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
-Girl is in a cotton mill
-She runs 4 sides
-She is wearing worn out clothes

Lives of children were tough at the time, they were not treated well and they were not payed well

Photograph B
-Girls are in Macon, Georgia somewhere outside
-Their clothes look old and very used, which shows that they work hard and do not make much because they cannot afford to buy new clothes

Where were these girls working? You can infer that they work hard, they are not fed well because they are very skinny, and work under hard conditions because they look tired and unhappy

Photograph C
-The girl is working in a cotton mill, you can tell because of the machinery that surrounds her
-You can see the machinery that she uses
-Her clothes are very simple, and similar to the other childrens clothes

You can infer from this picture that she is not very happy, judging by the look on her face. She also looks tired and you can infer that she lives a hard life. She is not the only young girl in the place though, because in the notes it says there were many young girls at the mill that just "happened in" or were "Helping a sister", which was obviously just an excuse because they were way to young to work

Photograph D
-The young boy is outside in Saint louis, MO.
-He is selling newspapers, and you can tell because he is holding them and in the notes it calls the young boy a newsie
-His clothes look old and they look as if they were very cheap. His hat is too small for his head as well.

Why was the boy working outside? You can infer that he is not very happy, because he looks quite miserable. His facial expression shows his struggle, and shows that he lives a hard life. He looks as if he has been on that point on the street for a while, and he is just being ignored by the people.


Photograph E
-The boys are working in a cole company in PA
-The boys are wearing a simple jacket and some are wearing hats. This shows that they do not get payed very much money because they cannot afford to buy nice clothing

What were the boys doing with the cole? Were they sorting it? A few things that you can infer is that the working conditions were not good, and that they were mistreated by the slave drivers that were watching them. These accusations are confirmed by the photographers notes as well. you can also infer their pay is not very good because of their cheap clothing.

Photograph F
-The boys are working in a glass factory, you can tell because they are surrounded by glass and materials that they would use to blow glass.
-The boys are wearing suspenders and dirty white shirts. Their clothes reveal that they were doing much manual labor, and some of the boys clothing is tattered which means that they were working hard and could not afford to buy new clothing

What are the tools that they are using? What is the machinery surrounding them? You can infer that they work hard because their clothes are dirty and torn. You can infer that they work long hours because they were staring work at 9 in the morning. You can also infer that their pay was not very high, because they could not afford to replace their dirty and torn clothing.

Photograph G
-The people are surrounding a big crate of oysters, and small tins which they put the shells of the oysters when they shuck them.
-The people, both young and old, have oyster shucking tools such as knives to break open the shell

Some questions i have about these photographs are, Did the women have to bring their smaller children to work? Why are they there? and What are they using to shuck the oysters? A few things you can infer about the lives of these children are they were probably tired and worn out from their long workdays, making them prone to catching diseases in the cramped environments they worked in. You can also infer that their families need money, and thats one reason they are working. Also, their hands would probably get cut up and scarred from this manual labor.

Photograph H
-The picture shows children walking into a factory at night to start the night shift. Most of them look like they haven't even hit their teens yet.
-You do not see any tools or objects because they are just beginning to go to work, and have not started yet
-They are wearing warm clothing, which shows the place was probably not heated and they had to work through the cold winter months through the bitter weather

Some questions i have are What kind of factory are they working at? A few things you can infer from the picture and its notes are that the working conditions are poor because they come home soaked and cold. They do not get payed much for every hour as they only make 84 cents per night. Also, their lives at home were not much better, as in the notes it says that the father of one of 5 of the girls stayed home and lounged about.