Lewis Hine was born on September 26, 1874, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Hine was a schoolteacher and a photographer. After seeing and taking photos of various immigrants that came to America through Ellis Island, he was even more interested in photography. …show more content…
He released his first photobook, Child Labor in the Carolinas and Day Laborers Before Their Time, in 1908. He delivered the opening speech representing the NCLC in the eleventh annual child labor conference. Hine spoke with government officials and lobbyists about child labor in order to change the law and make a difference.
Lewis Hine’s photos did not go unseen; rather, they became symbols of the horrors of child labor and its consequences. His pictures appeared in pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, and presentations all across the nation. With his help, child labor in 1920 was half as severe as it was a decade before. By 1916, Congress approved the Keating-Owens Act, which made new regulations that set minimum ages for certain jobs.
In 1918, the Keating-Owens Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. However, this didn’t stop reformers inspired by Lewis Hine from trying to find a way to fight child labor at the state level. by banning it and setting maximum hours. In the long run, the exponential decrease of child labor actually benefitted the economy, opening up more jobs that adults can do. Even though child labor still exists today, it is not as severe as it was in the early 1900’s. Today, most children go to a public school that is paid through taxes, giving children the chance to have an