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Volume
13
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Issue
No.7
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Lewis Hine
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A picture can tell a powerful story. Lewis Hine used flash photography to illuminate the plight of the poor during the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). By documenting urban poverty and child labor, he stirred the nation's conscience, persuading legislators to pass new laws. In this lesson, students analyze photographs from Lewis Hine's collection. They then form and discuss tableaus or "living pictures" to explore the perspectives of the photographer, his subjects, and his audience. More
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 The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Lewis Hine took this photograph while working for the National Child Labor Committee. He traveled hundreds of miles each year from 1908 to 1916, shining light (figuratively and literally) on children working in factories, fields, and sweatshops around the nation. He photographed these boys in Macon, Georgia on January 19, 1909, noting that many of this textile mill's employees were youngsters "so small they had to climb up on the spinning frame to mend the broken threads and put back the empty bobbins." More
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"The artist, Burne-Jones, once said he should never be able to paint again if he saw much of those hopeless lives that have no remedy. What a selfish, cowardly attitude! How different is the stand taken by Hugo, that the great social peril is darkness and ignorance. 'What then,' he says, 'is required? Light! Light in floods!' The dictum, then, of the social worker is 'Let there be light;' and in this campaign for light we have for our advance agent the light writer -the photograph."
Lewis W. Hine, "Social Photography; How the Camera May Help in the Social Uplift," Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction at the Thirty-sixth Annual Session held in the City of Buffalo, New York, June 9-16, 1909, Alexander Johnson ed., (Fort Wayne, IN: Press of Fort Wayne, 1909); 355-359
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Announcements
 We will be at the National Council for History Educators (NCHE) Conference in St. Augustine, FL, March 19-21! Come see us at Booth 7 or at one of our breakout sessions:
- Encountering America: Immigrant Narratives as Historical Documents
- The 1800s: A Century of Confrontation
- Child Labor's History and Legacy in America and Beyond
- Divergent Thinking Encounters Active Storytelling
Be sure to stop by to hear more about HERO and The Idea of America and register for door prizes!
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