In 1909, Mrs. S.J. Bonner and her two sons were photographed in Macon, Georgia, by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee, capturing a family bound by necessity to the harsh realities of industrial labor. All three worked in Bibb Mill No. 1, with Mrs. Bonner earning $3.50 per week and her sons together earning $4.90. After the death of her husband, the family had left their farm to find work in the mills, relying entirely on these modest wages to survive.
The photograph highlights the economic pressures faced by families during this era, where even children were expected to contribute to household income. Mrs. Bonner and her sons labored long hours under difficult conditions, emblematic of countless families who turned to industrial work out of sheer necessity. Their experience reflects a period in American history when child labor and low wages were common, and survival often required the efforts of the entire family.
When adjusted for inflation, their weekly earnings amounted to roughly $125 for Mrs. Bonner and $175 for her sons, totaling around $300 per week, or about $1,200 a month. While these figures may seem modest by modern standards, they represented the lifeline that kept the family afloat, underscoring both the resilience and vulnerability of working-class families in the early 20th century.
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