The haunting photographs of early 20th century American child workers that helped change labour laws

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 04:30 GMT, 22 May 2012 | UPDATED: 11:54 GMT, 22 May 2012

Working as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, sociologist Lewis Hine documented the working and living conditions of children in the United States between 1908 and 1924.

He travelled around 50,000 miles a year, photographing children from Chicago to Florida working in coal mines, factories and cotton mills for the lobbying organisation.

His hard-hitting body of work, profiled by America Suburb X consists of more than 5,000 images, ultimately helped bring about stricter labour laws and gave youngsters their childhoods back.

Tragic: Some young dirt-covered boys, whose ages and identities are unknown, working in Avondale Mills in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1910

FULL STORY & PICS:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147935/Haunting-photograph...