Lewis Hine: Advocate for Child Labor Laws

One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, North Carolina.

Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940) was born in Oshkosh, WI  studied sociology and became a teacher in New York City where he studied with pioneer social documentarian, Jacob Riis. Hine felt so strongly about the exploitation of children as workers that he became an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. He always captioned his images in order to emphasize and humanize the conditions under which these children toiled. In the first decade of the 20th century. He traveled across the United States photographing the working conditions of children in all types of industries -- coal mines, meat-packing plants,  textile mills, and canneries. Children working at menial urban tasks like shoe shiners, newsboys, and hawkers were also his subjects. Hine's images of working children helped change the nation's labor laws. 
Overview of Child Labor with Hine's captioned photographs can be found at History Place and The National Archives. Find out about contemporary children's who won the Lewis Hine Award.

Furman Owens, 12-years-old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, South Carolina.

Manuel the young shrimp picker, age 5, and a mountain of child labor oyster shells behind him. He worked last year. Understands not a word of English. Biloxi, Mississippi.