50 Gruesome Photos From The 1900s Revealing The Brutal Reality Of Child Labor Before Its Abolition
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In 1908, Lewis Hine began photographing for the National Child Labor Committee. Over the next decade, Hine traveled across the United States to document the harsh realities of child labor. His mission wasn’t easy.
Factory owners, determined to keep the public unaware of the exploitation, constantly threatened him. To continue his work, Hine often disguised himself—posing as a fire inspector or bible salesman—to capture the violations and interview the young workers.
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Hine used his camera as a powerful tool for social reform. His photographs revealed the dangerous and inhumane conditions children faced in factories and on the streets. He took thousands of pictures with one clear goal: to change child labor laws for the better.
The images were distributed widely through pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines, and eventually, the pressure led the federal government to enforce stricter labor laws. Scroll through these striking vintage photos from Hine’s collection, and let us know your thoughts.
1. Giles Edmund Newsom – At 11, Giles was injured at Sanders Spinning Mill, where a machine fell on his foot, causing him to crush two fingers. Location: Bessemer City, NC
2. 7-Year-Old Rosie – Rosie, illiterate, works as an oyster shucker for her second year but shucks only a few pots a day. Location: Bluffton, South Carolina
3. 7-Year-Old Ferris – A young newsboy who didn’t know how to make change. Many like him worked in big cities. Location: Mobile, Alabama
4. Josie, Bertha, and Sophie – These girls, aged 6 to 10, worked hard shucking oysters
5. Newsboy Asleep – A young boy is found sleeping on stairs with his newspapers. Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
6. Bertha, 6 years old – her job as a shucker begins at 4AM
7. Sophie, ten years old, “tending the baby,” in between her shucking position with Maggioni Canning Co. in Port Royal
8. These children shuck for four hours before school and three after. On Saturdays, they work from 4AM to early afternoon
9. A young girl looks close to tears while shucking an oyster
10. Henry, 10 Years Old – Henry has been shucking oysters for three years, working before and after school. Location: Port Royal, South Carolina.’
11. Group of oyster-shuckers all working in Alabama Canning Co., from seven years upward. Location: Bayou La Batre, Alabama
12. Entire families often worked together, with women and children handling lighter tasks, while fathers did manual labor
13. Children were expected to work well before dawn and stay until after sunset. Hours were even longer in the winter
14. Callie Campbell, 11 Years Old – Picks 75-125 lbs of cotton a day and carries 50 lbs when the sack is full. “No, I Don’t Like It Very Much.” Location: Potawotamie County, Oklahoma
15. Four-Year-Old Mary – She shucks two pots of oysters a day and tends a baby when not working. Location: Dunbar, Louisiana
16. Vance, 15 Years Old – Vance works as a trapper boy in a West Virginia coal mine for 75 cents a day. Location: West Virginia
17. Breaker Boys – Small boys working in coal breakers, the youngest being Angelo Ross. Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
18. Rose Biodo, 10 Years Old – Carries berries two pecks at a time while caring for a baby. Location: Browns Mills, New Jersey
19. Arnao Family, Whole Family Works. Jo Is 3 Years Old. Boy Is 6 Years Old, Girl Is 9 Years Old. May 28th, 1910, Before School Closed. Location: Browns Mills, New Jersey
20. Frank P. – Frank lost both legs in a coal mine accident at age 14. Location: Monongah, West Virginia
21. Small Boys Mending Threads – Boys so small they have to climb on machines to fix threads. Location: Macon, Georgia
22. Spinner Girl, 10 Years Old – This young girl has been working in a cotton mill for over a year. Location: Lincolnton, North Carolina
23. 5-Year Old Harold Walker. Location: Comanche County Geronimo, Oklahoma
24. Maud and Grade Daly, Ages 5 and 3 – These young girls pick shrimp for a day’s work. Location: Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
25. Tipple Boy, Turkey Knob Mine, Macdonald, W. Va. Witness E.n. Clopper. Location: Macdonald, West Virginia
26. Noon hour in the Ewen Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Co. Location: South Pittston, Pennsylvania
27. Newark’s Small Newsboys – A group of small newsboys working in the afternoon. Location: Newark, New Jersey
28. Boys Working in Bowling Alley – Boys work late into the night in a bowling alley. Location: Trenton, New Jersey
29. Jennie Camillo, 8 Years Old – Spends her summer picking cranberries. Location: Pemberton, New Jersey
30. “Basket ! Five Cents Each!” Antoinette Siminger, 12 Years Old – Sells baskets late into the night after working all day. Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
31. Two Young Hosiery Workers – Small girls working as a raveler and looper in a hosiery mill. Location: Loudon, Tennessee
32. 10-Year-Old Tobacco Picker – A young child working on a tobacco farm. Location: Gildersleeve, Connecticut
33. Young Mine Driver – A boy driving a coal mine cart from dawn to dusk. Location: Brown, West Virginia
34. Coal Mine Drivers – Many young boys working as drivers in the coal mines. Location: West Virginia
35. Shoe Shiner – A 15-year-old boy works late nights in a shoe-shining parlor. Location: Indianapolis, IN
36. Lunch Break at Economy Glass Works – Young workers taking a lunch break. Location: Morgantown, WV
37. Whitnel Cotton Spinner – A small girl working long hours at a cotton mill. She was 51 inches high. Runs 4 sides, 48 Cents a day. “I’m Not Old Enough To Work, But I Do Just The Same.” Location: Whitnel, NC
38. Louis Birch, 12 Years Old – Sells papers to support his widowed mother. Location: Wilmington, DE
39. “Radishes! Penny A Bunch!” – Boys and girls selling radishes at the market all day until 11 P.m. Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
40. Little Fannie, 7 Years Old – Helps her sister in the Elk Mills. Location: Fayetteville, TN
41. Coal Mine Greaser – A young boy working as a greaser in a coal mine,1835. Location: Bessie Mine, AL
42. Sonny And Pete Newsboys. One is six. They began at 6:00 A.m. Location: San Antonio, Texas
43. Widow and Son Rolling Papers – A mother and son roll cigarettes in a dirty tenement. Location: New York, NY
44. Working girls learning dressmaking in a free evening school. Location: Boston, MA
45. “Fire- Fire – I Want To Make The Fire.” On Saturday morning, an Italian boy on Salem Street offered to make fires for Jewish people. Location: Boston, Massachusetts
46. A small boy carrying a heavy load at a packing company. Location: Baltimore, Maryland
47. Francis Lance, 5 Years Old – Sells regularly on Grand Avenue. Location: St. Louis, Missouri
48. Katie Kuritzko, 7-Year-Old Oyster Shucker – Despite having the mumps, Katie continues to shuck oysters. Location: Dunbar, Louisiana
49. Daisy Langford, 8 Years Old – Works full-time at a cannery but struggles to keep up. Location: Seaford, Delaware
50. A little girl employed full-time as a spinner in a cotton mill. Location: Augusta, GA
