Seminal Force in American Life

As a social reformer, abolisher of child labor, and a “Seminal force in American life” (Gold Mark, 1953, p.2) the contributions of Kelley in justifying the ills of her era not only granted her the recognition of a social reformer and active feminist, but of a righteous stand against child’s labor. She was a walking devotion to those victimized of capitalism, a pioneer in the solution to a revolution in society through her zeal and drive for prosperity. Kelley’s legacy holds an inevitable truth: She was the defiance to the status quo and champion of the children in her era.

Florence Kelley’s exposure to what would be one of her few primary objectives in life was introduced to her as far back as her childhood. Her father, an abolitionist, had toured his daughter through an all-boy’s glass and steel production factory where Kelley first witnessed the wicked reality of child labor, labors varying from excessive hours, health depleting conditions, and deprivation of education. Raised in Philadelphia under parents William and Caroline, Kelley had outlived her only five siblings into adulthood. This traumatic number took a toll on Kelley’s mother, and with noting her grief to the loss only fueled Kelley’s drive to exploit child labor within factories and sweatshops. The Hull House in Chicago was home to Kelley from 1891-1899, and in those brief years she had been elected the Chief in the state of Illinois. Such titles were foreign to be bestowed upon a female, hence her campaign for the second victim of capitalism in her era: women.

One of Florence Kelley’s first turns of abolishing child labor was drawing boundaries to the hours children may work; ages below sixteen were limited as the children below the age of fourteen were not permitted to work at all. Such barriers were enabled through Kelley’s educating of scientific evidence and solid statistics as to what unwholesome conditions could disturb one’s health. This mustering of