Historical Photos of Coal Mines Kids Taken by Lewis Hine in the United States From the Early 20th Century

Lewis Hine was a teacher and photographer who, in the early 20th century, used his camera as a tool for social reform. Working for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) between 1908 and 1924, Hine traveled across the United States to document the harsh conditions of child labor. One of his most powerful series of photographs focused on “breaker boys” in coal mines, particularly in Pennsylvania.

In the early 1900s, thousands of children, some as young as eight or nine, worked in the coal industry. While the law often prohibited young children from working underground, they were frequently employed in the “breakers.” Their task was to sit on wooden boards over a conveyor belt or chute filled with rushing coal. As the coal moved past, the boys had to pick out pieces of slate, rock, and other impurities by hand.

The boys worked ten to twelve hours a day in cramped, hunched-over positions. The dust was so thick they could barely see, and many developed chronic coughs or “black lung” early in life. The work was incredibly dangerous. Boys often lost fingers to the fast-moving machinery, and some were even crushed to death if they fell into the chutes. Their hands were often covered in “red coal,” cuts and abrasions from the sharp slate.

Hine often had to use deception to gain access to these sites. He would disguise himself as a fire inspector, a postcard vendor, or a machinery salesman to get past foremen who didn’t want the public to see the children. Once inside, he would quickly take photos and scribble notes on pieces of paper hidden in his pockets. He recorded the children’s ages (often lied about by parents or employers), their heights, and how long they had been working.

Hine called his work “photo-interpretation.” He believed that if the American public could see the faces of the children whose childhoods were being traded for cheap coal and textiles, they would demand change. His photographs became the visual evidence needed to sway public opinion and were instrumental in the eventual passage of the Keating-Owen Act of 1916 and, later, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which effectively ended child labor in the United States.