Top Row: Left - View of the Scotland Mills, showing boys who work in the mill. Laurinburg, North Carolina. Mid - 9 p.m. in an Indiana Glass Works. Right - Some of the young knitters in London Hosiery Mills. London, Tennessee.
Bottom Row: Left - Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Florida. Mid - Boys in the packing room at the Brown Mfg. Co. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Willie, a Polish boy, taking his noon rest in a doffer box at the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, Rhode Island. (1)
Left - A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. or later. On the left is Mary, age 7, and 10-year-old Sam, and next to the mother is a 12-year-old boy. On the right are Sarah, age 7, next is her 11-year-old sister, 13-year-old brother. Father is out of work and also helps make garters. New York City. Mid - A family working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. Two of them went off and got married. The family left the farm two years ago to work in the mill. Tifton, Georgia. Right - Picking nuts in dirty basement. The dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts and eating lunch on the table. Mother had a cold and blew her nose frequently (without washing her hands) and the dirty handkerchiefs reposed comfortably on table close to the nuts and nut meats. The father picks now. New York City.(2)
Pauline Newman was an immigrant child who worked in a New York City clothing factory:
It was child’s work, since we were all children. We had a corner in the factory which was like a kindergarten. The work wasn’t difficult. The shirtwaist finished by the [sewing machine] operator would come to us, so we could cut off the thread left by the needle of the machine. You had little scissors because you were children. Somehow the employer knew when the inspector was coming. Materials came in high wooden cases, and when the inspector came we were put into them and covered with shirtwaists. By the time he arrived, there were no children. In the busy season, we worked seven days a week. That’s why the sign went up on the freight elevator: If You Don’t Come In On Sunday, Don’t Come In On Monday. (3) / (1)What information in The Factory photos and captions aligns with the information read on page 42-44 of Immigrant Children? (Follow up query) What new or contradicting information did you learn?
Photos show children working at a very young age.
Long work hours because one picture was taken at 9:00 PM.
New information: Children standing for a long period of time.
Very young children working in a cigar factory take up smoking.
(2) After viewing Struggling Families, what other issues does society face due to the lack of labor law enforcement? (Follow up query) Does Immigrant Kids portray any of these issues?
Mothers trying to take care of children while they work but not able to give them the attention they need. (Children leaving to get married, young children going to work with parents before they are old enough to legally work.)
Germs and sickness spread. (Areas for work are not regulated so food is being handled in unsanitary places by people who are sick and dirty.)
Families leaving homes and farms. (Mother takes 11 children from farm to move to the city to work in factories in order to support her large family.)
I didn’t see any of these issues portrayed in Immigrant Kids. Possibly some will show up when I read further.
(3)What mood or bias does the photographer create about child labor? Does the author of Immigrant Kids create the same mood? Provide evidence.
I felt that it was easy to see that the photographer was against child labor. I feel this way because his photos never seemed to show children enjoying what they were doing, only children showing sadness, poverty, uncleanliness, etc. I also noticed that in his captions he said things like, “Three boys looked under 14.”, “Youngsters all smoke.”, “A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. orlater.”, “Picking nuts in dirty basement.”. All of these statements create a very depressing mood.
Even though Immigrant Kids isn’t positive about child labor, it doesn’t seem as biased as the photo presentation. The primary source on p. 43 stated that the child’s work wasn’t difficult. However, the book’s photos and information never mentioned anything positive about it either. In the book on page 40, the author pointed out that an immigrant man couldn’t earn enough to support his family so everyone had to help out. The photo presentation never pointed out the fact that in most cases, if the children hadn’t worked, the family probably wouldn’t have had the necessities needed for survival.
(4)Do the primary sources found on Child Labor in America 1908-1912 by Lewis W. Hine show that the information in Immigrant Kids depicts the historical event with validity? Provide evidence from the materials that supports your answers.
Many of the photos in Immigrant Kids were taken by Lewis W. Hine who was also the photographer for the photo presentation. His photos along with the quotes from people who lived during this time period are primary sources that the author based his information on. Because of this, I feel that the information in Immigrant Kids is valid.
Graphic Organizer forIntegration of Knowledge and Ideas
Child Labor In America 1908-1912 by Lewis W. Hine
Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman
Not Found in Both Sources / Both Sources Align / Sources Do Not AlignInformation About the Topic / Children standing for long periods of time while they worked.
Very young children working in a cigar factory take up smoking. / Photos show children working at a very young age.
Long work hours (because one picture was taken at 9:00 PM.)
Families struggling to earn a living.
Issues in Society Created by Child Labor / Mothers trying to take care of children while they work but not able to give them the attention they need. (Children leaving to get married, young children going to work with parents before they are old enough to legally work.)
Germs and sickness spread. (Areas for work are not regulated so food is being handled in unsanitary places by people who are sick and dirty.)
Families leaving homes and farms. (Mother takes 11 children from farm to move to the city to work in factories in order to support her large family.) / I didn’t see any of these issues portrayed in Immigrant Kids. (Possibly some will show up when I read further.)
Mood or Bias of the Authors / The photographer was against child labor—photos never seemed to show children enjoying what they were doing, only children showing sadness, poverty, uncleanliness, etc. / Captions written by Lewis Hine created a very depressing mood and only pointed out the negative. (Immigrant Kids seemed more neutral. The primary source on p. 43 stated that the child’s work wasn’t difficult. In the book on page 40, the author pointed out that an immigrant man couldn’t earn enough to support his family so everyone had to help out. The photo presentation never pointed out the fact that in most cases, if the children hadn’t worked, the family probably wouldn’t have had the necessities needed for survival.)
Validity of information / Primary source photos used in both. (Same photographer in some cases.)
Text is based on primary source photos and quotes (even though bias was stronger in photos).
Use this graphic organizer to complete part 3 of the critical analysis.
Sample
As I compared the information in Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman to the photo presentation by Lewis W. Hine, I realized that both sources portrayed child labor in much the same way. They both showed children working for long hours at a very young age because of families struggling to make a living. However, Lewis Hine added some depth to the subject by showing children on their feet for long periods of time and children taking up smoking after working in a cigar factory.
While viewing Child Labor in America, I realized that there were many social issues that came about because of child labor. Children didn’t have the care they needed so many left home or started working at a young age. Working areas were unsanitary causing sickness to spread. These points were not brought up in the chapter that I read in Immigrant Kids.
In Immigrant Kids, the author tried to stay neutral on the subject of child labor. Even though the photographs and much of the information gave you a negative feeling about child labor, he brought up that the work wasn’t difficult and that everyone in the family worked together in order to survive in America. Hine’s photos and captions only presented feelings of sadness and poverty.
I feel that the information presented in Immigrant Kids was valid based on the primary source quotes and photos in the book and the photos and captions in Child Labor in America 1908-1912.