Sadie Pfeifer, a Cotton Mill Spinner, Lancaster, South Carolina

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

In 1906 the National Child Labor committee hired Lewis Hine, already known for his photographs of immigrant families arriving on Ellis Island and steelworkers in Pittsburgh, to document scenes of child labor. In a South Carolina cotton mill, Hine discovered 48-inch-tall Sadie Pfeifer and photographed her directly next to the dangerous machinery that she faced each day. Though she is bathed in light, her small form is nearly overwhelmed by the rows of spools in front of her, their repeating forms evoking the monotonous, mechanical nature of factory work. Hine's images originally appeared in periodicals, posters, and booths at anti-child labor conventions. In 1914, 35 states ruled to prohibit the employment of children under the age of 14 and to require an 8-hour workday for individuals under 16. These photographs, therefore, represent one of the first instances of photography helping to enact social change.

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