Striking photos of America’s child laborers reveal what work was like a century ago
Lewis Hine/Library of Congress
Most jobs in the US in the early 20th century were done under grueling conditions.
Features that are now common in US workplaces — weekends off, 40-hour weeks, and other protections — were largely nonexistent in the early 1900s.
But one of the biggest differences between now and then may be who was doing the work.
Lewis Hine, a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, captured photos of some of the children who made up the US labor force between 1908 and 1924.
Hine traveled throughout the US, documenting children working in factories, fields, and at home in support the NCLC's mission to promote the "rights, awareness, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working."
The photos below, compiled by the Library of Congress, are the result of Hine and the NCLC's efforts to document child labor and its effects on the children who did it.
The descriptions come from NCLC caption cards, edited for clarity and length.
A Glassworks at midnight, taken in Indiana in August 1908.
Lewis Hine/Library of Congress
Jewel and Harold Walker, 6 and 5 years old, pick 20 to 25 pounds of cotton a day. Father said: "I promised 'em a little wagon if they'd pick steady, and now they have half a bagful in just a little while." Location: Comanche County--[Geronimo], Oklahoma, October 1916.
Lewis Hine/Library of Congress
Vance, a trapper Boy, 15 years old. He had trapped for several years in a West Virginia coal mine for $0.75 a day for 10 hours work. All he does is open and shut this door: Most of the time he sits here idle, waiting for the cars to come. On account of the intense darkness in the mine, the hieroglyphics on the door were not visible until plate was developed. Taken in September 1908.
Lewis Hine/Library of Congress
See the rest of the story at Business Insider