Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor

Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor     By Michael Burgan

Compass Point Books    2012

Firstly, I must state that I love this series. I especially like having kids visually analyze photographs and illustrations. Kids are incredibly visually savvy, and with a little bit of effort and prompting, they are able to leverage those skills in order to pull out previously unknown information in an organic way.

Sometimes images are so powerful that the reactions they provoke can galvanize social movements and change history.  Such is the case with the photography of Lewis Hine’s photos of child labor.

The featured photo appears on the cover of the book, and it is extraordinarily haunting. This is the photo that I would pair with the picture that appears on the cover of “Kids On Strike”. On that photo, striking kids are demanding access to school, as well as improved working conditions.  The haunted faces and dire circumstances of the young coal miners provides a stark contrast, and illuminates why kids would beg to be in school.

Often times, kids today wish they did not have to attend school. The photos contained in “Breaker Boys” outline the stark reality of the alternative.

Stand out photos include…

Stark conditions at a Penn. Coal mine field hospital    p.14

Coal miners’ housing –It would be a good exercise to compare with tenement housing.       p. 17

Breaker boys at work – evocative of a Roman slave galley    p.31

A mule driver standing    p.32

Injured and dead   p.38

The text outlines the dangers kids faced when working in the coal mines, both in the immediate term, as well as the long range health impacts. Also, the economic exploitation of the workers through such means as paying workers in company scrip, overpriced company stores, and high rent, substandard housing.

One interesting thing to consider when studying these photos is the nature of the equipment that Hine used. Its limitations helped dictate what could be photographed. The camera equipment weighed up to 50 pounds, and took time to set up. Also, his film was slow exposure – he could not capture moving objects clearly.

It is always interesting to consider what could have been left out of Hine’s depiction due to these limitations.