Assembly Line and Working Conditions during the Industrial Revolution
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1- Head 2-Hair 3-Body 4-Dress 5-Shoes 6-Eyes & Mouth 7-Hands 8- Color in dress 9- buttons on dress 10- Red Sox hat 11- Logo on back: HF (Holland Factory)
Connecting the Experience With History • How did you feel working as a craftsperson at the beginning of this activity? • How did you feel working on the assembly line? • What factors made producing the drawing on the assembly line difficult or frustrating? • How did you cope with the stress? • What made you want to work hard? • What made you NOT want to work hard? • How did you feel about Mr. M as the factory manager? • How did your attitudes change as the activity progressed? • Did you prefer working as an individual craftsperson or working on the assembly line?
1. Students created one part of the drawing 2. Most students did not see the finished drawings 3. Students’ work was repetitive and dull 4. Students’ bodies and hands hurt from drawing the same part over and over 5. Students listened to a recording of loud noise and worked under a single light in a hot room 6. Students did not have a choice about what part they were to draw 7. Students’ work was boring 8. Students were resentful
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Craftsperson worked on a product from start to finish Assembly line workers completed only one part of a product Assembly line workers often had no connection to the finished products Assembly line work was monotonous Workers experienced physical strain and injuries from repetitive work Poor factory conditions included loud noise, poor lighting, high temperatures Assembly line workers had little control over the work they performed Assembly line workers completed machinelike tasks that required no creativity and little thought Workers became alienated from their managers
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Where are these men working? Under what conditions do they work? What hazards might they face? How would you feel if you had to work long hours in this steel mill?
Industrialism Creates Problems • Goal of Factory Owners: To Lower Production Costs & Maximize Profits • In Steel Mills: Men worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, earning 16¢ an hour • Floors were so hot… water sizzled on them • Hundreds of men were killed working next to molten steel
Living in Company Towns • • • 1. 2. 3. • •
Most workers lived in factory owned villages Owners benefited from an immediately available workforce and by collecting rent Most of work force was made up of the following: Mostly white American men who left rural areas for better jobs Women and African-Americans made up a small amount 1/3 were foreign born (immigrants) A typical steel work would earn about 22 dollars a week An immigrant would do the job for about 12
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Where was this photograph was taken? Describe the people in the photo…how old are they? What are they doing? How many hours did they work a day? What would it be like to work under these conditions? What problems would it cause?
Effects On Workers & Children • Because Factory Owners faced competition, many owners refused to pay for safety measures • Textile Workers inhaled dust • Cigarette Factory Workers endured tremendous heat • Coal Miners faced risk of explosion or cave-ins • Desperate working families were forced to send their children to work • By 1900, nearly 2 million children between ages 10-15 were at work
GROUPS Factory Owners Factory Workers Consumers
ADVANTAGES OF ASSEMBLY LINE
DISADVANTAGES OF ASSEMBLY LINE
Copy the following table onto you Teacher Side
Start Up: 15 Minutes • Should people be able to acquire as much wealth as they want in life? Or should someone regulate it? Why? • YES or NO, you decide
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Complete an OPTIC for this: you have 5 min! Who are these men? How are they dressed? Who do you think is the richest man in the group? Why? How did these men become so wealthy? Do wealthy businessmen benefit the United States?
John D. Rockefeller: Oil Tycoon • • • 1. 2. • • • •
Rockefeller was trying to take over an industry (a monopoly), the oil business However, he would need to eliminate competition…. To do so, His company Standard Oil, would lower oil prices to attract competitor’s customers Raise the price of oil once competitors were driven out of business By 1890, Standard Oil controlled over 90% of American oil Reaped HUGE profits by paying his employees very low wages Critics began to call him a “Robber Baron” Result: Rockefeller gave away over 500 million to Universities and hospitals over his lifetime
Andrew Carnegie: King of Steel • Born a poor man, one of 1 to st
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make his own fortune A smart man, he realized the potential of the Bessemer Process So…he sunk his savings into a steel plant in Penn. Within a year, his steel was the most sought after in the country To stay on top, Carnegie: Kept tabs on his competitors Rewarded Talented Employees Fired Incompetent Workers Carnegie’s Story: Ultimate “Rags to Riches” Story
• What is happening here in this cartoon? • Who might the men be? • Do you think their actions helped or hurt the growth of the railroads? • American industry? • What do you think the cartoonist’s opinion was of these men?
What kind of things do you like to see on a report card? • • • •
Time for you to be the teacher now… Based on what you know about each businessman…if you were there teacher, how would you grade the way they’ve run their businesses? Teacher’s Comments: Why did you give them that grade? You might want to make a chart like this to organize it….
Business Entrepreneur
Letter Grade
Teacher Comments
Andrew Carnegie
B+ ??
Andrew gets a B+ from me because….
John D. Rockefeller
C+ ??
John, You would have earned higher marks, but…
Homework • Did people like Carnegie and Rockefeller cause more harm than good, or the other way around? Why do you think so? • Persuasive paragraph! You need to have an opinion, argue for it, and support it with details…MEAT!!!