Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Child miners: The photos that helped abolish child labor in the U.S.
Source: Mashable
<snip>
By 1910, an estimated 2 million children under the age of 15 were working industrial jobs, for lower wages than adults. Employers often took advantage of their small size and made them squeeze into tight spaces or handle small tools.
Faced with back-breaking labor and long, exhausting shifts, fatigued child workers suffered high accident rates. Those who were injured or maimed in the course of their duties often received no compensation.
In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was formed by progressives determined to end the exploitation of child labor. Within a decade, the federal government had absorbed the committee and reestablished it as the Children’s Bureau within the Department of Labor.
The NCLC hired photographers to investigate and document the working conditions of child laborers in factories, mines, mills and other industrial settings. Among them was Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and sociologist.
<snip>
Hine’s photos and the work of the NCLC led to the passage of the Keatings-Owen Child Labor Act in 1916, which established minimum ages and maximum shift lengths for young workers. The Act was later ruled unconstitutional, but it laid the foundation for permanent child labor laws to be established during the New Deal.
By 1910, an estimated 2 million children under the age of 15 were working industrial jobs, for lower wages than adults. Employers often took advantage of their small size and made them squeeze into tight spaces or handle small tools.
Faced with back-breaking labor and long, exhausting shifts, fatigued child workers suffered high accident rates. Those who were injured or maimed in the course of their duties often received no compensation.
In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was formed by progressives determined to end the exploitation of child labor. Within a decade, the federal government had absorbed the committee and reestablished it as the Children’s Bureau within the Department of Labor.
The NCLC hired photographers to investigate and document the working conditions of child laborers in factories, mines, mills and other industrial settings. Among them was Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and sociologist.
<snip>
Hine’s photos and the work of the NCLC led to the passage of the Keatings-Owen Child Labor Act in 1916, which established minimum ages and maximum shift lengths for young workers. The Act was later ruled unconstitutional, but it laid the foundation for permanent child labor laws to be established during the New Deal.
More: http://mashable.com/2015/10/05/child-miners/#OBxjcasoGkqc
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
in the US prior to New Deal legislation, from a coal miner's child. How appalling and dangerous for these children and a reality in America not that long ago. People like Newt Gingrich want to return to child labor, 'be a janitor at your school' and no minimum wage laws because:
GOP = GREED OVER PEOPLE 
