Josephine Clara Goldmark
Encyclopedia
Josephine Clara Goldmark was an advocate of labor law reform in the United States during the early 20th century
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
. Her work against child labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
and for wages-and-hours legislation (the 8-hour day, minimum wage
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...
) was influential in the passage of the Keating-Owen Act
Keating-Owen Act
The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 also known as Wick's Bill, was a statute enacted by the U.S. Congress which sought to address the perceived evils of child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children in the United States, thus giving an expanded...
in 1916 and the later Fair Labor Standards Act
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute...
of 1937.
Labor research and advocacy
After graduating from Bryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
in 1898, Goldmark went to work for Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley
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.-Family:...
at 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....
(NCL), where she later became the chairman of the committee on labor laws.
Goldmark was an aggressive investigator of labor conditions and wrote prolifically about her findings. Her research about the effects of industrial work, low wages, and long hours on workers, particularly women and child labor, had a major effect on United States labor law
United States labor law
United States labor law is a heterogeneous collection of state and federal laws. Federal law not only sets the standards that govern workers' rights to organize in the private sector, but also overrides most state and local laws that attempt to regulate this area. Federal law also provides more...
. In 1908, she compiled a major amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
brief for the United States Supreme Court 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 is popularly known as the Brandeis Brief
Brandeis Brief
The Brandeis Brief was a pioneering legal brief that was the first in United States legal history to rely not on pure legal theory, but also on analysis of factual data. It is named after litigator Louis Brandeis, who presented it in his argument for the 1908 US Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregon...
after her brother-in-law Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
, whose name appeared on it. The brief was instrumental in getting the Supreme Court to declare that state maximum-hours laws were constitutional. In 1911, Goldmark was part of the investigating committee into the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history...
. The following year, the Russell Sage Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
published her book Fatigue and Efficiency, a study of the effects of long hours on workers' health and job performance.
Goldmark worked for many years as a researcher of labor conditions and their effects in different working environments. She served as a consulting expert for a number of companies, philanthropies, and government commissions, and she was vice chair of the New York City Child Labor Commission
Other major work
Between 1919 and 1923, Goldmark researched the state of nursing schools in the United States with funding from the Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
. She published her research in Nursing and Nursing Education in the United States (1923), which was influential in modernizing American nursing education. She also authored a biography of Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley
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.-Family:...
, Impatient Crusader, which was published posthumously in 1950.
Family and Private Life
Josephine was the youngest of ten children. Her sister, Pauline, was the secretary for the New York City office of the National Consumers LeagueNational 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....
. Her sister, Alice, was married to Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
. Josephine Goldmark lived for many years at New York City's Henry Street Settlement
Henry 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...
. She died in White Plains
White Plains
White Plains may refer to:Places* White Plains, New York* White Plains, Georgia* White Plains, Kentucky* White Plains, Maryland* White Plains, North Carolina*White Plains , listed on the NRHP in South Carolina...
, New York, in 1950 at the age of 73.
Publications
- "Working women and the laws: a record of neglect," in Woman's work and organizations, ed. Emory R. Johnson. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1906. Pages 64–78.
- Labour laws for women in the United States. London: Women's Industrial Council, 1907.
- Josephine Goldmark, et al. "The Work of the National Consumers' League. During the Year Ending March 1, 1910," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 36, Supplement (Sept 1910) pp 1-75 in JSTOR
- Handbook of laws regulating women's hours of labor. New York: National Consumers League, 1912.
- Fatigue and efficiency: a study in industry. New York: Survey Associates, 1913.
- Pilgrims of '48: One man's part in the Austrian revolution of 1848; and a family migration to America. H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1930.
- Impatient crusader: Florence Kelley's life story. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1953.
External links
- Josephine Clara Goldmark (1877-1950).
- Josephine Clara and Pauline Dorothea Goldmark Papers. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.