Clip Art of Child Working Under Machine Clipart of Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution brought not only new job opportunities only new laborers to the workforce: children. Past 1900, at to the lowest degree six percent of all American workers were under the age of 16.
Affiche for the National Kid Labor Commission, circa 1913. (Credit: Universal History Archive / UIG / Getty Images)
For employers of the era, children were seen as appealing workers since they could exist hired for jobs that required little skill for lower wages than an adult would command. Their smaller size also allowed them to do certain jobs adults couldn't, and they were viewed as easy to manage.
In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee formed in the hopes of ending the horrors of kid labor. Teams of investigators were sent to collect bear witness of the harsh conditions children were working in. Ane of these investigators was the lensman Lewis Hine, who traveled across the country coming together and photographing children working in a multifariousness of industries.
Lewis Hine quit his chore as a New York Metropolis school instructor to join the National Kid Labor Commission. His goal was to open up the public'south eyes to the exploitative nature of children's employment, and to assist ignite legislative change to end these abusive practices. Although the effects weren't firsthand, the bloodcurdling scenes he captured with his camera succeeded in drawing attention to the plight of children in the workforce.
Past 1910, the number of children working had grown from 1.5 million in 1890 to 2 million. Congress tried to address the issue in 1916, by passing the Keating-Owns Act that set tighter standards on children's employment requirements. The law stated that children 14 years or younger could not work in factories, children sixteen years or younger could not work in mines, and a piece of work mean solar day could non exceed 8 hours, get-go earlier than 6 a.1000. or stop afterward than vii p.yard. Although initially promising, the restrictions would not last long: merely a couple of years later on, the human action was accounted unconstitutional past the Supreme Courtroom.
It wasn't until the Great Low that political views on child labor began to change. The work of Hines and the National Child Labor Commission helped conductor in reforms such as the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 during the New Deal era. These laws reduced the number of children in the workforce and for the first time set up a national minimum wage and maximum hr standards.
Below, take a look at the shocking Lewis Hine photographs that helped America finally accept action to fissure downward on kid labor, at present a part of the U.S. National Archives drove:
Lewis Hine/The U.South. National Archives
A young shrimp picker named Manuel, 1912.
Lewis Hine/The U.Due south. National Archives
In Dunbar, Louisiana, Hine met an 8-year-quondam oyster shucker named Rosy. He discovered she worked steadily from three a.yard. to 5 p.m., and she told him that the baby of the family will get-go shucking as soon as she concord the pocketknife. March 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Athenaeum
Eight-year-quondam Jennie Camillo lived near Philadelphia and for the summertime worked picking cranberries at Theodore Budd'due south Bog in New Jersey, September 1910.
Roll to Go on
Lewis Hine/The U.South. National Archives
These boys are all cutters in a canning company. August 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
Ix-year-one-time Minnie Thomas showed off the average size of the sardine knife she works with. She earns $2 a mean solar day in the packing room, often working busy late nights. August 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
This young worker, Hiram Pulk age 9, also worked in a canning company. He told Hine, "I ain't very fast only most five boxes a day. They pay well-nigh 5 cents a box." Baronial 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Athenaeum
Ralph, a young cutter in the canning factory, was photographed with a badly cutting finger. Lewis Hine found several children here that had cut fingers, and fifty-fifty the adults said they could not assistance cutting themselves on the task. Eastport, Maine, August 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
Many children worked at mills. These boys here at the Bibb Mill in Macon, Georgia, were so small they had to climb the spinning frame just to mend the cleaved threads and put back the empty bobbins. January 1909.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
Young boys working in the coal mines were often referred to as Billow Boys. This large group of children worked for the Ewen Billow in Pittston, Pennsylvania, January 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Athenaeum
Hine fabricated a note almost this family reading "Everybody works but… A common scene in the tenements. Father sits around." The family unit informed him that with all the piece of work they do together, they make $4 a week working until 9 p.grand. each night. New York City, December 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.South. National Archives
These boys were seen at 9 at night, working in an Indiana Glass Works factory, August 1908.
Lewis Hine/The U.Southward. National Athenaeum
Seven-twelvemonth-old Tommie Nooman worked belatedly nights in a clothing store on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. Subsequently 9 p.m., he would demonstrate the ideal tie form. His male parent told Hine that he is the youngest demonstrator in America, and has been doing it for years from San Francisco to New York, staying at a place about a calendar month at a time. April 1911.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
Katie, age 13, and Angeline, age 11, mitt-stitch Irish lace to make cuffs. Their income is about $1 a week while working some nights as late equally 8 p.m. New York City, Jan 1912.
Lewis Hine/The U.S. National Archives
Many newsies stayed out late at night to attempt and sell their extras. The youngest boy in this group is 9 years-old. Washington, D.C. Apr 1912.
Source: https://www.history.com/news/child-labor-lewis-hine-photos