Photography shaped our Labor Laws

There have been many ways that photography helped, contributed, or influenced change in the world. This video will show you how it shaped our labor laws and supported the efforts to make for safer workplaces.

Lewis W. Hine, a sociologist and photographer, used his camera to uncover the dangerous, abusive, and unfair conditions that child laborers were forced to work in and the devastating impact that it had on childhood. Factories and farms were filled with children workers as young as 4 years old, while school classrooms were empty. Subsequently, his photographs were instrumental in bringing about the passage of the first child labor laws in the United States.

Take a look at how Lewis Hine’s photographs were instrumental in creating the laws that are still in place today.