Sociologist and photographer Lewis Hine documented injustice and promoted social change in the United States. Hine’s photographs of children working in factories and mines were instrumental in triggering child labor laws during the Industrial Revolution.

Hine was born in 1874 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1905, he began documenting the experiences of immigrants entering the United States through Ellis Island, just outside New York City. Hine later traveled throughout the US, photographing working-class children and families for the National Child Labor Committee.

Hine’s empathetic portraits captured the brutal working conditions of the period and helped spur federal regulations. Thanks to his work, Congress passed the Keating-Owens Act of 1916, establishing minimum age requirements for children working in mines and factories. Hine died in 1940 at age 66.