America's little-seen child labor problem

+ criminal law scholar unpacks Trump indictment US Edition - Today's top story: The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they've left behind [View in browser]( US Edition | 10 June 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( At the turn of the 20th century, photographer Lewis Wickes Hine – who considered himself an “investigator with a camera” – started documenting the working conditions of America’s children, sometimes disguising himself as a Bible salesman to gain entry into the country’s factories, coal mines and farms. His images of soot-covered, cotton-picking, newspaper-lugging boys and girls are a big reason Congress went on to pass a series of child labor laws. Fast-forward to today, when the U.S. Department of Labor finds itself under fire for failing to enforce child labor laws, with reports emerging of an unaccounted underclass of child workers. Unlike the children in Hine’s photographs, they tend to be Central American immigrants. But they, too, are performing hazardous jobs in America’s factories and fields. And yet, as explained by photohistorian Beth Saunders of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, there is [little visual evidence of their plight](. “Photographs of child labor in foreign countries are far more common than those made in the U.S.,” Saunders writes. “Perhaps it’s too hard for Americans to look at this domestic issue square in the eyes.” This week we also liked stories about the Netflix documentary series on [Cleopatra and ancient Nubia](, Pat Robertson’s [impact on American Christian identity and politics]( and endocrine-disrupting [chemicals in cosmetics](. Nick Lehr Arts + Culture Editor Lewis Wickes Hine, ‘A little spinner in a Georgia Cotton Mill, 1909.’ Gelatin silver print, 5 x 7 in. The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P545) [The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they’ve left behind]( Beth Saunders, University of Maryland, Baltimore County While Lewis Hine’s early-20th century photographs of working children compelled Congress to limit or ban child labor, the US Department of Labor is now under fire for failing to enforce these laws. Special counsel Jack Smith prepares to talk to reporters on June 9, 2023, after the indictment of former President Donald Trump. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images [Trump indictment unsealed – a criminal law scholar explains what the charges mean, and what prosecutors will now need to prove]( Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis There are 38 felony charges against former President Donald Trump, and while it’s unlikely, he could potentially be sentenced to serve 400 years if found guilty on all of them. 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