This industry was built on their backs. These heartbreaking images reveal their story.
15-year-old Vance worked for several years in a West Virginia coal mine making 75 cents a day for 10 hours of work. All he did all day was open and shut the door pictured here. Library of Congress/Flickr Breaker boys in Pittston, Pa. 1911. Library of Congress Drivers and mules in Gary, W.Va. 1908. Library of Congress A young laborer who'd been working 10-hour days for about a year at the Brown Mine in Brown, W.Va. 1908.Library of Congress West Virginia boys stand near the coal mine in which they work. Date unspecified.Lewis Hine/Bettmann/Getty Images Dave, a young laborer at Bessie Mine in Alabama. 1910.Library of Congress Breaker boys in Luzerne County, Pa. Date unspecified. Ping News/Flickr A boy stands inside the Turkey Knob Mine in Macdonald, W.Va. The boy had to stoop on account of low roof, as the photo was taken more than a mile inside the mine. 1908. Library of Congress Breaker boys at Woodward Coal Mines in Kingston, Pa. 1900.Wikimedia Commons "Shorpy," an allegedly 14-year-old worker at Bessie Mine in Alabama, carries two heavy pails of grease. 1910.Wikimedia Commons Breaker boys sort coal near South Pittston, Pa. 1911. Wikimedia Commons A trapper boy stands near the door he's supposed to periodically open and close to control ventilation in the mine as part of his 10-hour workday. Location unspecified. Circa 1908.Library of Congress A young boy takes a break from digging for coal on the snowy roadside in Scott's Run, W.Va. The photographer noted that the child was barefoot and seemed to be used to it. Circa 1937. Wikimedia Commons A 14-year-old miner named Frank heads home. He had been working in the mine for three years and was in the hospital for one year when his leg was crushed by a coal car. Date and location unspecified.Library of Congress A group of breakers pose for a photo. Location unspecified. January 1911. New York Public Library Collection Child miners. Location unspecified. Circa 1912. Wikimedia Commons Former laborer whose legs were cut off by a motor car in a coal mine in West Virginia when he was 14 years old. 1910. Library of Congress Arthur Havard at work for the Pennsylvania Coal Company. 1911. Library of Congress Welch, a West Virginia boy believed to be about 13 years old, at work during his 10-hour shift. 1908. Library of Congress A mine driver and his mule. Location unspecified. 1908. New York Public Library Collection A boy brings a coal train to a halt. Location and date unspecified. New York Public Library Collection A one-legged former coal miner in Wilkes Barre, Pa. 1909.Library of Congress A boy at work at the Turkey Knob Mine in MacDonald, W.Va. 1908. Library of Congress Boys at work at Tennessee's Cross Mountain Mine. Date unspecified.Library of Congress Worker at a Pennsylvania mine. 1930.New York Public Library Collection Basil Roberts and James Hopper, both 12 years old, cull waste from zinc ore at Coleman Bros. Zinc Mine in Aurora, Mo. Date unspecified.Library of Congress A group of especially young breaker boys. Location unspecified. 1911.New York Public Library Collection Ore shovelers at Daisy Bell Mine in Aurora, Mo. 1910.Library of Congress A young boy carries an armful of steel rods along the elevated track at the Bessie Mine in Alabama. 1910.Library of Congress This young mine driver spent about ten hours a day underground. West Virginia. 1908.Library of Congress Miners head home after a day's work. Pennsylvania. 1913.Library of Congress
31 Child Labor Photos That Expose The Ugly History Of American Coal View GalleryEarly 20th-century America remains notorious for widespread use of child labor. By 1910, some 2 million kids between the ages of 5 to 15 were employed in the United States — and we're not talking about paper routes. Children were exposed to massive amounts of heat in the glass-making industry, the whirling heavy machinery in textile mills, and the suffocating dust of coal mines.
Putting children to work in this way might seem exploitative now. But at the time, kids already worked on family farms and as apprentices. When industrial businesses boomed in the late 19th century, it only made sense to usher them into the industrial workforce populated by adults.
Coal mining, in particular, became especially important: it was the energy source that provided electricity, powered new factories' machinery, and heated buildings.
Pushed into this booming industry, children often worked as trappers, opening and closing a wooden ventilation door at the mouth of the mine at various times. This was sometimes a 12-hour shift, spent alone and in near dark conditions. Other children worked inside the mines pushing the coal trucks (or minding the mules that pulled them) through narrow tunnels. More yet labored as breaker boys who broke coal into more uniform pieces and removed the impurities.
All the while, owners benefited greatly by hiring children to work in their mines. These children could squeeze into spaces too small for adults. You could also pay them less and they were easier to manage than adults.
But for the children, it meant forgoing their education and being subject to workplace dangers likely beyond their comprehension. If a child did happen to get hurt on the job, often there was no compensation for their injuries. Employers would sometimes claim the child had exhibited "contributory negligence."
Like one boy featured in a photo above, named Arthur Havard. He was severely injured in a narrow tunnel when he was caught between a kicking mule and a coal truck. His employer claimed that the boy "...was fully aware of the conditions of which he complains, and assumed the risk of remaining in such employment."
Eventually, abuses like these helped lead to the formation of the National Child Labor Committee. The NCLC hired photographers like the famed Lewis Hine (who took many of the photos above) to finally expose the conditions in which young children had been toiling all this time.
Next, see some of the historic Lewis Hine child labor photos that helped end the practice in the U.S. Then, discover the bloody history of American coal mining in this look at the Battle of Blair Mountain and the Mine Wars.
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