United States
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Florence Kelley
Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), United States
Archival Overview
Tireless American labor and consumer reformer who lived at Hull House, served as Illinois' first female Chief Factory Inspector, founded the National Consumers League, and co-founded the NAACP in 1909.
Biographical Record
Florence Kelley (1859–1932) studied law at Zurich and Northwestern after being denied admission to graduate study in the US due to her gender. Joining Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago in 1891, Kelley surveyed sweatshop tenements, documenting children as young as four sewing garments under toxic conditions.
Appointed Illinois Chief Factory Inspector in 1893, Kelley rigorously enforced child labor and eight-hour workday laws. As head of the National Consumers League for thirty-four years, she introduced the 'White Label' certifying products made under fair labor conditions and co-founded the US Children's Bureau.
Key Life Milestones
First Woman Chief Factory Inspector in America
Appointed in Illinois, pioneering rigorous state inspections of industrial sweatshops.
Co-Founding of the NAACP
Joined W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells as a founding board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialPhiladelphia (Pennsylvania), United States