Florence Kelley – "the toughest customer in the reform riot, the finest rough-and-tumble fighter for the good life for others"

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Florence Kelley, born in Philadelphia, September 12th 1859. Her father was an influential Republican congressman. "I owe him everything that I have ever been able to learn to do." She attended Cornell University and wrote a thesis about underprivileged children.

Kelley called for banning sweatshops and child labor as well as limiting workdays to eight hours. She co-founded the National Consumers League, the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the NAACP. Eight years, this tireless activist investigated atrocious labor conditions while residing at Hull House in Chicago.

Kelley contributed to securing passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act for President Theodore Roosevelt. At her initiative, the Taft administration established the U.S. Children's Bureau.

Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com. 

Here is a YouTube Video about this article.

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Here is my Substack about this article.

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"


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