Figure 1.--Here we see Doffer boys at Bibb Mill No. 1 in Macon, Georgia during 1909. Notice all the lint and cotton dust on their caps. That means they were breathing in air loaded with cotton fibers all the time they were at work. The prevalence and variety of caps is interesting. Boys still wore a wide range of caps and some hats in the 1900s decade. In the 1910s, the flat cap would become standard. Photographer: Lewis W. Hine.

Children were an integral part of the work throughout history. Their work was necessary to support families who often existed on the narrow edge of survival. Thomas Hobbes famously wrote "... the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." [Hobbes] It is only with the industrial Revolution that child labor became a societal issue. Before the Industrial Revolution, children were expected to work. It was the natural order of society. In fact, children by a very young age were considered small adults. Play was considered wasteful and discouraged. At about the same time that the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, French authors like Rosseau began to promote the idea that childhood was special time of life. And during the Victorian Era this premise became widely adopted by the the middle class. Children began to be treated as a special class. A plethora of toys and books appeared for children. Yet we have the idea that industrial development created child labor. A range of factors explain this idea. First, Charles Dickens focused on child labor in his books like Oliver Twist and David Cooperfield. These were very influential books in Victorian society. Second, Karl Marx's influential writing focused on the industrial economy. Three, photography developed in the 19th century and by the turn-of the 20th century could be easily publiched providing hear-breaking images of the exploitation of children. What the images do not show, however, is the number of children who for the first time were experience comfortable childhoods and obtaining good educations. It was the wealth generated by industrial development that was making that possible. Rarely addressed by authors like Dickens and Marx or recorded by photographers was the experiences of children in rural areas or in pre-industrial societies. The often overlooked fact is the number of families and children lifted from poverty by industrial development. And industrial society for the forst time had the economic capability to deal with child labor. There were differences among countries as to how quickly and effectively different countries addressed the porioblem. Some countries offered free public education in the early or mid-19th century. Other countries like England did not have state sponsored free education until the late 19th century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, countries began passing laws requiring school attendance and limiting child labor. The chronology and provisions of the laws varied greatly from country to country. Photographic evidence is limited in the early years of photography. because photography was only developed in the mid-19th centuy and few early photographrs were intereted in photographing poor children working with factories. In addition, taking phoographs outside the studio was very complicatd. Only with the development of more easily used films and cameras beginning in 1900 do we begin to get sunstantial numbers of photographs of child workers. The photographic evidence was a not inconsequential factor in generating public support for legislation to protct these children.

Ancient Times

Children were an integral part of the work throughout history. Even before the advent of agruiculture and cibilization, hunter-gather children worked. Even very young children can do simople tasks like opick berries. Their work was necessary to support families who often existed on the narrow edge of survival. Here two major factors were involved. First, agricultural dominasted economies. There were artisans in urvan centers, but this was a small part of the population and economy. Ad farming methods were still not very efficent meaning low crop yields. Second, few farmers around the world actully owned the land they worked. Maning they only got a share of the harvesy. Land ownership was in the hands of the temple priests and or leaders like kings, eperors and pharoahs. Slavery was not comnmin in most ancuent socities, but a landless oeasabntry was. (Greece, Rome and the Hebrews were notable exceptions.)

Medieval Era

Thomas Hobbes famously wrote "... the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." [Hobbes] Before the Industrial Revolution, children were expected to work. It was the natural order of society. Most people lived in rural areas and child labor was part of the work force, especially boys. Girls commonly remained at home, helping mother and learning domestic skiils. Urban communities were a small part of the populatiion, but in these urban areas artisans practiced a range of economic activies , including carpentry, coopers, food processing, merchants, naval transport, potters, metalurgy, tannery, weaving, and more. By the late medieval era the pace of commerce quickened, cities grew and the range of economic activity expanded. Boys learned their fathers' skills. Other boys were apprenticed to leran skills. While such acivies increased, the great bulk of the population coninued to live in rural areas and were employed in agriculture. Schols were established to terach reading and math skills requird by the expanding econiomies.

The 18th Century

The Industrial Revolution began in the English Midlands (mid-18th century). This in itself was remakavle because it was China for basically two centuries which was the ruchest and most advanced society which Italian merchant Marco Polo discovered (13th century). It is only with the industrial Revolution that child labor became a societal issue. Children by a very young age were considered small adults. Play was considered wasteful and discouraged. At about the same time that the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, French authors like Rosseau began to promote the revolutionary new idea that childhood was a special time of life. Information on child labor is some what confusing. From the earliest beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we see children and women being employed. Which is not surprising as they were part of largely agricultural work force.

The 19th Century

It was in the 19thcentyry That the Industrail Revolution really took off, but onlt in Western Europe, the United States, and Jaoan. And it was during the Victorian Era (1840s-90s), this premise became widely adopted by the the middle class. Children began to be treated as a special class. A plethora of toys and books appeared for children. Yet we have the idea that industrial development created child labor. A range of factors explain this idea. First, Charles Dickens focused on child labor in his books like Oliver Twist and David Cooperfield. These were very influential books in Victorian society. Today child labor is often associated with the Industrial Revolution. This is is an incorrect assumption. Children were employed by early industrialists, but this was a phnomenon that was common from the dawn of civilization. What is rarely mentioned is that it was with the Industrial Revolution that child labor was for the first time seen as a social evil. Second, Karl Marx's influential writing focused on the industrial economy. Three, photography developed in the 19th century and by the turn-of the 20th century could be easily published providing hear-breaking images of the exploitation of children. What the images do not show, however, is the number of children who for the first time were experience comfortable childhoods and obtaining good educations. It was the wealth generated by industrial development that was making that possible. Rarely addressed by authors like Dickens and Marx or recorded by photographers was the experiences of children in rural areas or in per-industrial societies. The often overlooked fact is the number of families and children lifted from poverty by industrial development. And industrial society for the first time had the economic capability to function without child labor. There were differences among countries as to how quickly and effectively different countries addressed the problem. Some countries offered free public education in the early or mid-19th century. Other countries like England did not have state sponsored free education until the late 19th century. In the late 19th century countries began passing laws requiring school attendance and limiting child labor. The chronology and provisions of the laws varied greatly from country to country. Photographic evidence is limited in the early years of photography. because photography was only developed in the mid-19th century and few early photographers were interested in photographing poor children working in factories. In addition, taking phonographs outside the studio was very complicated--especially inside buildings. Public education were limited to the advanced industrial countries of Western Europe, the United States, and Japan. Child labor laws were even more limited. The two, however were closely related. Children in school, obviously could not work. The trade union movement was also imprtant, because unions strongly supported child labor laws as well as laws protecting woman. The vast majority of the world population, however, continued to live in countries that had agricultural economies which included child labor.

The 20th Century

Only with the development of more easily used films and cameras beginning in 1900 do we begin to get substantial numbers of photographs of child workers. Here we see American images. The sudden appearnce of large number of photographs does not mean that child labor suddently appeared in America. It means that photographic technology reached the point that photographs could very easily be taken anywhere -- facilitating the advent of photo journalism, And along with the Progressive Movement we see what was called muckraking journalism. The Muckraters had difficulting obtaining documentation for many of the issues. Child labor was different. It was impossible tom argue against the heart-wrenching images of the children, mostly boys, depicted in these images. America had lagged Europe in a action on several social issues. The photographic evidence was a major factor generating public support for legislation to protect these children. America still lagged in several areas such as old age insurance, but protecting children was no longer one of them. That said one area wher America did not lag was ages. American workers received which is a major reason Europeans continued to pour unto Ametrica from Europe. This did not begin to declie until World War I (1914-18). While there were imprtant changes in America, most of the world did not change. The only industrila country outsude of Europe and North America was Japan. And there were no child labor laws in most of the rest of the world, including the large area of Asian and Africa that were European colonies. After World War II (1939-45), the decolonizatuiion process begins. A major impact was a huge expansion of public education. This had an impact on child labor. This was especially true of China. But in much of the rest of the world we continue to see high levels of child labor. This was largely the result of the economic failure of many of the new nations. The basic issue was the decision of most of the new leaders to adopt socialist economic policies. We now know that socilism does not work. That swas not known at the time. Plus socialist policies offered far more opportunities for cradt and corruption. What ever the reason, economic failure meant tht ending child labor was virtually impossible. The economic success of the Asian Tigers and some other Asian countries had meant rising levels of child labor protecton. neen.

Created: 3:29 PM 7/5/2010
Last updated: 12:06 AM 10/14/2024