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Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor Review

I found and bought this book at the Goodwill and thought it would be nice for looking at the photographs, since we like to look at real historical photos in our homeschool. Well, I decided to start reading the book and couldn't put it down. It didn't take long to finish it and I really enjoyed it. It was a real eye-opener. How interesting that Hines had to sneak around and often hide in order to get his photographs. He might tell a shop owner that he needed a photograph of a machine, but then asked the child worker to stand next to it so people could see the large size of the machine. Of course, he was really showcasing the child who had to run the machine. He knew exactly how many inches from the ground each button on his vest was, so a child could stand next to him and he could quickly tell how tall they were. When most of the photos in the book were taken, there were over 2 million American children younger than 16 who worked 12 or more hours a day, 6 days a week, for pitiful wages under unhealthy and hazardous conditions.

My youngest child is 5 and many of the photos were of children the same age, and younger, working in places like cotton fields or in spinner factories, many with bare feet. What a tragic life these children had, most not living very long. How would you like to work in a glass factory with the temperature in the building 100 - 130 degrees? The molten glass they worked with was 3,133 degrees! These glassblower assistants made about 65 cents a day; a pretty good wage back then. But, because it was so hazardous and unhealthy in the glass houses, these assistants usually didn't live past the age of 42 (I just turned 42 this year!).

How sad to see pictures of the breaker boys in the coal mines hunched over, all day long, picking the slate and stones from the coal. The foreman would hit them on their heads or shoulders with a broom handle if he thought they weren't working hard enough. If they fell into the coal chute, they would quickly be smothered to death. Do you think shucking oysters or peeling shrimp would be easier? The shrimp oozed an acid that would eat holes in leather shoes and tin pails, yet children had to handle these with their bare little fingers. 4-year old Mary could shuck two pails of oysters each day, making 10 cents. One mother and her 4 children worked in their tenement apartment making paper forget-me-not-flowers. All 5 of them sat working every day, all day long, working by the light of a kerosene lamp. The youngest, Angelica, was 3-years old and could make 540 flowers a day, earning her family 5 cents.

I think most children and adults today have no clue what life was really like for people back then; how hard they had to work for such little pay. I can't imagine my 5-year old doing what these kids were forced to do, let alone go without Nick Jr. for one day. I think this is an excellent book for children and adults to read and discuss. I plan on having my 14-year old read it this year for school. It's a book definitely worth reading and looking at.

Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor Feature

ISBN13: 9780395797266
Condition: New
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Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor Overview

Photobiography of early twentieth-century photographer and schoolteacher Lewis Hine, using his own work as illustrations. Hines's photographs of children at work were so devastating that they convinced the American people that Congress must pass child labor laws.

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Customer Reviews

MANDATORY READING FOR ALL INGRATEFUL CHILDREN - C. L. Maxton - Caldwell, ID United States
A sadly little known fact: 100 years ago children in this country followed Africans and immigrants as the slaves du jor. Who was their emancipator? Public school teachers, and specifically Lewis Hine, whose photographic work has had a comeback thanks to Neil Peart and Rush using modified photos of his in one of their videos (Working Those Angels). While the TV keeps lying about teachers and schools being the enemy (because educated people don't buy their crap or watch many of their shows), the descendants of those mine and factory owners get their revenge through their lackey politicians that continue to undermine schools financially, institutionally, and culturally (No Child Left Behind, less funding, name calling, etc.). This book will hopefully wake people (especially children) up to what 80% of the world faces to this day and make us realize we are the luckiest people in the world to have a school system where a child can choose whatever they want to be (unlike the so-called superior European and Asian school systems). The only other solution to this flood of ingratitude would be expatriation or time travel, both of which are impractical. Remember the true heroes, the ones who keep civilization afloat, who risked the death penalty teaching slaves, who are always targeted first in a military dictatorship. Stop the negativity and remember who the real bad guys are--anyone who denies you an education.

A Fav - Megan Deperro - NY
As a little girl this book was one of my favorites. It also changed my life. When I grew up I knew because of this book I'd want to be a photographer and help the poor.
I know am a photographer and an inner city teacher along with working with street kids.

The black and whites in this photo I still study. They are mouth dropping!

Great book with good quality printing. - Ryan J. Darcy - san francisco
This soft-cover book is written like a children's textbook, but Hine's photos look great all throughout. There are quite a few full-page prints, roughly 8x6 sized. I'm very satisfied with the purchase; only Aperture would print a book with better quality reproductions, and that's out of my price range right now.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 05, 2010 23:30:06

Children's Books

Sunday, September 5, 2010