Florence Kelly

Florence Kelly

To begin with, Florence Kelly was born on September 12, in the year of 1857 and died on February 17, 1932. Kelley, herself, came from a family that was greatly involved in politics. Her father, William Darrah, was an abolitionist Quaker that both helped find the Republican Part and was a congressman for Philadelphia. Her aunt, Sarah Pugh, was also an abolitionist and was actually present at the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women. She attended Cornell University in 1882, and didn't receive her degree till 6 years later. After that, she went to study in The University of Zurich in which she got interested in the topic of socialism. 

She is commonly known for her translation of the book "Condition of the Working Class in England" by Friedrich Engles. Also, in 1899 Kelley became the national secretary for the National Consumers League. This organization pushed for the rights of both women and children in the work force. Becaus of this, in 1905, she published a book that was called "Some Ethical Gains Through Legislation". In the same year, it is said that she worked side by side with Lillian D Wald to establish the United States Children's Bureau. 

Later on, she moved to Chicago in which she lived in the Hull-House. This was a community of mostly women in which were involved greatly in the community and were interested in the social reform. Much of the work done here was published in "Hull-House Maps and Papers" in the year 1895. She studied child labor and made a report of it to the Illinois State Bureau of Labor and was to become the first factory inspector for Illinois in the year 1893. in 1909, she pushed for woman suffrage, and by 1914, published a book called "Modern Industry in Relation to the Family, Health, Education, Morality".