Kibbe’s Candy Factory. Francis
Clancey, 14 years, Walter St., Brightwood. Left school a few weeks ago to work
at Kibbe’s. Earns $3.50. Location: Springfield, Massachusetts October 1910. Lewis
W. Hine. Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/2018675494
Child labor was the target of social
reformers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Photographer and
sociologist Lewis Hine documented children and their working conditions during
the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a time when many
states did not have child labor laws. In 1642, Massachusetts Bay Colony
required parents to ensure their children could read and understand the
principles of religion and the laws of the country. In 1836, the state passed
the first child labor law in the country, requiring children under 15 to go to
school at least three months a year. Immigrant children fell through the net.
Irish-born Mary McDonough, despite being raised in Massachusetts, signed her
name with an “X” even as an adult in 1891.