Child Labor Reform Photographs

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, we see a small child, very thin and in shabby clothes. Her hair is coming undone and her dress looks far too large for her thin frame. She is leaning with one hand on a grimy windowsill, the other hand resting on a loom or other type of cloth making machine. These machines stretch out far into the distance behind the girl. The lighting in the room is poor, although she is standing near a window. This photo brings up a few questions: how long has this girl been working on that day? How old is she? Where are the other workers? Hine's caption answers some of these questions; the girl "does not remember how old she is" , although she knows she is not old enough to work. She has been working at the mill for a year, sometimes working nights, running 4 sides of the machines. From this photo, we can infer that the girl is unhealthy, seeing as her clothes seem to envelope her incredibly thin body; she is overworked - the light seems to be fading, and yet she is still at the factory; she is far too young to be working with such large machines - the machine is at least twice her height!

Photograph B: There are 5 girls here; their clothes are in disarray, wrinkled, too large, and covered with lint; their hair styles look too old for them, as if they are trying to look more grown up than they really are; the girl in the middle is slumped over, as if something is wrong with her back; all but one of their faces are exhausted looking; they are standing in front of a large brick building. In Hines' caption, we learn that these are adolescent workers in Georgia. This raises a few questions: just how old are these girls? What kind of company do they work in? Is the girl in the middle simply exhausted, or has she been injured? We can infer that the girls work in a fairly dirty factory, seeing as they are covered in dust and lint; the work is not easy in any way, since they are all slumping over and leaning on each other; they are not small children, but they are still too young to work: they all look far older than their years, but we can tell that they are still teenagers.

Photograph C: We see a small girl in the middle of a long row of machines; her dress looks like simply a sack tied with string about the waist; she looks no older than 4 or 5; there is cotton strewn about the floor; the machines are so much taller than she is. Hines notes that the supervisor says she just "happened in", although Hines observed her steadily working. Hines also says that the factories in general were filled with children who just "happened in". We can infer that the child is working under the table, since the supervisor tried to cover for her; she is not earning enough wages to even buy proper clothing, which means that the rest of her family is very poor as well - we can infer from this that she is working out of necessity, to try and put food on her families table.

Photograph D: There is a small, sadfaced boy sitting on the base of streetlamp; he is holding newspapers to sell; there are adults walking buy not even looking at him; his face looks dirty, but at least he has a proper coat and boots. Hines says this boy was working on a Saturday afternoon. We can infer that he had no control over his hours and was forced to work at least a 6 day, if not a 7 day week - most children should have been out playing on a saturday afternoon, not working. We can also infer that this was the norm, since the adults walking by show no concern for him. His expression and posture suggest that he has been out there all day, and is in fact out there for hours every day that he works.

Photograph E: We see rows and rows of boys breaking coal; the air is thick with dust; their faces and clothes are covered with it; there is a supervisor who does not look much older than the rest of them, holding a long, sharp looking object, presumably to hurry them along. Hines notes that this supervisor often kicked the boys into obedience, and that the dust was thick enough to obscure the air. We can infer that these boys were desperate for money, since this job is not only hard but also dangerous; they most likely have to put up with violence from their supervisors without a word, for fear of losing their job; they are probably all getting sicker and sicker with every day, since the windows are closed and the only place for the coal dust to go is into their lungs.

Photograph F: There are many boys standing and working with a variety of pipes and machines; their clothing is torn and tattered, and their faces are covered either in bruises or dirt; the ground is covered in some kind of refuse, perhaps sand used in the glassmaking process; they are standing on every available surface in order to work with the machines. Hines says that the photo was taken at 9 p.m. in a glass making factory. We can infer that these boys had to deal with constant dangers on the job - glass making requires great amounts of heat, and burns were probably commonplace; their clothes are in such poor states that we can assume they are paid very little (one boy has massive holes in his shirt); their hours are not regulated at all - these are children, working until 9 o'clock at night!

Photograph G: We see people of all ages gathered around a tub-like structure, shucking oysters; there is everyone from a full grown woman to little boys and girls to a small baby who looks barely old enough to walk; there are a few bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling; dirt covers the floor; the windows are all closed; one girl stands perched on a rickety board over a channel in the floor. Hines says that everyone in this factory but the smalleset babies worked from 3:30 a.m. until 5p.m.; the mother in the photograph describes her young child as being "a great help to her". We can infer that the children were coerced into working by their own parents, in order to get the family a few more dollars or cents; the children were expected to work just as long as the adults, since the children are working right alongside their parents - they would probably not be allowed to leave early; the conditions of the factory were unsanitary - the windows are shut, the floor is dirty, and the children are being made to deal with raw shellfish for hours on end. The smell alone was probably sickening, let alone the risk of cutting yourself on the shells and getting an infection.

Photograph H: We see a group of children gathered around the factory doors, waiting to start their shift; it is dark outside; there looks to be snow on the ground; they are wrapped in layers of clothing, since their coats and shoes look thin; although some of them look to be teenagers, most look around 8 or 10. Hines writes that these children were starting the night shift at 6 p.m. and were expected to work until 6 a.m.; some of the girls were working instead of their father, who claimed to be too sick to work but was really just lazy; they had been working in the mills for years. We can infer that apart from their awful lives in the factory, some of these children had abusive home lives as well - imagine taking care of your own parent as a young child! We can also infer that these children were forced to work in any conditions, since there is snow on the ground here, and we can bet that the factory was not heated; we can infer that the children had to rely on themselves and each other to get to work and work efficiently - they would receive no help from adults. there is not a single adult shown here who looks like they walked their child to the factory, or made sure they had warm clothing ready, or something to eat for dinner.