Children belonging to families of Stark and Schwartz, beet workers near Sterling, Colo. Family, including children, work from 5 A.M. to 6 P.M, with only half an hour for lunch, a work-day of over 12 hours. Sterling, Colorado, 1915
From the colonial era onwards, child labor was woven into the fabric of American society. Necessity, not malice, often defined the lives of children, who contributed to farmwork, apprenticeships, and home-based industries.
However, with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the nature of child labor shifted dramatically. Factories beckoned, their voracious appetites easily satiated by the nimble fingers and small statures of children. Textile mills, mines, and glass factories became the new playgrounds, echoing with the clatter of machinery and the hollow coughs of dust-choked lungs.
