Children as young as 8 years old worked in dangerous conditions during the Industrial Revolution to meet the high demand for coal. They worked long hours in dark, cramped mines where the air was thick with coal dust, sorting coal from rock and risking injury from cave-ins. Those who worked as "breaker boys" faced numb fingers from the cold and pressure from overseers to work faster. Many children suffered injuries or lost fingers in the machinery in the mills and factories where they replaced bobbins or pushed coal carts through narrow tunnels.

1. Faces of Despair Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution

2. Coal….A valuable resource - Used to heat homes -Used in furnaces for turning ore into iron and steel -Used to power steam engines

3. The dust was so dense at times to obscure the view. A kind of slave driver stands over the boys, prodding them to work faster. It’s not easy to sort the coal pieces from the shale……… My fingers are getting numb from the cold.

4. At the close of day….waiting for the cage to go up Shallow mines were not good enough. Greedy businessmen wanted to go deeper and deeper.

5. Breaker boys They like us because we are small and we can get into tight spaces. No one cares what happens to us. We are the cheapest to hire….we are lucky to get food and a place to sleep. Wages? What are wages?

6. Coal seams could go hundreds of feet down now that water could be pumped out using Watt’s steam engine. Sparks Gas

7. Children were paid about ¼ of an adult male wage.

8. Faces of Lost Youth

9. Adolescent girls from a mill… The same dress was worn for 3 or 4 days. Rest periods were typically 15 minutes for breakfast, 30 minutes for dinner and 15 minutes for drinking water.

10. Doffer boys Our job is to replace the bobbins in the power looms Lost two fingers last year when they got caught in the machines. The boss almost fired me.

11. Bald spots often developed on the tops of the children’s heads as they crawled through the tunnels pushing carts of cold. †The children's tiny bodies were ideal for the job of "hurrying" coal because they could crawl through the tight tunnels.