The material culture of early childhood in the 21st century is characterized by an emphasis on biological age and related levels of cognitive and motor skill development. All types of objects, including diapers, toys, food products, and clothing, are… [more]
Studying everyday material objects made and used for children—diapers, baby food, clothing, toys—provides an opportunity to investigate contemporary American childhood; it challenges students to think critically about how childhood is understood in their own culture, and demonstrates that childhood is culturally constructed by people living in a particular time and place. echo [more]
In April 1964, the U.S. Labor Department announced new rules for foreign entertainers. Applying through Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), entertainers with unique talent would be allowed to enter. The Labor Department would evaluate all… [more]
Official interest in the rights of children has grown over the course of the 20th century. Urbanization and industrialization led reformers at the turn of the century to focus on child welfare and on children's rights as separate from those of… [more]
The years following World War II marked a key shift in international policy related to human rights. Few, however, connect the history of human rights to the children's rights movement. By the early 20th century, urbanization and industrialization… [more]
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) is one of the most famous figures of modern Japan. He was an intellectual, journalist, and educator who was the most visible advocate of modernization and Western Learning in the 1870s and 1880s. In this excerpt from his… [more]
Examining children's rights as human rights provides avenues for understanding the complexity of creating and implementing universal declarations of rights and makes international diplomatic history more approachable; the case study offers students the opportunity to research the current status of children from around the world, and connects the history of human rights to the children's rights movement that marked the opening and closing decades of the 20th century. echo [more]
