...
, which sought to overturn limits to the hours female workers could work in non-hazardous professions. Kelley helped file the famous "Brandeis Brief", which included sociological and medical evidence of the hazards of working long hours, and set the precedent of the Supreme Court's recognition of sociological evidence, which was used to great effect later in the case "Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
".
In 1909 Kelley helped create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and thereafter became a friend and ally of W. E. B. Du Bois. She also worked to help the child labor laws and the working conditions.
In 1917 she again filed briefs in a Supreme Court case for an eight-hour workday, this time for male workers, in the case "Bunting v. Oregon".
Publications
- The responsibility of the consumer. New York City: National Child Labor Committee, 1908?
- The Present Status of Minimum Wage Legislation. New York City: National Consumers' League, 1913.
- Modern Industry: in relation to the family, health, education, morality. New York: Longmans, Green 1914.
- Women in Industry: the Eight Hours Day and Rest at Night, upheld by the United States Supreme Court. New York: National Consumers' League, 1916.
- Twenty Questions about the Federal Amendment Proposed by the National Woman's Party. New York: National Consumers' League, 1922.
Further reading
- Kathryn Kish Sklar. Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Women's Political Culture, 1830-1900. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1995.
- Dorothy Rose Blumberg. Florence Kelley. The Making of a Social Pioneer.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000One of the premier collections on the World Wide Web for the teaching of U.S. history, Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600 to 2000, serves as a resource for students and scholars of U.S. history and U.S. women's history...
. "How Did Florence Kelley's Campaign against Sweatshops in Chicago in the 1890s Expand Government Responsibility for Industrial Working Conditions?"
Primary sources
- Sklar, Kathryn Kish, and Beverly Wilson Palmer, eds. The Selected Letters of Florence Kelley, 1869–1931 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009). lxii, 575 pp. isbn 978-0-252-03404-6
Athey, L.L. (1971). Florence Kelley and the quest for negro equality. The Journal of Negro History,LV1(4), 249-261.
External links
- The Life and Times of Florence Kelley in Chicago (1891-1899) on Northwestern University
- Florence Kelley (1859-1932) on harvard.edu
- Florence Kelly on schoolnet.co.uk
- Florence Kelley on Women and Social Movements, subscription required
- Biographical note
- A letter from Engels to Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky
- Entry at 'project Muse' (needs a subscription to read it all)
- Florence Kelley fought for civil rights