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Somerville and New England History Collection
 
The girl at left, Annie Fedele of 22 Horace Street, Somerville,
was one of many child laborers photographed by Walter Lewis
Hine when he worked for the National Child Labor Committee from
1908 to 1912. During the early years of the twentieth century,
child labor was at an all-time high and reformers documented
the conditions under which children worked to support their
campaign for laws limiting the practice. Annie Fedele worked
crocheting underwear. According to the 1910 report Child
Labor in Massachusetts, the pay for such work was typically
"twenty cents per dozen garments." The authors of
the report also stated that, "The children work long hours
and often late at night by lamplight. Small children of five,
seven and nine years of age work in a bending position until
nine or ten o'clock." The Committee brought the nation's
attention to the plight of such young workers, and many state
legislatures passed laws banning child labor. From 1910 to 1920,
the number of child laborers in the U.S. decreased by roughly
half.
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