Through the Lens the National Child Labor
Committee
Nancy Taylor
American Institute for History Education
Volusia, Florida 2012
Florida Standard
• SS.912.A.3.12
Compare how different
nongovernmental
organizations and
progressives worked to
shape public policy, restore
economic opportunities,
and correct injustices in
American life.
1870 census recorded 750,000
children working in the mines, mills,
streets, fields, and factories.
The census in 1900 recorded
2,000,000 children.
Businessman, ASA G. Candler, one of
Coca Cola’s founders said, "The most
beautiful sight that we see is the child
at labor. As early as he may get at
labor the more beautiful, the more
useful does his life get to be.”
http: //inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/ss/coke_ads.htm
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/All-Entries/55082/press_kit_image.html
April 25, 1904
Mass Meeting
Carnegie Hall
New York City
Attended by men and women
concerned about the plight of
working children
National Child Labor Committee
formed to gain support of
prominent Americans
and
To identify the extend and scope
of the problem
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/history.html
1907
NCLC was chartered by an Act
of Congress
They quickly began to rally support and move
toward action and advocacy
1908
NCLC hired Lewis Wickes Hine
Budding anthropologist and
photographer
Son of a tailor from Wisconsin
Former school teacher
“His photographs would
awaken the consciousness
of the nation, and change
the reality of life for
millions of impoverished,
undereducated children”
National Child Labor Organization
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/history.html
1912 NCLC achieved one of its first
goals
The establishment of a Children’s Bureau in both
U.S. Department of Commerce
and
U. S. Department of Labor
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/history.html
1910 -1920
NCLC worked for passage of state and federal
legislation to ban most forms of child labor
Promoted compulsory education in all states
Published and disseminated the photographs
of Lewis Hine
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/history.html
Lewis Hine Photographs
Displayed in Exhibits
Shared at Public Meetings
Seen at Lectures accompanied by
lantern slides
Plastered on building and post as
Broadsides (posters)
Step Back in Time
National Child Labor Committee
(Early 1900s)
Your Job: Create a Broadside
using Lewis Hine photographs
to dramatize the plight of
working children
Your Objective: To move people
to action - to bring an end to
child labor
Directions
Analyze all of the photographs in the packet
Choose 6 photographs that you believe best tell the story of child labor and impact
your audience
Decide what is the “message” of your Broadside? What are you trying to tell people?
Use the Broadside Worksheet Packet to guide you as you create your Broadside
Create a title for your broadside.
Determine the order and arrangement of the photographs for your display.
Create a title for your Broadside.
Write an introduction that gives direction to the broadside message.
Write a final statement that gives a clear evaluation of the issues of child labor
makes a call to action.
Create your Broadside.