You're Wrong About The Newsboys' Strike of 1899 (Part 2)
Nov 30, 2020
Sarah and Mike discuss the thrilling conclusion of a children's labor action, a forgotten Disney musical, and their love for saying 'papes.' They reference books for information, explore the impact of the Newsboys' Strike on popular culture, and reflect on compromise and worker solidarity.
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Children As The City's Information Lifeblood
- The newsboys recognized their labor as essential to information circulation and democracy in 1899.
- That recognition gave them outsized bargaining power despite youth and informal organization.
Pigeons Delivering Faster European News
- Daniel H. Craig used carrier pigeons to carry European news to Boston hours before ships arrived.
- He attached tiny printed reports to pigeons' legs and famously evaded a captain who tried to seize his birds.
Mass Press Changed Who Sold News
- The steam press and cheaper production transformed newspapers into mass, mobile commodities.
- That shift created demand for cheap street vendors and the rise of very young newsboys starting as early as age nine.