Art
This photograph documents a young girl operating a cotton spinning machine, typical factory work for children in early 1900s America. Child labor in textile mills was ordinary and legal, shaping the daily lives of thousands of working-class families across the country.
Art · Full story
The machine hums beneath your fingers. You're small enough to fit between the spindles, which is exactly why you're here instead of in school. Around you, dozens of other children tend their frames, the clatter so constant you barely hear it anymore. Your hands move by memory now.
Reflect
What would have been different about your own childhood if you had worked in a mill instead of going to school?