The Unbelievable True Story of America’s Radium Girls
By Richard Stockton on November 20, 2017
While the men wore lead aprons to protect themselves from the radiation, the women were given nothing. They were even told to lick their brushes to get a fine point for detail work.
In 1917, scores of patriotic young girls counted themselves lucky to have landed war work at a large warehouse complex in Orange, New Jersey.
The pay was fantastic – roughly three times the average working girls’ wage – and the work was light. Literally, the work was light as the main job the young ladies were given was to apply glowing paint to the faces of clocks, instrument gauges, and wristwatches for the United States Radium Company.
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