The Lowell Mills came into existence in 1814 when the Power Loom was invented. These mills were the center of manufacturing, and gave young girls a respectable place to work outside of the home. The girls working the mills generally started at age 13-15 years old and lived in boarding houses when not working in the mills 14 hours a day, six days a week. The mills were important to American women because it gave them a sense of freedom, allowing them some education while away from home, and to make connections that could help them in the future. They created a subculture of mill girls, which gave young girls a chance to earn and spend their own money. This type of change was one of only many that allowed women more freedom, allowing for more education, and allowing for not only a more literate female population, but also an authoring female population. Out of the Lowell Mills came several novels about mill life and the mill girls, as well as pamphlets, papers, etc. Women had a new topic they could write on from experience.
Brittni King
Section 1A
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[Stephanie Lestelle]
This ID is in reference to the Lowell Mill Girls, of Lowell, Massachusetts. The Lowell textile mill employed about ¾ women, which was highly unusual for the time, which would be the 19th century. The term “mill girl” is used here to refer to farm girls who move to the city to work in textile mills. Women expected to raise a family, and set up a suitable home for her children and for her husband. Work was considerable unsightly, because it took away time at the home (if she was married) and it also made a woman seem unworthy of marriage because her priorities were [considered to be] in the wrong place.
Depending on what literature one reads at the time, this could be considered a passive-aggressive attempt on the women’s part to gain headway in the economic field, or it could be an assessment in the moral behavior of women.
These Lowell women were more than just the average workers. They wrote and published their own literature, therefore finding a voice through the written word to express it without having to worry about being censored or demoralized. These writings were published in literary magazines, and became a way to fight for women’s rights through legislative petitioning. Women who could not read or write before starting work there now had the ability, or more importantly, the choice to choose whether or not she wanted to remain ignorant. Needless to say, most often she didn’t choose to remain ignorant.
These women were pro-labor, and staged protests to gain recognition in the workplace, and to “turn-out” for equal rights and pay. Women could board together, work together, and think together, which provided a safe-haven for flourishing ideas and passions. Ridicule and derogatory insinuations were not found here, and it became a breeding ground for the push for women’s suffrage, and women’s individual rights, concerning everyday lives, and the lives of their future female generations. These mill girls pushed for opportunities in academia (attending lectures and making speeches), labor (working/the ability to work) and legislative (extending laws to increase the choices for women over their lives) arenas.
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