CAROLINA COMPASS
Photos portray child labor in state’s mills, 1908–1918
I
n the early 1900s, most child workers in North Carolina textile mills labored 10 to 12 hours, six days a week. They toiled in hot, lint-filled air that triggered respiratory diseases, endured the roar of machinery and risked injury from exposed gears and belts. The state’s labor laws that were meant to protect younger children were rarely enforced, and roughly a quarter of all workers were under age 16. Some were as young as 6. In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine, hired by the National Child Labor Committee to document working conditions of young workers in the U.S., began visiting North Carolina’s textile mills. On a notepad he kept hidden in his jacket, he documented each photograph with his subjects’ ages and how long they had worked in the mill. When mill officials denied Hine entry, he snapped photos of youngsters coming to and from work. Today, 40 of his images appear in “The Photography of Lewis Hine: Exposing Child Labor in North Carolina, 1908-1918,” an exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Hine’s photographs, captured in Cabarrus, Gaston, Lincoln, Rowan and other Tar Heel counties, range from girls running warping machines to boys covered in lint after long hours as doffers and sweepers. Many of the children look older than their years. Hine’s notes accompany each image. For example, a 1908 description includes quotes from an impoverished boy: “Been in mill 6 or 7 years. 12 years old. Haint grown none for 5 years.” When Hine’s photographs began appearing in newspapers, they provoked awareness and ultimately, sparked social change. The exhibit also features computer interactives and mill tools, including a shuttle, bobbin and a doffer’s cart (used to collect bobbins from the spinning machines). It will be on view through March 25, 2012. Admission is free. For more, call (919) 807-7900 or visit ncmuseumofhistory.org.
Photo credit for all photos: Lewis Hine Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
TOP: “Daniel Mfg. Co., Lincolnton N.C. Girl beginning to spin. Many of these there.” Lincolnton, Lincoln County, November 1908 MIDDLE: “Cherryville Mfg. Co., Cherryville, N.C. One of the smallest boys. Doffer.” Cherryville, Gaston County, November 1908 BOTTOM LEFT: “Oldest girl, Minnie Carpenter, House 53 Loray Mill, Gastonia, N.C. Spinner. Makes fifty cents a day of 10 hours. Works four sides. Younger girl works irregularly.” Gastonia, Gaston County, November 1908 BOTTOM RIGHT: “Young women (spooler) Kelser Mfg. Co., Salisbury, N.C.” Salisbury, Rowan County, December 1908 Carolina Country SEPTEMBER 2011 39