Children of the Ludlow Massacre: Socialization, Americanization and Immigrant Children in Early 1900s Colorado’s Coal Mining Communities

As the study of childhood archaeology continues to advance, childhood socialization must not be overlooked. In the historical context of early 1900s coal mining culture, this chapter examines how children can be affected by adult attempts to influence their development, progressive era ideas about Americanization, and how children as agents may have navigated this messaging. Coal Miners and their families in Southern Colorado lived in Company towns owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Adhering to national trends, this mining corporation started programs to Americanize ethnically diverse immigrant employees into their vision of society. One approach was to impart American values to the children living in company towns by starting kindergartens, social clubs, and purchasing American toys for them. Using reanalysis of curated artifacts, survey, frequency counts, and the historical record, this chapter demonstrates how analyzing data can give fresh insight into interpreting behavior, and explores the questions about whether or how these children internalized these values of Americanization.