Child Labor in America: The photography of Lewis Hine.

although children had been servants and apprentices throughout most of human history child labor reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution children often worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little money children were useful as laborers because their size allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines where adults couldn't fit children were easier to manage and control and perhaps more importantly children could be paid less than adults child laborers often work to help support their families but were forced to forego an education 19th century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor improve working additions but it took a market crash to finally sway public opinion during the Great Depression Americans wanted all available jobs to go to adults rather than children Ferman Owens 12 years old can't read doesn't know his ABCs he said yes I can learn but can't when I work all the the time been in the Mills four years 3 years in the Olympia Mill Columbia South Carolina adolescent girls from the bib Manufacturing Company in mon Georgia doer Boys in mon Georgia doing involved replacing full bobbins filled by The Spinners with empty ones it was the intermittent work involved relatively short burst of high activity with extended rest or play paused in between doer sometimes also doubled his sweepers a job that included sweeping up the cotton lint in between the doing runs but in larger factories these were two separate jobs this little girl pauses for a moment to look at the outside world she said she was 11 years old but she'd been working over a year in the roads Manufacturing Company in lincolon North Carolina some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on this girl is one of the Spinners in the whitel cotton mill she was 51 in high she said she had been in the mill for one year sometimes she says she works at night runs four sides for 58 cents a day when asked how old she was she hesitated then said I don't remember then added confidently I'm not old enough to work but do just the same one out of 50 employees there were 10 children about her size in the whitel cotton mill in North Carolina the mill overseer said apologetically she just happened in she was working steadily the mill seemed full of youngsters who just happened in or our helping sister this one happens to be in Newberry South Carolina this is Joe Bowden a back roper in the mule room at chance cotton mill in Burlington Vermont a small newsy downtown on a Saturday afternoon in St Louis Missouri this is a group of Newsies selling on the capital steps Tony is age eight Dan is age nine Joseph is 10 and John is age 11 this is Tony Cel from Hartford Connecticut age 11 he's been selling newspapers for four years sometimes he sells until 10:00 at night his newspaper told me the boy had shown him marks on his arm where his father had bitten him for not selling more papers the boy said drunken men sometimes say bad words to us this is a group of Washington DC news boys out after midnight selling extras there were many young boys selling very late the youngest boy in this group is 9 years old Harry is aged 11 Eugene and the rest were a little older here is a news boy from Jersey City New Jersey asleep on his papers late at night this is Michael mcneilis from Philadelphia Pennsylvania aged eight with photographer Lewis Hine this boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia he was found selling papers in a big rain storm Francis Lance is 5 years old he jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk of his life in St Louis Missouri here two rockchester New York news boys are fighting in an alley about 4:00 in the afternoon sometimes this is where the news boy money is spent that is an ice cream vendor in Wilmington Delaware here is a group of young miners at the close of the day waiting for the cage to go up the cage is entirely open on two sides and not very well protected on the other two and is usually crowded like this the small boy in front is Joe Puma from South Pittston Pennsylvania this is the view of the you and breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Company in Pittston Pennsylvania the dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view this dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boy's lungs a kind of slave driver sometimes stands over the boys prodding or kicking them into obedience Harley Bruce a young coupling boy at Indian mine near jelo Tennessee he appears to be 12 or 14 years old and says he's been working there about a year it's hard and dangerous work here is a group of breaker boys from hughestown burough Pennsylvania Coal Company one of these is James Leonard another is Stanley Rasmus they're from pitton Pennsylvania this is a young driver in the brown mine he's been driving for about a year and works from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily in brown West Virginia this is a group of breaker boys the smallest is Angelo Ross they're from Pittston Pennsylvania this is a view of the Scotland Mills in laurenburg North Carolina showing boys who work in the mill here is a view of the Indiana glass works at 900 p.m. these are young knitts in the London hosery Mill in London Tennessee young cigar makers at Engle Haren company Tampa Florida three boys looked under 14 the labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed all the youngsters smoked this is a group of boys in the packing room at the brown Manufacturing Company in Evansville Indiana here is Willie a Polish boy taking his noon rest in a doer box at the quid company Mill in Anthony Rhode Island this is a scene from the wheat and Glass Works in mville New Jersey the boy is Howard Lee his mother showed me the family record in their Bible which gave his birth as July 15th 1894 he's 15 years old now but has been in the Glassworks for two years this boy is from Evansville Indiana and is making melon baskets in a basket factory Rob kid from Alexandria Virginia is one of the young workers in this Glass Factory Oyster Shuckers working in a canning Factory all but the very smallest babies work they begin work at 3:30 in the morning and are expected to work until 5: in the afternoon the little girl in the center was working her mother said she's a real help to me this is in dunar Louisiana here are shrimp Pickers including 8year year old Max on the right from buuy Mississippi this is Johnny a 9-year-old oyster shucker the man with the pipe behind him is a padon who has brought these people to dunar Louisiana from Baltimore for four years he is the boss of the shuing shed this is monwell a young shrimp picker age five and behind him a mountain of oyster shells he worked like last year he understands not a word of English this in buuy Mississippi these youngsters are cutting fish in a sardine canery in East Point Maine large sharp knives are used with a cutting and sometimes chopping motion the slippery floors and benches and careless bumping into each other increase the liability of accidents the salt water gets into the cuts and they ache said one boy here is hiron pul age nine from Eastport Maine working in a canning company I ain't very fast only about five boxes a day they pay about 5 cents a box he said Camille and Justine Carmo ages seven and nine from rockchester Massachusetts the older girl picks about four pales a day from Buckland Connecticut here are three boys one 13 the other two 14 years picking shade grown Tobacco on hacket Farm the first picking necessitates a sitting position this is 6-year-old Warren fraks from kamanche County Oklahoma his mother said he picked 41 pounds yesterday and I don't make him pick he picked some last year he has 20 p pounds in his bag from Fort Collins Colorado here is 12-year-old lanard topping beats the father mother and two boys ages 9 and 12 expect to make $700 in about two months time in the beat work the boys can keep up with me all right and all day long the father said they begin at 6:00 a.m. and work until about 6:00 p.m. with an hour off at noon this is 8-year-old Jack from Western Massachusetts driving a hor drawn hay rake a small boy has difficulty keeping his seat on rough ground and this work is more or less dangerous in a Berry field near Baltimore Norris LoveIt has been picking for about three years after 900 p.m. 7-year-old Tommy Nunan demonstrating the advantages of the ideal necktie form in a store window on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC his father said he is the youngest demonstrator in America has been doing it for several years from San Francisco to New York we stay a month or six weeks in a place he works at it off and on remarks from the bystanders were not having the best effect on Tommy Joseph sario of Wilmington Delaware is a Peanut Vendor he's 11 years old and here seen with photographer Lewis Hine he's been pushing a cart two years out after midnight ordinarily Works six hours a day he works of his own valtion but all the earnings go to his father here is a Bowery boot black in New York City in New Haven Connecticut here are bowling alley boys many of them work setting pin until past midnight from Nashville Tennessee this is George Christopher who works in postal telegraph he's 14 and he's been at it over 3 years he does not work at night here is a boy carrying hats in the Garment District in New York City here are young boys working for hicop Lumber Company in Burlington Vermont here are three young boys with shovels standing in the doorway of a Fort Worth in Denver rail car from New York City here is a Jewish Family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters this happens several nights a week when there's plenty of work the youngest work until 9900 p.m. the others until 11:00 p.m. or later on the left is Mary aged seven and 10-year-old Sam and next to the mother is a 12 yearold boy on the right are Sarah age seven and next is her 11-year-old sister and 13-year-old brother father is out of work and also helps make Gars from tiffon Georgia here is a family working in the tiffon cotton mill the four smallest children are not working yet the mother said she earns four $4.50 and all the children earned $4.50 a week her husband died and left her with 11 children two of them went off and got married the family left the farm two years ago to work in the cotton mill here are children picking nuts in a dirty New York City basement the dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts and eating lunch on the table mother had a cold and blew her nose frequently without washing her hands and the dirty handkerchiefs rested comfortably on the table close to the nuts and nut Meats in Fall River Massachusetts Mill boys and men hanging around Swift's pool room on a Saturday night a common sight any day their bad stories and their bad remarks will not bear repeating Messengers in Hartford Connecticut absorbed in their usual game of poker in the den of the terrible nine that is the waiting room for Western Union Messengers they play for money some lose a whole month's wages in a day and then are afraid to go home the boy on the right has been a messenger for four years he began at 12 years old he works all night now during an evening's conversation he told me stories about his experiences with prostitutes to whom he carries messages frequently this is juvenile court in St Louis Missouri here an 8-year-old boy is charged with stealing a bicycle here a group of Newsies from Albany New York are playing craps in the jail alley about 10:00 in St Louis Missouri about 11:00 a.m. here are two Newsies at skeer Branch they were all smoking this is Richard Pierce aged 14 from Wilmington Delaware he's a Western Union Telegraph company messenger he's been in the service for 9 months he works from 700 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. he smokes and visits houses of prostitution from whitel North Carolina here are a group of children on the night shift going to work at 6:00 p.m. on a cold dark December day they do not come out again until 6:00 a.m. when they went home the next morning they were all drenched by a heavy cold rain and had few or no wraps or coats two of the smaller girls with three other sisters work on the night shift and support a big lazy father who complains he's not well enough to work he loafs around the country store the oldest three of these sisters have been in the meal for 7 years and the two youngest for 2 years the latter earns 84 cents a night here are some of the workers in the faen packing company in Baltimore Maryland in Fairmount West Virginia at 5:00 p.m. here are boys going home from the monagle Glass Works one boy remarked the place is lousy with kids here are are a few of the young workers in the Bowmont Mill in Spartanburg South Carolina here are fish Cutters at a canning company in Maine ages range from 7 to 12 they live near the factory the 7-year-old boy in the front Byron Hamilton has a badly cut finger but helps his brother regularly behind him is his brother George age 11 who cut his finger half off while working Ralph on the left displays his knife and also a badly cut finger they and many youngsters said they were always cutting themselves George earns a dollar some days usually 75 some of the others say they earn a dollar when they work all day at times they start at 700 a.m. and work all day until midnight

Channel: Robert Daniel

Views: 137,279

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Id: 2_PIEstf5Kc

Length: 18min 55sec (1135 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 04 2014