Child Labor in the United States before Child Labor Laws

The reading passage on page 91 of our textbook discussed teenage workers and safety. Did you know that at one time in the United States, many young teenagers and very young children worked in very dangerous factories and jobs? Here's a picture of a factory in Georgia in 1909. You can see many pictures that were taken by the same photographer (Lewis Hine) from all over the United States at http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/index.html

Click on the small pictures to make them larger. Use the "back arrow" to go back to the list of photos.

You can see more pictures taken during the 1930s and 1940s by the U.S. Farm Security Administration at http://www.uncfsu.edu/tlc/stolen_childhoods.htm
Click on "Farm Security Administration Photos."


Look at all of the pictures and read the explanations. List the different types of jobs where children worked. Remember the stories of Maria Cardenas and of Juan Angel and how they started working when they were children. Do you think that it's a good idea for children to work when they are very young? How old do you think children should be before they start to work? Do you think it's ok for older teenagers to work? Did you work when you were a young child? Did you work when you were a teenager? Do you have any teenagers in your family that work? What do they do?

What do you think this is?

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