Radium Girls facts for kids

This page is about the factory workers. For other uses, see Radium girl (disambiguation).

Young women painting watch dials with radium paint.

The Radium Girls were brave young women who worked in factories. Their job was to paint watch dials and hands with a special glowing paint. This paint contained a dangerous element called radium.

These events happened in the United States. Factories in Orange, New Jersey, Ottawa, Illinois, and Waterbury, Connecticut were involved. The women were told the paint was completely safe. They were even told to use their lips to make their paintbrushes pointy. This meant they accidentally swallowed tiny bits of radium every day.

Sadly, many of these women became very sick from radiation poisoning. Their story led to big changes. It helped create new laws to protect workers in factories.

The Radium Girls: A Story of Courage
See also

The Radium Girls: A Story of Courage

An advertisement from 1921 for "Undark" paint.

The United States Radium Corporation (USRC) was a company that made glowing paint. This paint was used for watches and instruments. They called their special paint "Undark". The company operated from 1917 to 1926.

The USRC factory in Orange, New Jersey, hired many workers. Most of them were young women. Their job was to paint tiny watch faces with the glowing radium paint. The company told these workers that the paint was completely safe.

Painting Glowing Watches

About 70 women worked directly with radium at USRC. The company's owners and scientists knew radium was dangerous. They used special tools like lead screens, tongs, and masks to protect themselves. But they did not give this protection to the women painters.

The women mixed their own paint in small pots. They used camel hair brushes to apply the glowing paint. The brushes often lost their shape. So, supervisors told the women to "point" the brushes. This meant putting the brush tips in their mouths. This method was called "lip, dip, paint."

The women were paid about a penny and a half for each dial. They could paint around 250 dials in one shift. This earned them about $3.75 a day. Because they thought the paint was harmless, some women even painted their nails or teeth with it for fun.

Hidden Dangers of Radium

The company knew about the dangers of radium. They had even shared information with doctors about its "injurious effects." Yet, they kept this secret from their workers. By 1925, several workers and even the company's chief chemist had died. Their deaths led to investigations.

Health Problems Appear

Many women started having serious health problems. Dentists were often the first to notice issues. These included tooth pain, loose teeth, and sores that would not heal. Many women developed anemia, which is a lack of healthy red blood cells. They also suffered from bone fractures and a terrible condition called radium jaw. This meant their jawbones started to decay. Some women also had problems with their bodies' natural functions.

The companies tried to hide the truth. They claimed the women's illnesses were from other causes. They even tried to damage the women's reputations by making false claims about their health. Some doctors were asked by the companies not to share their findings.

Companies Hide the Truth

In the early 1920s, the USRC asked experts from Harvard to study their factory. These experts found radium dust everywhere. They saw that workers had no protection. The experts believed radium was causing the illnesses.

However, the company president disagreed. He blamed infections from outside the factory. He even changed the experts' report to make the company look good. But the experts eventually published the true report. This led to the factory closing. By 1927, over 50 factory workers had died from radium poisoning.

The inventor of the radium paint, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky, also became sick. He died in 1928 from radium poisoning. His illness helped show the dangers of radium in court.

Another Factory, Similar Dangers

The Radium Dial Company opened in Ottawa, Illinois, in 1922. This factory also hired young women to paint clock dials. They used the same dangerous "lip, dip, paint" method. Another factory in Waterbury, Connecticut, also used these methods.

Workers at Radium Dial started getting sick around 1926 and 1927. They did not know about the problems happening in New Jersey. The company even did tests to check the paint's danger. But they kept the results secret from their employees.

The company tried to get workers to use glass pens instead of brushes. But the pens made them slower. Since they were paid by how many dials they painted, the women went back to using brushes. When news of the New Jersey lawsuits reached Illinois, the Radium Dial Company lied. They told their workers that radium was safe. They claimed the New Jersey women had "viral infections."

At that time, radium was even advertised in beauty products. It was falsely said to make people look younger. The companies kept assuring the workers that the paint was harmless. So, the women continued their work, unaware of the deadly risks.

Fighting for Justice

The Radium Girls' story became widely known through the media. This helped them in their fight for justice.

Lawsuits and Settlements

One brave worker, Grace Fryer, decided to sue the USRC. It took her two years to find a lawyer. The legal process was slow. By the time of their first court appearance in 1928, some women were too sick to even raise their arms.

Five factory workers, known as "the Radium Girls," were part of this lawsuit. They were Grace Fryer, Edna Hussman, Katherine Schaub, Quinta McDonald, and Albina Larice. The USRC denied doing anything wrong. But they settled the case in 1928. Each Radium Girl received $10,000. They also got $600 per year for life, paid weekly. The company also covered all their medical and legal costs. Sadly, all five women died by the 1930s.

In Illinois, workers also sought help. In 1937, five women found a lawyer named Leonard Grossman. He took their case without pay because they were too poor. The case was heard at the home of Catherine Donahue, who was too sick to travel. In 1938, the court ruled in favor of the women. However, the Radium Dial Company had closed and moved. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1939, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision. By then, Catherine Donahue had passed away.

Changing Worker Safety Laws

The Radium Girls' story is very important for worker rights. Their fight helped establish the right for individual workers to sue companies for harm. It also led to better safety rules in factories.

Because of them, safety standards improved greatly. In 1949, a law was passed to help workers who got sick from their jobs. Radium paint was eventually banned in the 1960s. The last factory making radium paint closed in 1978.

Learning from the Past

The Radium Girls' cases also helped scientists. Robley D. Evans studied the effects of radium on their bodies. This research helped set a safe limit for radium exposure in 1941.

Later, in 1968, the Center for Human Radiobiology was created. It provided medical exams for living dial painters. It also collected important information and tissue samples. By 1993, detailed information from over 2,400 cases was gathered. This research taught us a lot about how radium affects humans. It showed how different types of radium can cause cancer.

Their Story Lives On

The story of the Radium Girls has been told in many ways:

A play called Radium Girls by D. W. Gregory was published in 2000.
Kate Moore wrote a book titled The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women in 2017.
A film called Radium Girls was released in 2020.
A song named Radium Girls by Tom Morello and other artists was released in 2021.
A stage musical called The Radium Girls is planned for Broadway in 2025.