Images of Child Labor (page 259)

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The notion that childhood is sacred—an enchanted period of growth and learning defined by love and protection—is one many people take for granted. This notion, however, is limited to a particular time and place. In other eras and in the less prosperous parts of the world, childhood has provided no protection from the harsh realities of survival.

These Web sites explore many of the issues surrounding child labor, then and now, and they raise troubling questions about who's to blame. Thinking in terms both global and abstract, what do you think is at the root of the issue? As you look the images of child labor, what thoughts come to mind? Is child labor ever acceptable?

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/
Lewis Hine's photograph Girl in a Cotton Mill is just one of dozens preserved on this Web site. Sixty of his images have been archived here, along with Hine's own captions. The settings are both urban and rural, as Hine's lens captured young workers in factories and on farms, selling newspapers and picking fruit. Many of his captions include details like the children's height and quotations from the workers themselves, including one girl who claimed ignorance of her age, yet hinted that she was too young to be working.

http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm
Though Lewis Hine's turn-of-the-century images are still truly resonant, the story doesn't end there. The Web site of Human Rights Watch—an independent US-based human rights advocacy organization—contains an extensive section documenting child labor today. After an introduction to the issue, hrw.org links to all of its reports from the last few years on regions and industries around the globe. Following each link you will find, in addition to a written report, statistics and images of this large-scale social problem.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/
So what are we doing about it? The US Department of Labor's Website will fill you in. The site details initiatives regarding youth labor domestically and internationally, and offers information about how each of us can get involved. You can also follow dozens of links to learn the ins and outs of labor laws, and school yourself in statistics: there's data here on just about every industry, region, and population demographic you'd want to know about.

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