Child Labor Reform Photographs

Objective Assessment


As you view each photograph take note about what you see. (note people, background, objects) Pretend you were describing the image to someone who could not see it. Try to avoid making judgments.

Where are these children? List any clues relating to their surroundings.
Describe any tools or objects you see.
Describe their clothing. What do their clothes reveal about their work?

Subjective Assessment


What questions do you have about each of these photographs?
Based on your observations, list three things you might infer about the lives of these children. (Be sure to consider Hine's notes about the photographs when considering this.


Photograph A

The girl in pigtale brades looks fearful and works at a cotton mill, she is small and the mill looks dirty. There's dirt on the window-sills and the air looks dirty; like it's filled with the dust of the cotton and etcetera. One question I have about this photo is what is the girls' specific job at the mill. I can conquer that she is probably really tired and sad. I can say that the lives of the children working in this mill is unhealthy; most of them probably don't know their age as said in Hine's notes, they probably don't have a big educational background, and they are probably always tired and have serious injuries.

Photograph B

There are five young girls standing in a row. Their clothes are dirty, they look tired and angry, their hair is messy, and their posture is hunched but on the brighter side they're outside in the fresh air. One question I have is how many other children are there, what do they do, and how are they treated? I can assume that they are very tired, work with something that is heavy and makes their backs hunched, and they are friends in the factory.

Photograph C

There's one little girl with no shoes and is standing in between two cotton-weaving machines, and there's cotton all over the place on the floor and she has just a blank expession on One question I have is why is she there and just standing in the middle of the two machines? I think that the children working at this factory are just looked over, trying to get money so they can eat, and probably get injured a lot as well. When I said looked over I mean that the adult workers wont think of anything when a child just walks in and starts working, they don't find it odd or question why they may be there.

Photograph D

The boy looks cold, scared, and shy. There's people just walking by him not thinking anythign of it, possibly it's normal to them. He's sitting on a light post and it's right by the street so the fumes and chance of getting hit by cars could and probably did hurt the boy. Why are people just walking by him and not doing anything? I assume that the boy hates his job, that he's very cold and sad, and that the other boys that have the same job don't get a lot of customers so its hard for them to get payed because they may not make their 'quota.'

Photograph E

In this photograph there's many boys sitting down in an area where the air is very dirty and crowded and in a small area. There all sitting down shoveling something possibly coal. I wonder how long they have to work and how dirty the air really is, like if they could get lung cancer. I assume that the boys don't like their job at all they're dirty and sad and tired and there's people there watching them do their job and would jurt them. So their conditions there were horrible they were beaten sore and sad.

Photograph F

There are boys all over the place doing all sorts of things and pipes hanging down and everywhere. It is very dark and you can't really see what's on the ground. I wonder how long they have to work, since the captian says it's 9 p.m. I wonder if they work longer after that. The boys probably get scolded and beaten if they do something wrong to the glass and they probably work really long hours. Also, they probably get many injuries like from hitting their head on the pipes or cutting themselves with glasss.

Photograph G

There's many people standing over a train conveyor belt that are all sorts of ages, there's light bulbs, and the children are standing on some sort of trash in a pile so they can reach the top of the train car. I wonder what that little boy is doing there even though he's so little, he looks like he's not doing anything like there with his mother. I assume that the adults in the factory think its normal to have children working by their sides and they may be competing against each other because they could be payed by how many clams they shuck so the children could be discriminated against because the adults want to earn more and the children are taken advantaged of.

Photograph H

There's a bunch of boys and girls going to the door, in a line, and the girls have scarves over their heads. The building looks shabby and dirty. I wonder what they're going to do there, like what's their job. I assume that it's at night and that they work at night in small rooms, there's probably stuff that gets in their hair and that's why the girls are wearing scarves over their heads. Also, they probably get injuries from something like the equipment or the head masters.