In the 19th century, was a child who was abused at home protected in any way?

No. No one protected him.

Parents could do whatever they wanted.

This photo was taken in 1874.

It was in the United States and there was not a single law that protected abused children.

Animals had more rights than children. Parents punished and tortured their children without missing a word and without good reason.

This is the court testimony of Mary Ellen McCormack, then 10 years old. She lived in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood of New York where Irish immigrants who had fled the Irish famine lived.

Mary Ellen was severely abused by her adoptive mother since she was a child.

Mary said:

My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t live with the Connollys.

Mom used to beat me and hit me every day. She used to do this with a braided whip. The whip always left black and blue marks on my body. Now I have black and blue marks on my head made by mom and I also have a cut on the left side of my forehead. This was made by a pair of scissors. She hit me with the scissors and cut me.

I don’t remember ever being kissed by anyone – I was never kissed by my mother. I was never picked up and caressed by my mother.

I never dared to talk about it with anyone because they would beat me up for it.*

My mom never said anything to me when she hit me. I don’t want to live with my mom anymore because of the way she hits me. “

Mary Ellen was orphaned at an early age and later adopted.

Her biological father was a soldier who died in the Second Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia. Her mother, a washerwoman, could no longer care for her daughter, so she placed her in the city orphanage on Blackwells Island.

Shortly thereafter Mary Ellen was adopted by a Manhattan couple, Thomas and Mary McCormack.

But Thomas died soon after the adoption and his widow married Francis Connolly. Afterwards, the adoptive mother was unhappy and overwhelmed and abused Mary Ellen in every way.

The new mother forced the child to do hard labor, beat her, cut her and burned her, and regularly locked her in a closet.

When a concerned neighbor gained access to Connolly’s apartment, she discovered Mary Ellen severely malnourished and covered in scars. She was barefoot, even though it was a freezing New York winter.

This is the place where the little girl lived

A jury sentenced the adoptive mother to one year in prison for child abuse.

And that was the first time that child abuse was officially recognized and punished.

And that same year, thanks also to the press that publicized the case, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded, the first organization of its kind.

That was the first voice for the children.

But child beating was only outlawed in Germany 15 years ago. Incredible.

And I read that in Italy, it is not completely forbidden to hit children. Only abuse is forbidden. But then there is room for “interpretation”. In my opinion, the law should go further.