"she was not afraid of truth, she was not afraid of
life, she was not afraid of death, she was not afraid of enemies"
Florence
Kelley was born on September 12, 1859 in Philadelphia. She was primarily home schooled and graduated
from Cornell University in 1882. She applied to the University of Pennsylvania
Law School but was refused, because she was a woman. She traveled to Europe and enrolled in the
University of Zurich. Upon her return she settled in New York City but in 1888 she moved to Illinois where he mother
was settled at Hull House and she began her tireless work for child labor laws.
Obtaining a law degree from Northwestern University in 1894 she moved back to
New York City. Her role in the abolition of child labor, the passage of
protective legislation for working women, the establishment of minimum wage
laws, and the development of child health services are a few of her accomplishments. She made important contributions to social
reform. She exposed the use of child labor in factories, stockyards and
sweatshops with detailed scientific studies and reported her finding of
horrific abuse of children.
She and her young colleague, Josephine Goldmark, championed the use of
scientific data to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to set and enforce limits on
hours of work for women. She was one of
the first reformers to recognize that strategy for social change must address
the prevention of injustices and social ills not just remediate them after the
fact. She fought for legal requirements
for states to register births and for employers to document workers ages as
steps toward ending the exploitation of children.
Kelly was known for her fierce energy. She was called “the toughest
customer in the reform riot, the finest rough and tumble fighter for the good
life for others.” (James Weber Lynn, nephew of Jane Addams)
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