18th and 19th Centuries: Abolitionists and the Underground Railroad

"Many youth were among the 19th century abolitionists and the people who were active on the Underground Railroad. For example, Sarah Parker Remond, a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, gave her first abolitionist speech at the age of sixteen. Frederick Douglass fought his overseer for freedom at the age of 16. In 1834, Henry Highland Garnet and some of his classmates formed their own club, the Garrison Literary and Benevolent Association. More than 150 African Americans under 20 attended the first meeting. It is estimated that 80% of those who bravely embarked on the Underground Railroad were in their teens or early 20s. Here is a lesson on a people’s history of the abolition movement.

1830s: The Factory Girls Association

In the 1820s, factory owners in Lowell, Massachusetts, began recruiting girls as young as ten year old to work in their textile mills. In 1934, mill owners announced they would be cutting wages, and the girls began meeting to discuss how they should respond. When owners fired one of their leaders, 800 young women walked out on strike. Two years later, the owners announced another wage cut. In response, the young women walked out together and formed the Factory Girls Association and later, the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. Teach about women in the labor movement with “Birth of a Rank-and-File Organizer” and find more bios of women in the labor movement."

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