Child Labour

In 1908, an American photographer, Lewis Hine, was hired by the U.S. National Child Labour Committee to photograph images of children working long hours, often in dangerous conditions, being robbed of their childhood.¹

When speaking to an audience, Hine once remarked, “Perhaps you are weary of child labor pictures. Well, so are the rest of us, but we propose to make you and the whole country so sick and tired of the whole business that when the time for action comes, child labor pictures will be records of the past.”²

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1. “The History Place: Child Labor in America 1908–1912: Photography of Lewis W. Hine,” available from www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/about.htm, viewed November 29, 2005.
2. www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRhine.htm, viewed November 29, 2005.