Children at Work depicts the harsh conditions under which children worked in the 19th and early 20th centuries in mills, factories, mines, and cities, as told through personal accounts of the children and the words and photographs of social reformers. Often required to help support their families, children served as unregulated and inexpensive labor for a growing U.S. industrial economy. Later, reformers publicized children's working conditions to help gain passage of child labor laws. This volume also includes contextual summaries, vocabulary, activities, and photographs of children at work.