Overview:
Most people, when they hear the term “Newsies”, immediately think about the Broadway musical. For me, that’s exactly what my thoughts were geared towards when I was assigned this topic. Little do most people know, the “Newsies”, or “Newsboys”, have an intense background story other than the famous Broadway show. They made a historical change, and remain a legend to this day in history.
Background:
The Newsboys Newsboys were given their iconic name beginning as newspaper distributors. The morning editions of the daily paper were delivered directly to their subscribers, but the afternoon editions relied completely on newsboys to sell them out. Majority of the newsboys came from poor immigrant families, and sold papers after their school day concluded in the late afternoons and evenings.They bought their papers at 50¢ per hundred, and then sold them at 1 cent each, for a profit of half a cent per paper.
Strikes:
There were newsboy strikes several years before the dramatic event of 1899. These strikes started and took place in 1886 and 1887, with the final, most memorable one, in 1889. The last, and most known, strike that the newsboys held against the World and the Journal, was in August, 1889. With the Spanish-American War increasing their newspaper sales, most publishers raised the cost of a newsboy's bundle of 100 newspapers from 50¢ to 60¢, causing this strike. This was a price increase that, at the time, was offset by the increased sales. After the war, many papers reduced the cost back to previous amounts, with the exceptions of The Evening World and the New York Evening Journal, which caused the chaos.
Early Days if the Strike:
On July 18th 1899, A group of newsboys in Long Island turned over a distribution wagon for the New York Journal, and declared a strike against the papers of the publisher of the World, and the publisher of the Journal, until the prices were back to 50¢ per hundred. Then, the following day, The newsboys of all of Manhattan and Brooklyn reenacted the same actions as the Long Islanders from the day before. The newsboys' methods were very violent. Any man or boy found to be selling the two boycotted papers would be mobbed by a group of strikers. They were beaten and had their papers completely destroyed. The newsboys also distributed flyers and hung signs around the city encouraging people to help them in their cause by not buying the World and Journal from others.
The Rally at Irving Hall:
On July 24th, 1899, The newsboys held a city-wide rally, with over 5,000 boys from Manhattan and 2,000 boys from Brooklyn, sponsored by the state senator, Timothy D. Sullivan. Many local businessmen and politicians sided with the crowd. After the adults spoke out, Union President David Simmons read a list of resolutions saying that the strike was to stand until the papers reduced their prices, but also calling on the newsboys to take non-violent methods of reacting.
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