Engaging with the Reality of Injustice Through Photography

Lewis Hine is known for saying, “Photography is an empathy towards the world”. This sentiment indeed held true when he was commissioned by the National Labor committee in 1908 and used various methods and disguises to expose the harsh exploitation of children during the capitalistic frenzy of the early 1900’s.

Through his work behind the camera lens, Lewis Hine engages with the viewer on an emotional and personal level by visually drawing them into the unjust world of these children. Not only does his confrontational method of photography influence the viewer to develop compassion for the individual children in these photos, but through a collection of approximately 5100 photographs he uncovered a norm of child labor exploitation. Therefore, when observing his photographs, we can see Hine characterizing images that represent greater themes of injustice that plagued the times beyond isolated incidents.

Through his uncovering of injustice, Hine’s photography can tug at our hearts today. It can often be easier to callous our hearts to injustice or write it off as one sided political jargon when we hear about social issues. However, through the power of photography, Hine is able to confront the viewer with objective depictions of the effects of injustice against real children and real people. This realism is much more difficult to escape than a headline. This gallery invites the viewer to let down their guard and allow themselves to emotionally engage with the stories depicted by Hine in order that we might grow in empathetic concern and better understand the face of injustice.

Newsboy asleep on stairs with papers, Jersey City, New Jersey

Lewis Hine

February 1912

Gelatin silver print

11.5 x 16.8 cm (4 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 161.

In this photo, Lewis Hine really captures the frailty of the young boys forced to work these jobs. In some of Hine’s photos the viewer might recognize that these boys often put on a brave or grown up face. This depiction of an exhausted news boy shows that no matter how tough they might act, it doesn’t change the fact that many of these workers were younger than eight years old. Newsies often worked extremely long hours, and this boy was found alone, fast asleep after midnight in the vestibule of a train station, his head literally resting on the papers he was unable to sell. His body worn out and his face obscured by his arm is an incredible metaphor for the dehumanization of children being simply seen as expendable tools for labor.

11:00 A.M. Monday, May 9th, 1910. Newsies at Skeeter's Branch, Jefferson near Franklin. They were all smoking. Location: St. Louis, Missouri.

Lewis Hine

May 9, 1910

Gelatin silver print

9.1 x 11.9 cm (3 9/16 x 4 11/16 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 4, 1984–March 17, 1985

Newsies often had to confront issues like smoking, drinking, and gambling as they often found customers in bars or brothels. Furthermore, it was not uncommon for them to get beaten if they didn’t sell enough papers or be easy pickings for robbery. This photo depicts how these events had the effect of hardening these young boys practically robbing them of their childhood innocence. One can imagine the story of these young boys one might hope to be joyfully playing with their friends instead dressed in clothing beyond their years and engaging in behavior and mannerisms of much older men. Through the camera put directly at eye level with the boys as well as their cold expressions, Hine is practically inviting the viewer to grieve the loss of a normal childhood that has been stripped from these boys. 

Doffer Boys, Macon, Georgia

Lewis W. Hine 

January 1909

Gelatin silver print

12.2 × 17.4 cm (4 13/16 × 6 7/8 in.)

J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984

This photo really emphasizes the deplorable nature of the conditions that these children had to work in. The bare feet of this child standing up against the harsh metal of the machinery shows a complete lack of concern there was for the safety of this child. It causes the viewer to question the negligence of the supervisors allowing this child with no shoes to work in such dangerous conditions and imagine how normalized such an unsafe practice has had to become for him. Furthermore, the fact that this child has to unnaturally stand up on the machinery in order to reach the supplies he needs is a transitive metaphor for the fact that the very nature of the machines demonstrates that these working conditions were not meant for children. 

Sadie Pfeiffer, Spinner in Cotton Mill, North Carolina

Lewis W. Hine

1920s - 1930s

Gelatin silver print

Sheet: 28 × 35.7 cm (11 × 14 1/16 in.)

J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 16 to July 25, 2004

Here, Lewis Hine tells a really interesting story with the angle at which he takes this photo of a young girl working in a cotton mill. Our eyes are drawn to the hundred of pieces to this machine as well as the sheer size of the factory. The barriers of the wall of machinery converge from taking up the entire left side of the picture to taking up less and less space. Through this technique of Hine, the large mill machinery seems to almost swallow up this little girl as we can envision her being swept up as another number in the cog of productivity. This can be viewed as a metaphor for how the machine of capitalism and need for labor practically swallowed whole so many children not meant for its clutches. 

[Crowd of Newsies, Including One Girl]

Lewis W. Hine

1910

Gelatin silver print

 11.4 × 16.5 cm (4 1/2 × 6 1/2 in.)

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), June 29 to November 14, 2010

Here we see just how prevalent child labor was amidst these various industries. Hine compels the viewer to witness the exploitation of not just individual children but large groups the many of whom in this photo do not look any older than 10 years. This incredibly young age is further represented by the young sunken faces of these children ranging from expressions of shyness, uncertainty, excitement, and even a sense of embracing the no boundary lifestyle of unsupervised child labor. We can also see their young age represented by the massive stack of papers held by the boy in the middle that seems to barely fit under his small arm. Here we see how child labor in of itself created an entire culture of young boys having to band together in order to fend for themselves.

[Self-Portrait with Newsboy]

Lewis W. Hine 

New York, New York, United States (Place Created)

1908

Gelatin silver print

13.8 × 11.8 cm (5 7/16 × 4 5/8 in.)

The Museum of Modern Art (New York), November 7, 1985 to January 7, 1986

Everything in this photo points to a sense of powerlessness and smallness in this young boy. We see that the very shadow of Hine is significantly bigger than the boy. Furthermore, the building in the background and the pole next to the boy towering over him make the boy appear inconsequential in the grand scheme of his environment. This sense is further emphasized by the boy holding papers that are twice his size and his head being in a downcast, obscured position giving the sense that he is unused to having any significant attention brought to him. Overall, Hine uses this depiction to confront the viewer with visualizing insignificance with which these boys were treated during this time. 

Boy carrying hats. Blee[c]ker St., N.Y.

Lewis Hine

February 1912

Gelatin silver print

11.5 x 14.7 cm (4 1/2 x 5 13/16 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Strand and His Contemporaries," February 10, 1998–May 31, 1998.

In this photo we see a young boy literally and completely consumed by his job. It is a wonder that he is able to lug around these hats as each stack is practically the same height as he is. One can imagine him tiring quickly as he tries to manage such an awkward load of cargo. The fact that the majority of the boys figure is obscured and his face is turned away is a powerful representation of how such a small boy is completely overshadowed by the need for labor.