CHILDREN SPEAK IN A “STILL SMALL VOICE”: GROWING UP IN THE DISTRICT

The voices of children were most often drowned out or suppressed by the adults. Those voices are heard in the following documents, both contemporary and latter-day autobiographical accounts. Children who grew up inside Hull-House spoke in the first person as did those who grew up on the streets of the neighborhood. In addition, there were contemporary newspaper reports citing and picturing children on ghetto streets.

With limited success, mandatory school attendance laws were intended to keep children in school until the age of fourteen when most left for full-time work. Both parents and children raised serious questions whether there was any present or future value to local schools where a classical and rote curriculum seemed to have little relevance to immigrant families. Most everyone was expected to work for additional money in some capacity, whether by saving or earning. Putting a little money in their pockets for life outside the workplace and the family gave the kids motivation for independence. It was in this period that children in more privileged middle-class homes began receiving a weekly “allowance” to spend. bjb