Child Labor

Working in the Mill “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.” LewisHine

Babies in the Mill By Dorsey Dixon

I used to be a factory hand when things were moving slow When children worked in cotton mills, each morning had to go Every morning just at five the whistle blew on time And called them babies out of bed at the age of eight and nine

Come out of bed, little sleepy head And get you a bite to eat The factory whistle's calling you There's no more time to sleep

The children all grew up unlearned, they never went to school, They never learned to read or write, but they learned to spin and spool

Every time I close my eyes, I see that picture still, When textile work was carried on with babies in the mill.

Come out of bed, little sleepy head And get you a bite to eat The factory whistle's calling you There's no more time to sleep

To their jobs those little ones were strictly forced to go, Those babies had to be on time through rain and sleet and snow, Many times when things went wrong their bosses often frowned, Many times those little ones was kicked and shoved around.

Come out of bed, little sleepy head And get you a bite to eat The factory whistle's calling you There's no more time to sleep

Old Timer can't you see that scene, that though the years go by Those babies all went on the job, the same as you and I I know you're glad that things have changed, and we have lots of fun As we go in and do the jobs that babies used to run

Come out of bed, little sleepy head And get you a bite to eat The factory whistle's calling you There's no more time to sleep

Come out of bed, little sleepy head And get you a bite to eat The factory whistle's calling you There's no more time to sleep

Hine Photos Explained • http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/ch ildlabor/ • http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/207-b.html

Child Labor Now • http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/gallery/intro.html • WHERE DO CHILD LABORERS LIVE? • 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations In Asia, 22% of the workforce is children. In Latin America, 17% of the workforce is children. The proportion of child laborers varies a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries. See Child Labour: Targeting the Intolerable, Geneva, 1998, p. 7; and other ILO publications. • "In Africa, one child in three is at work, and in Latin America, one child in five works. In both these continents, only a tiny proportion of child workers are involved in the formal sector and the vast majority of work is for their families, in homes, in the fields or on the streets." -- Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report