Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools explore child labor’s past and present

Though Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s days of child labor are long past, the end of McDougle Middle’s school day was signaled Thursday by a factory whistle instead of a school bell.

The school had become “McDougle Mills” in a factory simulation to help students understand child labor, part of a week long push for global awareness.

The students made friendship bracelets, paper beads and origami swans, which will be sold at the Carrboro Public Library on April 14 and 15 and to the students at lunch.

The event aimed to raise money for Mayan Families, an organization that donates money to Guatemalan families so children can attend school instead of working.

Students also watched a documentary on child labor and participated in discussion sections.

“We want (the students) to understand that many of the products we enjoy every day… do rely on child labor somewhere in the production process,” said Jami Burns, gifted education specialist at McDougle Middle School.

Burns said the program is part of Learning Without Borders, a yearly, interdisciplinary program run by the school that aims to teach students about global issues.

“We do live in a much more global society now and we need to be aware of cultures and societies outside our city district,” she said.

Past fundraising topics for the program included world hunger, human rights and accessible drinking water.

A student on the Learning Without Borders committee suggested this year’s charity, Burns said.

“We’ve tried to avoid giving the kids a simplistic picture of what (child labor) is,” she said. “We thought the kids would connect with it personally.”

Child labor’s local history

Though local students are learning about those who labor abroad, the area they live in also has a past with underage workers.

Carrboro was founded around a cotton mill built in 1898 — initially called Alberta cotton mill — in a time when child labor was commonplace.

“North Carolina, for a long time, was known as having child labor and resisting child labor laws,” said David Zonderman, history professor at N.C. State University.

He said children in mills were commonly spinners, weavers or “bobbin boys” — boys who collected full spools of spun cotton.

Frances Shetley, who has lived in Carrboro for about 50 years, said the town grew up around the mill.

“It continued to be Carrboro’s principal industry and a landmark in the community,” she said.

Shetley, who later served on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, said she first visited the mill around 1975, when it was no longer operational.

During that time a group of citizens campaigned to save the building from demolition and it was eventually converted to Carr Mill Mall.

“Everybody thought ‘we’d better save this’,” she said.

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