Evelyn and Labor

In Ragtime, Evelyn Nesbit goes through a huge change after attending a speech by Emma Goldman that resulted in a long, freeing talk between the two. Afterwards, when Nesbit received compensation for her divorce, Doctorow describes, ”She supported radical appeals that came to her from all over the country once it became underground gossip that she had been politicized. She gave money to the legal defense of labor leaders who had been thrown in jail. She gave money to the parents of children mutilated in mills and factories”(88). By repeating the words “she gave” in a parallel structure, Doctorow emphasizes all of her charity. It is fitting that Doctorow would include this detail of Nesbit’s life to draw attention to the huge movement that was going on in working class America at the time. For years, powerful men had been earning huge profits through monopolizing industries and doing very little by way of compensation for their workers. It became necessary for unions to be formed in search of adequate factory conditions and salaries for all the men that were being exploited by the huge companies. The unions did not immediately gain the support of the government, and many leaders were arrested, just as shown in the previous passage. However, as the unions grew, they met more and more support from all people, and eventually the federal government did pass some laws supporting workers’ rights. Nesbit’s conversion to the cause has great historical significance, because it marks the shift in the American attitude towards working class people and their basic human rights.

By Marly Morgus

Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision : A History of the American People: . 3rd ed. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath and Co., 1996.

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Ladies? Tailors Union strikers, NYC, 1910. 1910. Cosmeo, Powered by Discovery
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