Worker in Cotton Mill, Rhode Island, 1909

A Lewis Hine silver print from about 1906–1918, this image of a young boy working at a loom in a cotton mill in Rhode Island is one in a series of photographs made by Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. The photographs document child labor throughout America in the early 20th century. As a "sociological photographer" and one of the earliest practitioners of what has come to be known as photojournalism, Hine used his photography to raise public consciousness about the inhumane and dangerous working conditions to which children were being exposed every day. His work was instrumental in bringing about child labor laws and raising safety standards in the American workplace, a social movement that would secure the promise of childhood for future generations.

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