Rex Trulove
Today, we call people who are between 13 and 19 years of age ‘teenagers’. Naturally, this segment of the population has existed for thousands of years, however, a lot of folks are a little surprised by how relatively recent teenagers have been thought of as having their own subculture.
It all began due to labor practices. In 1900, there were no child-labor laws. As a result, almost one in five people who were employed at any job was under the age of 16.
Schooling was actually considered to be less important than the labor. In fact, our current school year reflects this. Child labor was quite important during the spring planting season, through the summer, and until the harvest in September. This coincides with ‘summer vacation’, but back then, it was definitely not a vacation. School was the relief time from the labor.
At the time, there was childhood and adulthood, but no concept of ‘teenager’. When a boy turned 13, he was considered to be a man. When a girl turned 13, she could legally marry, have kids, and start a family.
Starting in 1902, state legislatures began to address child labor. Laws were put in place that restricted child labor. Congress passed similar laws in both 1916 and 1918, but the US Supreme Court declared those laws unconstitutional.
In 1924, a constitutional amendment was passed in regard to child labor. Not all states accepted the amendment, though. Many resisted it because child labor was still extremely important to the economy.
A change occurred in the early 1930’s. This was the period of the great depression and child labor laws began to make sense. This was simply because the unemployment was so high that adults needed the jobs.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, establishing a minimum wage and a maximum number of hours that could be worked. Children under the age of 16 were prohibited from working in mines or in manufacturing. Schooling started becoming a larger priority, too.
The word “teenager” started being applied in 1941. In the following decade or two, teenagers established their own subculture.
If the child labor laws hadn’t been put in place, there wouldn’t be a teenage culture today. However, that started barely a hundred years ago and the word used to describe people who are from 13 to 19 years of age is much less than a hundred years old.
It is now taken for granted that 13-year-olds are not considered to be adults as they once were. Kids can’t even apply for a work permit until they are 14. It wasn’t all that long ago when things were substantially different. My own grandfather was working full-time, six days a week, at the age of 12. He was also making more than many men who were twice his age; 75 cents per week. That was 1912 and 75 cents per week was a lot of money.
As a side-note to all of this, my grandparents were never officially teenagers since the term didn’t even exist back then. All of this is rather astounding, wouldn’t you say?
It is nice to know the evolution of teens in the past to the present. I enjoyed reading it.
Many people are surprised to learn that ‘teenager’ wasn’t even a word until the 1940’s. :))
Now, it has been in the age bracket.
Beautiful photos and post!!!
Thank you very much!
Your post was very informative, I didn’t know these facts. Thanks!
Most people probably don’t. It is something that teenagers can be thankful for. A century ago, they would have been working full time (40-60 hours per week) as soon as they became a teen.
Quart wrote ‘Branded’ — a curious read whereby ‘kidults’ were hired to seek out the next big thing by agencies feverishly attempting to flatten and derail the competition. Intriguing write up.
There are some ways around the law, but for the most part, kids still must be 14 to even be able to work, legally. The exceptions are mostly doing work like mowing lawns, babysitting, and raking leaves.