At the start of the 20th century, labor in America was in short supply, and laws concerning the employment of children were rarely enforced or nonexistent. While Americans at the time supported the role of children working on family farms, there was little awareness of the other forms of labor being undertaken by young hands. In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine was employed by the newly-founded National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) to document child laborers and their workplaces nationwide. His well-made portraits of young miners, mill workers, cotton pickers, cigar rollers, newsboys, pin boys, oyster shuckers, and factory workers put faces on the issue, and were used by reformers to raise awareness and drive legislation that would protect young workers or prohibit their employment. After several stalled attempts in congress, the NCLC-backed Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1938 with child labor provisions that remain the law of the land today, barring the employment of anyone under the age of 16.
- 7-year-old year old Ferris, a small newsboy, or “newsie”, who did not know enough to make change. Photographed in Mobile, Alabama, in October of 1914. The newspapers he holds are copies of The Mobile Item, with the headline “Germans Are Driven Out Of Ostend,” describing the end of the Siege of Antwerp in World War I.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Callie Campbell, 11 years old, picks 75 to 125 pounds of cotton a day, and totes 50 pounds of it when sack gets full. "No, I don't like it very much." Photographed in Potawotamie County, Oklahoma. on October 16, 1916.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Shorpy Higginbotham, a "greaser" on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co in Alabama. He said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. He carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars. Photographed in December of 1910. The historic photo website Shorpy.com has more background information on ShorpyLewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Minnie Carpenter, (left) photographed in November of 1908 at Loray Mill in Gastonia, North Carolina. Minnie makes fifty cents for a 10-hour day as a spinner in the mill. The younger girl works irregularly.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- A young driver in the Brown Mine in Brown, West Virginia, in September of 1908. He had been driving pack animals for one year, working from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. The device attached to his cap is an oil-wick cap lamp, which would be lit when the boy was working in the mine tunnels.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Young doffers in Mollahan Mills in Newberry, South Carolina, on December 3, 1908. A doffer is someone who removes, or "doffs", bobbins or spindles that hold spun cotton or wool from a spinning frame, then replaces them with empty ones.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- "Fire! Fire! I want to make the fire!" An Italian boy on Salem Street on Saturday morning, offering to make fires for Jewish People on their Sabbath, in Boston, Massachusetts, in October of 1909.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- An injured young mill worker. Giles Edmund Newsom, photographed on October 23, 1912. Giles was injured while working in Sanders Spinning Mill in Bessemer City, North Carolina, on August 21st, 1912. A piece of machinery fell on his foot, mashing his toe. This caused him to fall onto a spinning machine and his hand went into unprotected gearing, crushing and tearing out two fingers. He told the investigating attorney that he was 11 years old when it happened. He and his younger brother worked in the mill several months before the accident. Their father, R.L. Newsom, tried to compromise with the company when he found the boy would receive the money and not the parents. Their mother tried to blame the boys for getting jobs on their own, but she let them work several months. Their aunt said "Now he's jes got to where he could be of some help to his ma, an' then this happens and he can't never work no more like he oughter."Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Bibb Mill No. 1 in Macon, Georgia, on January 19, 1909. Some young workers were so small they had to climb up on the spinning frame to mend the broken threads and put back the empty bobbins.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- 15-year-old Vance, a trapper boy, sits by a large door in West Virginia coal mine in September of 1908. Vance has trapped for several years, receiving 75 cents a day for 10 hours work. All he does is to open and shut this door. Most of the time he sits here idle, waiting for the cars to come. Due to the intense darkness in the mine, the hieroglyphics on the door were not visible until his photo plate was developed.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Louis Birch, age 12, a newsboy, stands at the corner of 4th and Pine St in Wilmington, Delaware, in May of 1910. Louis had just started selling, earning 10 cents in a day. His father had passed away. Louis, of his own accord, took up newspaper selling in order to help support his widowed mother. Louis stays out until 12:30 every night and accompanies his brother, Stanley, who is a messenger, on all calls because Stanley is afraid to be out on the street alone at night.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- Ethel Shumate has been rolling cigarettes in a Danville Virginia factory for six months. She said she was thirteen years old, but it is doubtful. Photographed in June of 1911.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- The photographer found the Arnao family, children and all, working on Hichens farm in Cannon, Delaware, on May 28, 1910. Their children are 3, 6, and 9 years old.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
- A 10-year-old spinner at the Rhodes Mfg. Co. takes a momentary glimpse of the outside world. She said she had been working there for more than a year. Photographed in Lincolnton, North Carolina, in November of 1908.Lewis Hine / Library of Congress
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