Industrialization Changes Life

1. Industrialization Changes Life How were people’s lives impacted by the Industrial Revolution?

2. Life During Industrialization • IR causes urbanization (movement to cities) to occur • Britain had no plan to deal with the rapidly growing cities • People lived in dark, dirty, crowded homes with little sanitation • Because factories burned coal, pollution is also a major problem • Conditions in factories were also dangerous: unsafe machinery, lack of training & long hours (14 hours a day, 6 days a week) • Author Charles Dickens described life for the common man. Dickens based his works on his childhood and life during the IR • Life was very hard on children as well • Typical day for William Cooper, a 10 year old worker at a British textile factory: 5:00am: The workday begins for William. He an his sister were up by 4:00am to get to the factory by 5am. Breakfast was eaten on the run.

3. 12noon: Children are given a 40-minute break for lunch. This is their only break of the day. 3:00pm: Children often became drowsy in the late afternoon. Adult overseers would walk around and whip children who were not awake. 6:00pm: There was no break for an evening meal. Children would have to eat while working.

4. 9:00pm: William Cooper’s day ended after an exhausting 16-hour shift 11:00pm: William’s older sister had to work an extra two hours sewing materials. She still had to return at 5am the next day.

5. Child Labor For each photo write: What is the child/children doing? Do they appear happy? What are the working conditions like? Talk to your seat partner (1 & 2, 3 & 4) and discuss the following: Who had a tougher job you, your partner or child in photo and why