On Wednesday, July 18, 1899, the Newsie Strike was fuel to a soon blazing fire of rebellion. Other children saw the Newsboys Strike and the power it brought. So, they also took a stand against child labor. 

The Newsies Strike was such an influence, that a movie was made in 1992, and a play started in 2011, which ended two and a half years later.

“We can read about the reactions of the public and the kids, and it is clear that the newsies chose an effective way to communicate the price raise. Was there a better or different way? Maybe, but this was successful, so it feels like a good solution.

-Alice Stevenson (NY Historical Society worker)

Kid blink Article, Newsboys-of-1899, 1899 

 Those strikes were the Butte, Montana Newsboys Strike of 1914, the Louisville, Kentucky Newsboys Strike of 1920, and more. These strikes made other kids believe they could also fight for what they thought was fair and right. 

“The source of newspapers from the summer of 1899 was full of news on strikes, from the surface railroad “trolley” strikers of Brooklyn, to the messenger boys of Manhattan. Strike fever was everywhere. The Spanish-American War was what had driven the price of the papers up to 60 cents per hundred on the newsboys, ending in April (the boys struck in June). That’s two months of the boys feeling the pinch of the price hike. To summarize their grievances, they were selling a lot of papers and “extra” editions during the war. This justified the price hike since the papers were printing more editions, however when the war ended ALL the other papers reduced their prices back to previous costs before the way EXCEPT Pultizer’s Evening World and Hearst’s Evening Journal. Although many women and men sold newspapers, newsboys (including those that went to school during the day) preferred selling these evening papers and were taking a loss.” 

-Kristina Romero (Author of Calling Extra)