Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine was an influential American photographer and social reformer, born on September 26, 1874, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He is best known for his poignant photographs that documented the lives of ordinary Americans, particularly immigrants and child laborers, during the early 20th century. Hine's early experiences in low-paying jobs exposed him to the harsh realities faced by working-class families and motivated him to pursue a career in education and photography. He utilized photography as a powerful tool for social change, exposing the exploitation of child labor and advocating for reform through his work with the National Child Labor Committee.
Hine's groundbreaking approach to photography emphasized the dignity of his subjects, often capturing raw, unaltered moments that challenged the idealized representations common in his time. His work significantly influenced social policies and fueled public awareness regarding labor issues, particularly during the Great Depression. Beyond his work in child labor, Hine documented various aspects of American life, including the efforts of organizations like the American Red Cross during World War I and the construction of iconic structures such as the Empire State Building. Despite his significant contributions, Hine's legacy faded in his later years, only to be revived shortly before his death on November 3, 1940. His life’s work remains a testament to the potential of photography as a means of education and social improvement.
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Subject Terms
Lewis Hine
Photographer, social reformer
- Born: September 26, 1874
- Place of Birth: Oshkosh, Wisconsin
- Died: November 3, 1940
- Place of Death: Dobbs Ferry, New York
Significance: Lewis Hine was a pioneer of photography and an important figure in social reform. His realistic photographs of ordinary Americans, including immigrants and child laborers, motivated social reforms and promoted a greater understanding of American society in the early twentieth century.
Background
Lewis Hine was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on September 26, 1874. His parents were Douglas Hull Hine, a Civil War veteran, and Sarah Hayes Hine, a teacher. When Hine was a teenager, his father died, leaving him in charge of helping to support the family. Hine took a succession of low-paying jobs. At one point, he worked in a factory that produced fabric coverings for furniture. Hine worked nearly eighty hours each week for a $4 salary. In another job, as custodian in a bank, Hine worked for years with no hope of advancement.
During his early work experiences, Hine noticed many children being forced to work long hours in conditions that were frequently dirty and dangerous. Hoping to escape this sort of fate, he attended university classes. These classes changed his life in two ways. First, they introduced him to sociology, the study of societies. Secondly, they provided him the opportunity to meet Frank Manny, a local school principal, who encouraged Hine to become a teacher. Hine studied under instructors such as Ella Flagg Young and John Dewey, who had innovative ideas about how to engage and educate children.
Upon completing his courses, Hine found a job teaching nature studies and geography to students at the Ethical Culture School in New York. Even more importantly, Hine became the school photographer. He learned all about cameras and photography, at the time still a young art and technology. However, Hine enjoyed the task and quickly learned about the importance of photographs and their ability to capture important events and truths about life. Even in his everyday photographic tasks at the school, Hine demonstrated enthusiasm and skill for taking meaningful and moving pictures.
Life's Work
Hine quickly realized the potential of photography as a tool to educate people and improve society. He and Manny designed a project for students that involved photographing new immigrants to the United States at Ellis Island, New York. In the early 1900s, tens of thousands of immigrants were coming to the country, largely from eastern and southern Europe, in search of better lives. Hine felt that photographing them helped to document their struggles and ambitions and help them gain respect, understanding, and acceptance from native-born Americans.
Hine's educational project was a success, and he began publishing his photographs as well as articles about the uses of photography. He also continued his own education, earning a master's degree in pedagogy (teaching) in 1905 and attending classes at the Columbia School of Social Work. There, his desire to help society grew, and through new connections he made, Hine found a job working with the National Child Labor Committee, an organization that worked to regulate child labor. Hine would do some of his life's most important work for this group.
Hine spent years traveling across the United States, from factories, mines, and slums of the Northeast to the poorest towns and farming communities in the South. Along the way, he documented and photographed hundreds of children being exploited for labor. Hine knew his mission was a dangerous one. Business owners who used illegal child labor generally went to great lengths—including violence—to protect their secret. To gain access to protected areas and avoid violence, Hine often wore disguises and assumed false identities, sometimes pretending to be a traveling salesman or a machine inspector. Hine later published his findings, which shocked thousands of readers and helped convince the government that stronger action was needed against the vile practices of child labor.
In the first two decades of the 1900s, Hine's photography had a direct and important influence on social policy. He also unintentionally affected the art of photography. Most early art photographers sought idyllic subjects, staged to enhance beauty and romance. Hine's work was the stark opposite, showing the dark, dirty, depressed side of life for many real people throughout the country. He seldom staged his subjects but rather asked people to look straight into the camera; that way, viewers could connect directly with their eyes.
Hine's significant successes won him acclaim and new, challenging photographic assignments. During World War I (1914–1918), Hine created a photographic record of the American Red Cross and its efforts to help injured and displaced people in Europe. In the 1920s, he worked for a wide variety of American organizations, including health groups, labor unions, government commissions, and social and religious groups. He photographed Boy Scouts, tuberculosis doctors, textile workers, working women, homemakers, and industrialized cities. His pictures created a visual summary of the United States during a period of brisk growth and change.
By 1924, Hine was winning awards for his work, including the Art Directors Club of New York Medal. In the early 1930s, he gained further acclaim and assignments of national importance. As the country struggled through the Great Depression (1929–1939), Hine took photographs to help many government relief agencies such as the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal Agency, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. He also took on the monumental—and dangerous—task of photographing the construction of the Empire State Building, a job that required him to climb and work among men and machines hundreds of feet above the ground.
In his later years, Hine's contributions were virtually forgotten. Shortly before his death, a retrospective of his work reintroduced the public to his photography.
Impact
Motivated by the idea of using photography for education and social improvement, Hine took photographs that captured the dignity and struggles of immigrants and exposed the suffering of child laborers. His pictures showed the developments of the United States in the 1920s and its plunge into the Great Depression. Hine also changed the art of photography. Whereas many photographers searched for beauty, Hine found the most beauty in documenting stark reality in a way that could help the world.
Personal Life
Hine married Sara Ann Rich in 1904. The couple had a son. Hine died in New York on November 3, 1940.
Bibliography
"Child Labor Exposed: The Legacy of Photographer Lewis Hine." New England Historical Society, 2024, www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/child-labor-exposed-legacy-photographer-lewis-hine/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
"Lewis Hine (1874–1940)." International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, www.iphf.org/hof-lewis-hine?rq=lewis%20hine. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Lewis Wickes Hine (1874–1940) American." International Center for Photography, www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/lewis-wickes-hine?all/all/all/all/0. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
Natanson, Barbara Orbach. "About This Collection." US Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/national-child-labor-committee/about-this-collection/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Nemerov, Alexander. Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine. Princeton UP, 2016.
Sampsell-Willmann, Kate. Lewis Hine as Social Critic. UP of Mississippi, 2009.