Answer to Question #115813 in History for fegerg

Question

In “The Lowell Textile Workers”, Harriet Hanson Robinson describes her experiences working in Massachusetts textile mills of the 1830s. What kind of women came to work in the mills? Why did they do so?

Answer 1

The women that came to work in Lowell mills were young girls during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The factory needed workers, and Lowell wanted to avoid using child labor, which was commonly used in fabric mills in England. The workers did not need to be physically strong, as the work was not strenuous. However, the workers had to be fairly intelligent to master the complicated machinery. And for young women at the time, it was considered an opportunity to assert some independence from their families despite being paid less than men.