Newsboys in the Streets: Social Reform and Childhood in Mexico City During the Late Porfiriato, 1884–1910

A number of scholars have treated newsboys as victims following the abolition of press juries after President Porfirio Díaz muzzled the press. This article turns our attention to how the popular mythology of the Mexican "entrepreneurial newsboy" shaped Mexico City's licensing scheme. This article argues that the ideology of the entrepreneurial newsboy in Mexico City led to the immediate establishment of lodging houses while reinforcing the legal exclusion of newsboys from workers' labor protections. It furthermore shows that newsboys mobilized against the city lawmakers' emergent ideology and its enforceable legislation before they were co-opted by the Mexican state.