American
Mother Jones and the Mill Children
A fierce old woman who marched children out of the cotton mills, where they worked long days at the machines, all the way toward the president's door — because no one else would speak for them.
This Week · The Builders · Labor Day
The Builders: who builds the things we use every day?
For littler ones: Who made the things you use every day, like your shoes and your bed?
This week we're wondering about the builders — the people whose hands are behind the shirt you're wearing and the road under your wheels. Who builds the things we use every day? It's a good one to turn over in the car or at the table, the week of Labor Day, when the country pauses to think about the work that holds everything up.
This week's stories
American
John Henry
A steel-driving man who swung his hammer against a machine to prove what a working man's hands could do — and won, though it cost him everything. From the African American work-song tradition.
Talk about it
- Pick something near you right now — a shoe, a spoon, the wall. Who do you think made it, and what do you think the work was like?
- Mother Jones spoke up for children who couldn't speak for themselves. When is it worth speaking up for someone else?
- John Henry raced a machine and won, but it cost him everything. What do you make of that — was it worth it?
A new question every week.
Listen together in the app — short audio stories for kids 4–10, at bedtime, on the drive, in the drop-off line.
Join the family
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