Episode 30 - Child Labor: Pull Your Weight You Little Bastards

Everything's Just Fine

Welcome to episode 30, which may be our most depressing one yet. This week, we will be covering the long, tear-soaked saga of using kids as cheap (or free!) labor. Follow along as we talk about the adorable, four year old miners grave from Roman Spain, the plight of poor, medieval peasant children, the (relative) enlightened attitude of Golden Age Islam, China once again being better than everyone, and the sheer depravity of using kids in early factories. No worries, though, the Founding Fathers were fans! Sources: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/a394gp/smartphones-child-labor-cobalt-mines-africa-congo-amnesty-international https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2048231/clothing-factories-eastern-china-import-child-labour-migrant http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1020708.shtml https://nypost.com/2018/05/08/trump-administration-wants-to-roll-back-child-labor-laws/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/44080270?read-now=1&seq=12#page_scan_tab_contents http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp455-fs14/2014/10/02/growing-up-in-ancient-egypt/ https://slaveryinjustice.wordpress.com/slavery-in-ancient-china/ http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/187 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312377147_CHILD_LABOUR_ISLAMIC_PERSPECTIVE https://www.thoughtco.com/medieval-child-introduction-1789121 https://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/medieval_child.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2017/article/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-1.htm https://spartacus-educational.com/IRaccidents.htm https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/history-child-labor/ Beard, Mary. Spqr: A History of Ancient Rome. London: Profile Books, 2015. Print.