Occupations
"Photographer Lewis W. Hine (1874-1940) was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He studied sociology at Chicago and New York universities, becoming a teacher, then took up photography as a means of expressing his social concerns. His first photo essay featured Ellis Island immigrants. In 1908, Hine left his teaching position for a full-time job as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, which was then conducting a major campaign against the exploitation of American children."
(The History Place)
(The History Place)
Photography and INTERVIEWS
Lewis W. Hine took photographs of children working at very young ages in abusing conditions that even adults would dread. He had to be cautious when taking pictures because he was not supposed to be doing that in the work places. It posed a threat to the companies. He would interview the children when no one was looking and write down their responses on a notepad he held behind his back so the children would not be able to see what he was doing. He would then take the pictures and interviews out to the public and show people the terrors behind the walls of factories and fields and mines. He is a big reason why there is barely any child labor in America today.
(The History Place)
(The History Place)
Success
"In 1909, he published the first of many photo essays depicting working children at risk. In these photographs, the essence of wasted youth is apparent in the sorrowful and even angry faces of his subjects. Some of his images, such as the young girl in the mill glimpsing out the window, are among the most famous photographs ever taken."
(The History Place)
(The History Place)