Child Labor In The 1800s

Child labor during the 18th and 19th century did not only rapidly develop an industrial revolution, but it also created a situation of difficulty and abuse by depriving children of edjucation, good physical health, and the proper emotional wellness and stability.
In the late 1700 's and early 1800 's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for making most manufactured items. Many of America 's factories needed a numerous amount of workers for a cheap salary. Because of this, the amount of child laborers have been growing rapidly over the early 1800s. Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground,

Because of the appalling and exhausting work that children were allotted, many people began to child labor, child slavery. Long hours of exhausting work deprived the children from getting a good education and reduced their chance of having a good future. Louis Hine is the schoolteacher who became a photographer in order to investigate the truth behind child labor. He put his life on the line by snapping photos that proved the abuses of child labor, which were meant to be cloaked and concealed from the public. The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of

Most of the evocative photos taken were in coal mines and dark tunnels, because it best captures the reality of child labor it makes the photo come to life. While the older boys worked as mule drivers, couplers, runners, spragglers and gate tenders, the young boys worked as coal breakers. Their job was to reach down into the coal chutes and pick out any pieces of slate that was not capable of burning. Not only did they get severe scratches from the sharp slate that cut their skin, but they also put their lives at major risk. They could fall into the chutes and get smothered to death if they reached to far down. They got beaten with a broom handle if they weren 't focusing hard enough. Many of the breaker boys had suffered from chronic diseases from all of the coal dust that was in them. When these boys reached 12 years of age, they went to work down in the dirt of the coal mines. They had to collect coal from the caves and bring them to the coal cars, which would then bring the coal to the chutes to abstract slate. They always had to be alert of possible cave-ins or explosions. Another position of employment was being a trapper/door boy. They had to be there to open and close a heavy wooden gate when a coal car was coming through. It was a very lonely job snd they had to sit on a bench all day, occasionally opening a door for the coal cars. Another big industry of employment was glassblowing. They had to work in a 130 degree room with a salary of 65 cents per day. They mainly