Lewis Hine Reforms

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Lewis Hine drastically reformed the United States and its views on child labor. During the 18th century, child labor was a widely accepted practice across the United States. The child labor industry was highly profitable so many people objected to the elimination of child labor. A select few people and organizations opposed child labor and sought out against the vile act. The most renowned anti-child labor activist was Lewis Hine and his work for the National Child Labor Committee. Hine’s work forced Americans to see the outrage that was child labor and eventually had the act abolished. Lewis Hine faced many obstacles on his crusade against child labor, but managed to overcome them and change the lives of many young workers in America.
The …show more content…
One example, of the reasons was that “the National Child Labor Committee [was] (founded in 1904 to persuade Congress to regulate child labor)” (Green 1). At the time, child labor was obscure to the public so many paid little attention to the problem. Some of the seldom few who recognized the hardships of child labor joined together to force Congress to do something to amend these injustices. These people had to stand strong against the views of thousands of opposition and not drop their righteous cause. A second example of a motive for the foundation of the National Child Labor Committee is that it worked hard towards its goal of eliminating the national impression that child labor did not exist, or existed in very small amounts (Kaplan 39). Child labor was a topic that the ordinary citizen either feigned ignorance about or disregarded altogether. The child labor work force was so profitable that many were willing to break the law to keep it going. The NCLC decided to work to force the public to see child labor for what it was, a horrendous thing that left mental and physical scars on the youth of the country. A third example of a purpose for the NCLC was to publish documents and other works about the wrongs of child labor (Hindman 51). Publishing articles about child labor existing was not enough to do much reforming. The works published by the NCLC were highly criticized, being passed off as the …show more content…
One of these motivators was Hine’s early life where “Hine experienced firsthand the exploitation of young workers and was determined to escape this type of life” (Oden 1). Growing up in the life of a child labor took its toll on Hine’s life. Hine worked multiple jobs alongside many others because it was his duty to provide financial support to his family. Hine was determined to free the children trapped in a similar situation and this motivated him to fight for child labor rights. A second motivation Hine had for his struggle against child labor was Hine’s use of his images to present the public with a clear view on the issue of child labor in America (Green 2). Photographs were used as the undeniable truth that the NCLC needed to prove that child labor was a growing problem at the time. With an actual image of a young child staring at the photograph’s beholder, it was impossible to forget. Hine used this factor to force Americans to pay attention to the crime of child labor. A third motivator for Hine which made him someone to admire was that Hine stayed true to his end goal which was to bring about social reform and right the wrongs of society through his photography (Green 1). Hine used the power of photography to change people’s views on the issue of children toiling away in dark dusty factories. By handing people a photograph that was undeniably true, Hine considered sparking uprisings against
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