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Lewis Hine shot hundreds of photographs that exposed the working conditions facing thousands of child laborers in the first two decades of the twentieth century. His powerful images shed light on a world largely hidden from most middle-class Americans and influenced public debate about child labor laws.
This lesson will ask you to think critically about Hine’s photographs and their usefulness as evidence of the past.
Document A
Document A
Title: Breaker boys working in Ewen Breaker of Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Location: South Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Date: January 1911
Photographer: Lewis Hine
The following photograph shows a group of “breaker boys” who were employed at a coal mine in northeastern Pennsylvania. The job of a breaker boy was to separate rocks and minerals from coal that had just been mined from the ground. They would typically use their bare hands to pick rocks from the coal.
Document B
Document B
Title: A view of the Pennsylvania Breaker. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrates the utmost recess of the boy's lungs.
Location: South Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Date: January 1911
Photographer: Lewis Hine
The document below shows breaker boys at work in Pennsylvania. The coal would travel through a chute below them and they would pick rocks from the coal as it passed.
Document C
Document C
Title: Arthur Havard, a young driver, Shaft #6, Pennsylvania Coal Company.
Location: South Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Date: December 1910
Photographer: Lewis Hine
In the following photograph, Hine featured a young “driver” named Arthur Havard (pictured in the middle of the front row). Mines in this region of the country were deep in the ground and the coal needed to be hauled to the surface. Drivers would lead mules pulling carts full of coal out of the mines.
Document D
Document D
Title: Mule power and motor power. A Young Driver, Shaft #6, Pennsylvania Coal Company.
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Date: January 1911
Photographer: Lewis Hine
The photograph below shows a young driver leading a mule in a mine shaft. To his left is an adult driver sitting on a type of steam engine that was also used to haul coal from mines.
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