Knowra Lewis Hine Lewis Hine Lewis Hine (1874–1940) was an American photographer and sociologist whose documentary photographs exposed child labor and hazardous working conditions, helping build support for social reform.
National Child Labor Committee : An American reform organization founded in 1904 to end child labor through investigation, public education, and legislation. The committee employed Hine to photograph children at work and advance its reform campaign.
Documentary photography : Photography that records people, places, or events to inform or interpret social and historical realities. Hine’s reform work helped establish documentary photography as a tool for social investigation.
University of Chicago : A private research university in Chicago, founded in 1890. Hine studied sociology there before turning to photography as a means of social inquiry.
Keating–Owen Act : A 1916 United States law that barred interstate commerce in goods produced by child labor. Hine’s documentation supported the reform movement behind federal child-labor legislation.
Breaker Boys : Boys who separated slate from coal in cramped, dusty breaker rooms at anthracite mines. Hine photographed breaker boys to document the dangers and hardship of child labor.
Social documentary photography : Photography that depicts social conditions to prompt public understanding or reform. Hine used photographs to expose conditions that reformers and the public could challenge.
Sociology : The systematic study of social relationships, institutions, and collective life. Hine’s sociological training informed his interest in documenting how institutions shaped workers’ lives.
United States child labor law : Federal and state laws regulating the employment of children in the United States. The laws addressed abuses Hine documented, though the Supreme Court invalidated the Keating–Owen Act.
Newsies : Children who sold newspapers on city streets, often working long hours and late at night. His photographs of newsies recorded a highly visible form of child labor.
Photo caption : Text accompanying a photograph that identifies, describes, or interprets its subject. Hine’s captions supplied names, ages, workplaces, and circumstances that images alone could not establish.
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