7th Grade Project/Writing Assignment- American History

Mr. Giammanco- agiammanco@gboe.org

Final Version Due Date: October 26, 2017

Life in the Mill

During the first half of the nineteenth century, farm girls and young women from throughout New
England were recruited to work in the textile factories in Lowell, Massachusetts. Although the
women were tightly controlled both in the factories and at home in company-supervised boarding
houses, many managed to join organized demonstrations against their working conditions.

Your Assignment: Research the six aspects listed below that dealt with the Lowell factories.
Create a report being given to someone who is starting a factory in the early 1800s. You
must make recommendations on whether or not the Lowell system is a good model to
follow. Make sure to include information that pertains to the life-style of a mill worker, at the
Lowell Mills, in the 1800's. Write a three page, double-spaced, size 12, Times New-Roman font,
MLA format paper, which answers whether or not the Lowell system is a good model to practice.
The six aspects that you must include in your report are:

1. What were the working conditions like working in these factories?

2. Why did these girls begin working at such a young age?
3. What were the living conditions like living in a boarding house?
4. What was a typical day like, for a mill worker?
5. What does the bell schedule tell you? Why do you think it changed seasonally?
6. Why did the workers go out on strike?

You may use the two articles that we read in class, and the American History textbook to
gather your information. Along with those sources you must also use the following
websites to find your information:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robinson-lowell.asp

http://library.uml.edu/clh/mo.htm

http://courses.wcupa.edu/johnson/Low-offr1.html

http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/whole_cloth/u2ei/u2materials/dublin.html

http://berwickacademy.org/millgirls/who_am_i.htm

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5714

http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/whole_cloth/u2ei/u2images/act9/time_tbl.html

Please see the back of this sheet.

DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA. You must give credit to the website that you found your
information on. DO NOT PLAGERIZE, if you do you will receive a ZERO.

All submissions must look like the example below. It must also be typed, and turned
in by the deadline. Instructions for MLA format can be found on:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

No late submissions will be accepted. The rubric can be found online at:
agiammanco.weebly.com.

An example of MLA Format is as follows:

Name

Block

Date

Title

When typing your paper make sure that the settings are on Double-Space. In order to

complete this feature please click on the following: Paragraph, then Line-Spacing, and then

2.0. Remember if you have any questions always feel free to ask me any questions. You may

type your paper in my classroom, either before or after school.

Make sure that you include a Works Cited page. That will be the 4th page of your paper.

Please use easybib.com to complete your citations. Please see me if you have any questions.

Your Works Cited page must look like this:

Works Cited

Abe, Namiko. "The Japanese Education System - School Life In Japan." About.com Japanese

Language.About.com, 2013.Web. 11 Apr. 2013.