The American Newsboys

Every year National History Day® frames students’ research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for the broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The 2019-2020 theme is Breaking Barriers in History.

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work."

- Lewis Hine

Backround information

The newsies (and young ladies) made a living by selling papers in the city. "Extra! Extra! Find out about it!" This was the acclaimed line the newsies said while selling papers, they would effectively get individuals to purchase their papers. On September 4, 1833, Bernard Flaherty left a mark on the world as the main known newsie, Bernard was just 10 at the time selling papers. After this, an ever-increasing number of young men would join (and a few young ladies) and sell papers in the city. A significant system they utilized was yelling out the most recent feature, the cash they made was keeping them alive. It didn't take long for Americans to find out about the newsies. A few distributors would utilize the young men to sell their papers.

How did the newsies make their money?

Newsies would buy papers that had just been printed (during the night) every morning. The newsies would have to pay 67 cents for 100 papers if all 100 would be sold he made 33 cents. The price raised to 75 cents if they couldn't sell the papers they had to keep them and sell them the next day. The newsies that lived with their family would give their parents what they earned, this wasn't that common. Most newsies were orphans that need the money to buy food, most lived on the streets(which wasn't uncommon).

How much did the papers sell for?

A typical paper cost six cents! Most people would earn up to $1 a day, this made it harder for people to want to buy the papers. Benjamin Henry Day noticed how much the price affected the selling of the papers so he decided to publish papers that only cost a penny. This made it so much more affordable for people, more people started to buy the papers. Day was credited for being one of the first to hire a newsboy. Although the price had gone down they struggled at first selling papers, the newsies soon became a common thing in New York City.

Pulitzer's World Building

Credit: Off The Grid