Child Labor Reform Photographs

Examine the eight photographs taken by photographer Lewis W. Hine around the turn of the century.

For each photograph consider the following questions: (Copy the following and post it to your blog. Title: Child Labor Reform Photographs Labels: Child_Labor, Progressive_Era )


Objective Assessment


As you view each photograph take note about what you see. (note people, background, objects) Pretend you were describing the image to someone who could not see it. Try to avoid making judgments.

Where are these children? List any clues relating to their surroundings.
Describe any tools or objects you see.
Describe their clothing. What do their clothes reveal about their work?

Subjective Assessment


What questions do you have about each of these photographs?
Based on your observations, list three things you might infer about the lives of these children. (Be sure to consider Hine's notes about the photographs when considering this.


Photograph A
In photograph A I see a girl that looks like she is in a melancholy mood, her face is bland, and her emotions are hidden. She works in a Cotton mill on one of the spinners and she is just a little girl. There is a big Spinner behind her and she works for very little money a day. The little girl is wearing clothes that classify her as a low class girl that is not of age to work but is forced to.
Photograph B
The girls in this photo are seen as very tired and exhausted. The five girls are dressed in old ratty clothes. They do not look happy, they look deprived of sleep and warn down. I would infer that these girls work endless hours to support their families and themselves so they can buy food and get them through life.
Photograph C
Picture C is a little girl, very young in a cotton mill factory surrounded by big cotton mills. The machines are nearly twice her size and she is standing in the middle of them. Her face as dull as an unsharpened pencil. The picture explains how in the Child labor time, age did not matter and if you could talk, than you could work. It shows how excuses were given by the factory owners about how the small girls just shuffled in and are just helping.
Photograph D
Photograph D is a picture of a young boy, selling papers in the middle of downtown on a busy street. His facial expression shows anxiety. Perhaps anxiety to sell a paper so that he could enjoy a meal that day? He is surrounded by rich wealthy people of the higher class, and it appears that they just breeze right by him. His clothes are that of the lower class and he just looks sad, like nothing makes him happy and he is determined to sell of the papers he has.Lewis Hine calls the boy a newsie trying to sell papers.
Photograph E
Photograph E is about boys working in a coal factory. There is many boys, all doing hard work in what looks like a basement, coal dust lingers in the air and through the boys lungs making it hard for them to breathe and inevitably very unhealthy. The working boys are all sitting down minding their own work and there is two other boys, that look to be a little older than the rest that are standing up. They have metal rods that they use as weapons when disobedience comes about. One would infer from this that these boys become very sick because all of the unhealthy dust that surrounds them day in and day out. The dust goes through their lungs and then eats away at their body. Louis Hine desribes the boys standing up as slave-drivers that keep the boys in line and obedient.
Photograph F
Photograph F is a group of boys in a glass making factory. Every one of them is wearing old, ratty, disgusting clothes that indicate their limited wealth. Big machines and pipes are all around the room. It almost looks like a giant spider with many legs, the legs being all of the pipes that run down through the room and the body is the big pipe that the small ones come off of. They boys have ripped clothes and it is late at night, nine p.m. to be exact and they all look tired and out of energy.
Photograph G
Photograph G is of a clam shucking factory. The picture literally shows people of all ages, a very young girl right next to an older woman, most likely her mother. There are many people around big tables all working hard, shucking clam after clam. Most of the workers are children but some are accompanied by adults and they are all a big help. One would infer from this that young children helped their parents at work. School was not an option for the children and they needed to help their parents work so that it would move along faster and they could earn more money.
Photograph H

Photograph H shows many kids walking into a factory on a cold night. They all are preparing for twelve hours of long,hard, work. The clothes they wear are very bad and they would definitely not keep the children warm on a cold December night. The photograph shows how they all dread walking into the factory.