April 22nd, 1824
To whom this may concern:
My name is Joseph Brown and I am writing on behalf of my current status of unemployment. I was a professional shoemaker with a small business to myself; doing very well financially. However, recently, my family's stability has been spiraling downward. Close to 18 months ago, I was replaced with heavy and expensive machinery in large work areas and a great loss of customers. Because of this I was forced out of a job and times have gotten unbelievably hard.
With the new advances in technology and a rate of production that exceeds mine tremendously. Because of the fact that I can not get a new job, my wife and my two children, ages seven and ten, are forced to work fourteen hour work shifts six days a week. I feel horrible that I cannot do anything about my situation at home.
Pictures from Equal Pay Day actions in Leuven.
H_18E College Hill - 66 South Main Street (1846), ...
Pictures from Equal Pay Day actions in Leuven.My family is constantly getting sick due to horrible conditions at the work place. I feel less and less of a man every day when I think of how a woman and two children have to bring home the bread everyday. I want my children to be educated and my wife to be able to stay home and hire someone to clean our house. The conditions in our household are also far from sanitary. We share a one room tenement with a family of four. The place is infested with rodents and creatures that continue to make this family sick.
For a period of time, I found myself drinking away our little income at local bars. Things have gotten so bad that my family and I have begun to practice a new form of religion. Methodism teaches us to find the faith within ourselves to become better people.