Mother Jones Organized Against Child Labor 120 Years Ago: Let’s Resume Her Fight

A big reason these developments feel so startling is because the battle against child labor at the state and federal level was — so we thought — fought and won long ago through a decades-long campaign that began in the late 19th century and ended with the passage and upholding of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. Above: A colorized photo depicts a child laborer standing among machinery in a cotton mill in Newbery, South Carolina, 1908.