Exploitation of Child and Immigrant Laborers

At the end of the nineteenth century immigrants, specifically those from southern and eastern Europe, were essentially naïve dreamers with ideal images of America. Relying on undependable sources such as letters, advertisements, and word of mouth for news, they generated unrealistic, idealized visions of life in the United States.

Eagerly looking for work, these immigrants readily heard the beckoning calls of big businesses and willingly accepted jobs and working conditions that American factory workers deemed unsuitable for themselves.

While the overwhelming majority of American Christians turned a blind eye to the repression of these immigrant workers, men like Samuel Gompers stood up and spoke out: "To be free, the workers must have choice. To have choice they must retain in their own hands the right to determine under what conditions they will work"

An 18-year-old Baptist minister in Matwann, West Virginia, preached a series of sermons relating the difficulties of working in the local coal mines to that of the children of Israel toiling under the rule of Pharoah in the land of Egypt. He was gunned down on the steps of his church after a morning service. Again, for the most part Christians were silent about the exploitative conditions of miners and factory workers...