Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Babies in the Mill" By Dorsey Dixon
The historical context of "Babies in the Mill" by Dorsey Dixon is in both the words of the song and the presentation of the song (folk/blues). Composed in the 1960s by Dorsey Dixon, the song memorializes a time from 1880 to 1920 when child labor was used in the textile mills -- where Dorsey himself had worked (and seen firsthand that exploitation of children as described in the song).
From the 1880s to the 1920s, American industrialism had brought about a major change in the workforce. Mills like the textile mills and cotton mills described in Dixon's song were producing more and more product as labor was more and more divided up into simple tasks. Cheap labor allowed mill owners to drive up profit margins, as at the time there were no federal laws regulating the use of child labor. In fact, throughout much of the West, including Europe and the UK, the exploitation of children in factories and of workers in general had led directly to the rise of unions and protest movements by the working class against the bourgeoisie. Dixon's song reflects the reality of this child exploitation with lyrics like: "Those babies all grew up unlearned, they never went to school. They never learned to read or write. They learned to spin and spool. Every time I close my eyes, I see that...
The Civil Rights Movement was underway and racial, social and political tensions were high. President Kennedy would be assassinated that same decade along with activists like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. This turbulent era was known both artists expressing original, personal perspectives on life (Nina Simone would unite classical piano with jazz and blues to project a new kind of music) and Dixon utilized the folk/country genre to remind the nation of an earlier time in which injustice towards children was commonplace. "Babies in the Mill" is not quite a protest anthem (like so many songs in the 1960s) but rather a bluesy, mournful dirge for the past -- for the loss of innocence that occurred in America decades earlier.
This loss of innocence would have resonated with the American audience of the 1960s, whose own youth were "rebelling" by experimenting with rock 'n' roll, drug use, and the sexual…
Child Abuse This research investigates the connection amongst childhood abuse as well as neglect and sexual risk conduct in middle adult years and whether psychosocial aspects (risky romances, affective signs and symptoms, alcohol and drug use, along with delinquent as well as illegal conduct) mediate this connection (Wilson and Widom, 2011). I was attracted to this article because it offered definitive proof about how child abuse and neglect can cause HIV
Child Labor and Society: A Detrimental Situation Child labor is detrimental to the well-being of the subject as well as the society to which he belongs. Throughout history, sundry civilizations have borne witness to the harsh reality termed as "child labor." The agrarian realm enlisted the help of small hands from the beginning of time. Innocent children as young as six or seven persevered in arduous working conditions on farms. However,
Child Labor Define child and labor separately. Child labor in the United States has long been a subject of concern. The U.S. enacted strict child labor statutes in 1938 (Labor, 2009), and has continued to enforce that law. However, there remain problems at home in the U.S. And abroad. The United States seeks to enforce the law, but there are times when it is difficult to catch perpetrators of violations. However, the
It was public outrage stemming from the fact that an already wealthy celebrity would use child labor to further acquire wealth that caused Ms. Gifford to react. It was a very highly publicized case, and in a journal article appearing in a 1998 edition of Afterimage, journalist Rebecca Schreiber commented this way: Every so often, an event like the Kathy Lee Gifford scandal uncovers the whole line of production, bringing
However, by comparison, children in America have much better conditions that children in Africa who rarely receive payment for their services and most often they are deprived of any schooling activity or leisure time (Child Labor: when it is right/wrong?, n.d.). The actors involved in the process of child labor include the states which allow this, most of them being African and Asian states, as well as the international organizations
Many Chinese workers, including children, are forced to work in poor conditions (Ka Wai, 2004). Many workers are working in the town ship and village factories. According to a government report in 1984, the majority of township and village enterprises in China have at least one major problem that causes occupational disease. Many factory workers are working in dangerous conditions, in which poisonous chemicals, dust, and noise are predominant. As