Newsboy "Little Fattie"

In 1900, more than 18% of the labor force in the United States was comprised of children. While children worked in factories and mines, a large percentage of orphans survived by selling newspapers. When thinking of "newsies", what often comes to mind is cute little boys who were selling papers for "fun" money. But most often they were starving children trying to support themselves.

Lewis Wickes Hine was a photographer who took a series of photos in 1910 documenting child workers in an attempt to change child labor laws. He was trying to change the poor conditions of these children by making them visible to everyone. The name of this cute boy in St.Louis isn't known, only his nickname was documented by Lewis. Not knowing his name, we don't know what happened to "Little Fattie" but we hope that his picture changed his life and those of others in similar conditions.
Only six years old when this photo was taken, and still melting our hearts over 100 years later.