Photo by GMB Akash from his series 'Born to Work' in Bangladesh
When one thinks of child labor in the context of our American Labor Day Holiday or the International Day of Labor, otherwise known as May Day, the mind drifts back to images of the Industrial revolution of the 18th Century to children toiling in factories and mines in the UK and US. However the roots of child labor go much deeper and their reach spreads far and wide across the globe. Nonetheless despite outrage, laws and social advancements child labor continues to plague our global society, as the face of child labor often looks sickeningly similar to the haunting images of the past. Children as young as six were widely employed and were subjected to merciless exploitation under working conditions that amounted to virtual slavery in its most oppressive forms. They were not only worked to exhaustion, they were beaten, ill-fed and paid a pittance. Many were driven to early alcoholism and other degradations, and in not insignificant numbers even driven to early death.”
Photo & caption by Lewis W. Hine; 'Wheaton Glass Works. Boy is Howard Lee. His mother showed me the family record in Bible which gave his birth as July 15, 1894. 15 years old now, but has been in glass works two years and some nights. Millville, N.J.'
According to historian, Roger Butterfield in The American Past, more than 1,752,000 children under 16 years of age where part of the American labor force by the 1900’s. One-fourth, some 20,000, of the laborers in the Souths cotton mills were children (boys and girls) under 12years of age,who were often forced to work 13 hour days. By the mid 20th Century America saw a significant decrease in the number of child laborers, the decline was directly correlated to the increase of access to education, as well as a decrease in demand due to better laws and labor standard and technological advances.
However America has not been left untainted by child labor, as we wield our dollars to demand cheap products, we often fail to see that while the price to pay for such consumer products is not ours, their is a high price to pay and it often comes at the hands of children. These products tainted with child and slave labor flood our market place and our homes. However one does not have to look beyond out borders to see grave violations, as children are also engaged in child labor right here at home. Child peddling rings are active in most states, such as many who go door to door selling s of chocolate or magazines. Other children, especially immigrant and illegal residents, are held in sweatshops in our large cities. Domestic and foreign national children are forced to work in the commercial sex industry, children are held to work as domestic servants, and much more, including our fields.
Child picking cotton in Uzbekistan, Photograph by Thomas Grabka (http://www.grabka-fotografie.de/)
While the complete eradication of child labor has been placed as a priority in many countries, the goals are a long way off from being achieved, and many countries are not looking at short-term solutions and programs. It is essential that those forms of child labor, which pose the highest safety and health risks, be immediately addressed. The majority of child labors, some three-fourths, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, including; child soldiers, sexual exploitation and hazardous work in industries such as brick manufacturing.
This photograph was taken after the Civil War, probably in the 1870s. It is from a stereoview card.
While the images of children picking cotton in the deep south seem to have faded from American fields, children in Uzbekistan have taking over in mirror images in cotton fields across the country. Children forced from school to provide cheap or free labor, may have very well worked to ensure your new tee-shirt came a a cost you could resist as you trudging through the racks of endless options on your last shopping trip.
But while the images of black American slave children picking cotton in the deep south may have faded from the view and minds of many children are still toiling away in our fields. You can see more in the report by the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (FOP) in the Children in the Fields Report 2007
. According to Heather Anderson the Children in the Fields Project Director, FOP…”has documented children working in onions in Texas and Colorado, sugar beets in North Dakota and Minnesota, cherries in Washington, blueberries in North Carolina, and peaches in California, as well as heard reports about many other crops in other states.”
While labor Day was established on September 5, 1882 in New York City, following the deaths of a number of workers by the US military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike. Then President Grover Cleveland ensured that Labor Day was a high priority, so much so that Congress unanimously and signed the Holiday on into law only a mere six days after the strike ended. Thus the day while founded for the sacrifices of many men, women and children in the United States, in many ways gives us the need for a moment to look and see that in reality the face of child labor hasn’t changed as much as one would think and that much needs to be done to ensure that across the globe children are both protected and allowed to be children.
