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 Child Labor: A Social Injustice

     Child Labor was an all too common practice in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.  After the Civil War, the United States found itself in an industrial boom.  Many factory owners were looking for cheap labor to maximize their profit.  They found their answer in the employment of children.  Not only were they able to pay children lower wages, they also found their small hands and bodies useful in handling small parts and squeezing into small spaces.  Although child labor laws were in effect during these times, they were all too often ignored.  Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and photographer decided to make it his mission to expose the rising epidemic of child labor in the United States.  He felt that a photo would be a powerful tool in exposing this social injustice and felt his instinct would pay off.  Through his direct efforts, new and stronger child labor laws were established.  In 1938, the Fair Standards Act was passed, which set federal guidelines for child labor in America.

     In the 1900’s child labor was a common practice.  After the Civil War, industrial factories were prospering and factory owners were looking for cheap labor.  At this time, many families found themselves struggling to survive. This unfortunately, opened the door for factory owners to take advantage of these poor families.  It was extremely common during these times for the entire family to work at the same factory.  The men would be hired to perform the heavy labor, while the women and children performed the lighter work.  This was a normal way of life for these families and children were looked upon as a central part of the family income.  Often times, these families lived in company homes and instead of receiving cash wages, were paid with goods from the company store.  These goods were often overpriced, which enabled factory owners to control every aspect of their employee’s lives.  Children were exploited from every angle:  some worked in the mines, some sold newspapers on the street corner, and others would shine shoes.  These children often worked 15 to 16 hour days for as little as 85 cents per day.  The places where they worked had very dangerous conditions and working such long hours left no time for school.  Although there were laws in effect at this time which prohibited or restricted child labor, these laws were often ignored.  The factory owners often bragged that they were employing children for their own good, keeping them off the streets and out of trouble.  Although there were state inspectors who occasionally toured these facilities looking for violations, their visits were infrequent and ineffective.  If, on an off chance, children were caught working by the inspectors, the mothers of these children would often claim they had simply stopped by for a visit, or that they were just giving Mom a hand.

     Lewis Hine was a New York school teacher and photographer who started working for the National Child Labor Committee in 1904.  His job was to take pictures of child labor in action, visiting several factories all across the country, secretly taking pictures of children working in unsafe conditions.  He also took many photos of children working out on the public streets, selling newspapers and shining shoes.  He felt that his pictures would be very effective in getting his point across, and he was right.  His photographs were hauntingly dramatic, displaying photographs of filthy, sad, and often hopeless children, which eventually led to the establishment of the Fair Standards Act in 1938.  This Act is better known as the Federal Wage and Hour Law which was declared constitutional in 1941 by the United States Supreme Court.  This Act set a work week of 40 hours per week with a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour.  It prohibited child labor under 16 while allowing minors 16 and over to work in non hazardous occupations.  The act set 18 as the minimum age to work in industries classified as hazardous.  No minimum age was set for non-hazardous agriculture employment after school hours and during vacations.  This was a triumph to say the least.

     Logos in this photo is the direct appeal to the audience through the use of visual images.  The evidence which could clearly be seen in the photographs, established the existence of unlawful child labor.  The photographer Lewis Hine was meticulous in his recording of information about the photos.  He would often scribble down the exact location and time of the photo in the palm of his hand to increase their validity.  He believed that his photos would show overwhelming evidence of the social injustice of child labor, and he was correct.  For how could anyone disagree with the images in front of their very eyes?  The pathos of this photo is the emotional appeal that Hine hoped to establish once people saw these photos.  He was looking for the “shock and awe” effect and this is what he got.  Once people saw his photos, they could not help but draw on their own deep held values of the purity and innocence of childhood.  What they saw in these pictures was not innocence, but hopelessness and misery.  These photographs pushed child labor reform into the public eye and achieved the results they were looking for.

     The effectiveness of Lewis Hine’s photographs is still evident today.  In modern times, it is hard to imagine the horror these children lived through.  As one looks upon the poignant faces of these children, it is hard to imagine these conditions were part of normal life, just over 100 hundred years ago. It is clear in these photos, as the one pictured on page 1, that families accepted this situation as a normal way of life.  The children are working in the factory side by side with their mothers.  Families at this time believed that their children should work to help support the family, but they did not realize the effects on their children’s lives by not achieving an education.  These children were unfortunate to be born into poverty and education was their only chance to succeed.  Social reform and the establishment of the Federal Wage and Hour Law, afforded them the chance they so desperately needed.

                                                                      Works Cited

Child Labor in America 1908-1912.  1998.  The History Place.  09 September 2007 http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/about.htm

Child Labor in Maryland:  An Historical Investigation.  2005.  09 September 2007 http://www.ecoed.org/html/lessons/data/historical%20Investigation-child%20labor.pdf

PBS.  2007.  Public Broadcasting Service.  09 September 2007 http://www.pbs.org/ktea/americanphotography