Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States. Lewis Wickes Hine was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1874. After his father died in an accident, he began working and saved his money for a college education. Hine studied sociology at the University of Chicago, Columbia University and New York University. He became a teacher in New York City at the Ethical Culture School, where he encouraged his students to use photography as an educational... medium. The classes traveled to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, photographing the thousands of immigrants who arrived each day. Between 1904 and 1909, Hine took over 200 plates , and eventually came to the realization that documentary photography could be employed as a tool to effectuate social change and reform. In 1906, Hine became the staff photographer of the Russell Sage Foundation.
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| Birthdate: | September 26, 1874 |
| Birthplace: | Oshkosh, Wisconsin |
| Date of death: | November 3, 1940 |
| Also known as: | Lewis Wickes Hine |