Child Labor in the Cotton Mills: Images

Images

"No. 23.--LANCASTER, S. C.
Has worked six months, is forty-eight inches tall. One of many small children at work in Lancaster Cotton Mills. Children may legally work at any age in June, July and August if they have attended school four months that year and can read and write.” - National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Overview

“No. 16.--NEWBERRY MILLS, S. C. Noon hour. All are employees. The unguarded wheel and belt at the left are sinister neighbors for little girls' arms, skirts and braids. There was no factory inspection in South Carolina.” National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Overview

"Group of Southern Cotton Mill Operatives.--Summer Costume." D.A. Thompkins, Cotton Mill, Commercial Features (1899)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Overview

"Atherton Cotton Mill" - D.A. Thompkins, Cotton Mill, Commercial Features (1899)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mills

"The Spinning Room at Wymojo Yarn Mills at Rock Hill, S.C." - Mill News (1920).
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mills

"NEWTON COTTON MILL, NEWTON. N. C. Boy has worked two years at warping machine. It is usually stated that children work only in spinning rooms. Among 150 employees twenty appeared to be twelve years of age or less." National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mills

“DILLON MILL, DILLON, S. C.--Tallest girl has helped six months in mill; Mamie, holding baby, three years.” National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Workers

“DANIEL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LINCOLNTON, N. C. Six years old. Stays all day in the mill where his mother and sister work. Is beginning to "help" a little and will probably soon be regularly at work, though his name may not appear on the payroll.” National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Workers

“CATAWBA COTTON MILL, NEWTON, N. C.
Of forty employees ten were not larger than these. The girl is spinning, the boy is a doffer.” National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Workers

“COTTON MILL, WHITNEL, N. C.
On the night shift, waiting for the whistle...smallest girl had been in mill two years, six months at night. One medium sized boy had doffed four years, partly at night, and gets sixty cents a night. Work after eight p. m. is illegal for children under fourteen years.” National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Workers

Blueprint of a typical mill village house. - D.A. Thompkins, Cotton Mill, Commercial Features (1899)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mill Village

“Babies' Bed Room in Day Nursery at Buffalo, SC.” - Mill News (1920)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mill Village

"A Fulton Baseball Nine" Mill Village Baseball Team in Fulton, NC - Mill News (1920)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mill Village

“The Community Skating Rink: This is only one of the many clean ways Whitmire young people have of whiling their leisure hours away.” - Mill News (1920)
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: The Mill Village

“HERE MILL CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL AT LANCASTER, S. C.
Enrollment 163, attendance usually about 100. There are more than 1,000 operatives in the mill. The mill is geographically part of Lancaster, but on account of the taxes has been kept just out of the corporate limits.” - National Child Labor Committee, Child Labor in the Carolinas (1909). Photograph by Lewis Hine.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Reform

Cover of Child Labor in the Carolinas: [A]ccount of Investigations Made in the Cotton Mills of North and South Carolina, by Rev. A. E. Seddon, A. H. Ulm and Lewis W. Hine, under the Direction of the Southern Office of the National Child Labor Committee. 1909.
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Reform

Cover of Rules and Regulations of the Department of Labor Relative to the Employment of Children under Sixteen Years of Age. Standards of the Department of Labor for Grading Industrial Plants. Effective June 1, 1933. by the North Carolina Department of Labor
Original Image from Documenting the American South
From Child Labor: Reform