Homework in 1912. Child welfare. Girls age 6,9, 11.

Girls six, nine and eleven years old, working on chain bags. Mrs. Antonio Caruso 132 Knight Street Providence Rhode Island. 1912. From 1911 to 1916, Hine traveled across southern and eastern states capturing thousands of unflinching images that exposed the heartless treatment of children. More often than not, Hine had to resort to trickery to gain access from resistant, even hostile, employers. He posed variously as a Bible salesman, industrial photographer, fire inspector and insurance agent to get candid shots, sometimes with a hidden camera. Children might be removed from view before he arrived or he might be barred from the premises altogether. When Hine couldn’t find a way in, he waited outside the gates and photographed the children as they entered and exited.