The Cotton Mill Children Exhibit

The Cotton Mill Children:

Tifton’s Impact on America

January 6 – 16, 2025
The Syd Blackmarr Arts Center    255 Love Avenue, Tifton

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This exhibit is FREE and open to the public.
Donations are welcome.
 
 

Exhibit Hours
Wednesdays – Sundays
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm

 

Exhibit Reception
Monday, January 6th
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

 

 

 
 -Additional Events –
Divergent Horizons Symposium:
Wednesday, January 15th
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Click here for more info
 
Live at The Syd:
The Story Behind the Photos:
The Cotton Mill Children
Thursday, January 16th
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Click here for more info

 

Step into history and witness the power of photography to ignite social change.

Pictured above: Two of the “helpers” in the Tifton Cotton Mill, Tifton, Ga. They work regularly, 1909. Eddie Lou Young at right, 8 years old. Tifton, Georgia, January 22, 1909. Photo and caption by Lewis Hine.

Introducing The Photography of Lewis Hine

This groundbreaking exhibit showcases the work of Lewis Hine, whose compelling images captured the harsh realities of child labor conditions in America in the early 1900s. Among his most striking works are photographs taken right here in Tifton, Georgia, where he documented the lives of young children working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. His unflinching lens revealed the stories of children often overlooked, becoming a catalyst for crucial reforms in workers’ rights and safety standards that continue to shape America today.

About the Photographer

Pictured: Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine’s early experiences shaped his lifelong commitment to social reform. Born in Wisconsin in 1874, Hine was forced to delay his education after his father’s death, taking on various jobs to support his family. Determined to continue his studies, he enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1900, later teaching at New York City’s Ethical Culture School while pursuing further education. It was during this time that Hine discovered photography, using it as a tool to educate his students and document social issues, including poverty and immigration. His work at Ellis Island and for the Pittsburgh Survey brought attention to the struggles of the working class, establishing him as a leading figure in the use of photography to drive social change.

In 1908, Lewis Hine became an investigator and photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, a private organization established in New York City in 1904. Over the next decade, Hine traveled across the country, capturing more than 5,000 photographs of child laborers and often documenting their names and ages. His work played a crucial role in advancing the movement to enact effective child labor laws.

 

The Tifton Connection

Captioned by Lewis Hine: Workers in the Tifton (Ga.) Cotton Mills. All these children were working or helping. 125 workers in all. Some of the smallest boys and girls have been there one year or more. Location: Tifton, Georgia, January 1909.

During the early 1900s it is estimated that nearly one fourth of all children aged 14 and younger employed in the cotton mill industry of the South were found in the State of Georgia.

In 1909, Hine travelled to Tifton, Georgia, to document the child laborers at the Tifton Cotton Mill. According to the National Child Labor Committee Investigation Report, Hine writes of his experience:

At Tifton, Georgia, there is a cotton mill employing 125 hands. I obtained several photos of the entire force at noon. This is the largest proportion of youngsters I have ever seen in a cotton mill. Everyone in the photo (except the boy with the football, who is the Supt.’s son) works or helps regularly in the mill.

Part of Hine’s photographic documentation while in Tifton focused on one of the impoverished families who worked at the mill. Through his lens, Hine captured the desperate situation faced by Mrs. A. J. Young, a widowed mother to eleven children, and the tough choices she had to make in order to provide a life for her family.

100 years later, one captivating Lewis Hine photo of a bright eyed child from the Young family of Tifton would capture the fascination of modern day historian, Joe Manning. It is because of the extensive research of Manning, and collaboration with ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture, that we now know the story behind the photographs of Lewis Hine and the history of the Young family.

Discover the Story for Yourself

Pictured: Massachusetts Historian, Joe Manning,

In 2013-2014 ABAC’s GMA worked with Massachusetts historian Joe Manning and others to develop a traveling exhibition featuring the work of photographer Lewis Hine. This exhibit highlights the research of Joe Manning, who in 2006 discovered a series of photographs by Lewis Hine taken at the Tifton Cotton Mill. Enchanted by the image of a little girl in a plaid dress with an enigmatic smile, Manning embarked on a mission to discover the identities of the children and to learn about their lives and those of their families.

Visitors to this exhibit will experience the emotional story of the Young Family and learn more about Lewis Hine’s role in facilitating change to labor laws in early 1900s America. In addition to photos, this exhibit features artifacts collected at the Tifton Cotton Mill.

Links for further study

Learn more about Lewis Hine:
University of Illinois Chicago

Learn more about historian Joe Manning and the Lewis Hine Project:
https://morningsonmaplestreet.com

View the full National Child Labor Committee Collection:
Library of Congress