Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine was an American photographer who used his camera as a tool for social change. Born in Wisconsin in 1874, he trained as a teacher before realizing that photographs could expose injustice more powerfully than words. He documented immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and, most famously, child laborers in mills, mines, and factories across the United States.

His honest, dignified images of children at dangerous work helped build public support for laws to protect them. Later he celebrated the American worker, including a remarkable series taken during the building of the Empire State Building. Hine proved that photography could be a force for reform, and his compassionate pictures remain landmarks of documentary art.