Construction dairy

This week saw many countries commemorate International Workers Day. While many labor groups use this day to advocate for improvements to their present working condition, this day should also be used to celebrate how much has improved for workers all over the world. These improvements are quite striking when you see the historic photographs of child labor as captured by the legendary photographer Lewis Hine.

What seems to look like a band of happy children on a farm above is actually a group of under-aged workers who shucked oysters for almost eight hours a day before and after school hours nearly a full century ago. Below, children work in groups or individually in packing plants, mines and mills in the early years of the 20th century.

Most of the children who worked in these places were brought in by their parents' employers; the father would work at the more demanding jobs while the mother and kids would be assigned lighter tasks. 

Usually, these families were immigrants who were lured to America with the prospect of jobs and a better life. This was at a time when industry was booming in the country and more workers were needed to man different fields.

Some of these jobs benefited from the small hands and nimble bodies of the children. This was a fact that was exploited by different industries everywhere.

While Lewis Hine was documenting these child laborers, many employers passed them off as at least 16 years old. In reality, children as young as eight were already hired for different jobs.

Mr. Hine studied sociology and later on became a teacher. He encouraged his students to use photography as a tool for their education. Later on, he realized that photojournalism was his true calling.

He first documented the arrival of immigrants in Ellis Island in 1904. He continued his photography by following these immigrants into their crowded tenements. It wouldn't be long after starting on this path that his work led him to the working conditions of the poor, including children.

His groundbreaking work on child labor began in 1908 at the invitation of the National Child Labor Committee. They believed that child labor would only provide so much income for the families in the short run and wouldn't lead them out of poverty in the future. Instead, a proper education was the true way for improving the lives of the children.

Mr. Hine set out to different factories, mines, and plants in many states to document these child workers. It is truly a testament to his skill and determination that he was able to capture so many moving images at the risk of his own life; the presence of a photographer with the aim of exposing these exploited children would have been an unwelcome prospect for these companies, to say the least.

All of these high resolution photographs were taken from the Shorpy Historic Photo Archive. You can also find more of Lewis Hine's work on child laborers over at the University of Maryland website. The following publications are available for purchase: Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor, Men at Work, and Lewis Hine as Social Critic.