Introduction: Newsies' History

At the turn of the century, newspaper distribution was the only way citizens usually got news of what's been happening. The job to bring the news to the people were given to children, who more often than not didn't have a penny to their name. These kids were known as newspaper hawkers, newsboys (as a majority of the children were boys), or newsies. They were the main distributors of newspapers to the general public from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. They were not employees of the newspapers but rather purchased the papers from the publishers and sold them as independent agents.

While morning editions of the paper were often delivered directly to subscribers, the afternoon editions relied almost exclusively on the newsies to sell. Most of them came from either poor immigrant families or no families at all. They sold papers in the afternoons and evenings, after their lessons in school were finished. The kids who didn't go to school usually had an easier time selling papers, as they are constantly on the streets. They bought papers at 50¢ per hundred, and sold them at 1¢ each for a profit of half a cent per paper. Not allowed to return unsold papers, the newsboys typically earned around 30 cents a day and often worked until very late at night. Cries of "Extra, extra!" were often heard into the morning as newsies attempted to sell every last paper they can

The streets of New York echoed with the voices of newsies, delivering the papers of the giants of the newspaper world. On every corner, you saw them carrying the banner, bringing you the news for a penny a paper. Many of them being orphans, runaways, or children doing their part to provide for their families, the newsies were a ragged army, without a leader to help them survive each day on the streets. These children worked all day to make ends meat, some not being very successful and being paid very little for their hard work. That is, until the Newsies Strike of 1899. That was the day that the lives of those children, as well as workers under child labor, began to change...

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