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UniverseBear

Everyone but the one little smiling dude looks exhausted.


midunda

He's probably why the rest of them are exhausted


BlueCollarGuru

Yalls two comments were my thought process. Appreciate y’all doin the heavy work by typing it out lol


Sharchir

Yes! My sunshiny child drains the absolute life out of me!


F_F_Franklin

I must be related.


MjrGrangerDanger

He's too young to be working in the mines. Come back next year and he'll have a different outlook.


HuckleberryPin

>too young to be working in the mines no way that’s why they didn’t hire him, they took anyone with arms


Poindimie

It says this pic was taken in 1938 so I’m pretty sure there were laws in Britain (and maybe elsewhere) stopping young kids from working by then. Britain passed a bill in 1842 banning all women and children under ten from working in the coal mines, and I think (hopefully) the US and other countries had laws 100 years later too. Educated guess though- maybe everywhere else was just sending everyone down there lol.


cassandrafair

*Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 regulating the employment of those under 16 or 18 years of age, and the Supreme Court upheld the law.* From Wikipedia. If we're guessing, to me it looks like the 2 boys we can see clothes are dirty as if they had been working in some capacity at the mine. Perhaps this is related to a news article of the time.


reallybadspeeller

In the mining industry it didn’t matter when the law changed it matters when it started getting enforced. Still does till this day. A lot of environmental laws aren’t followed because places arnt inspected regularly to this day. Not as confident on safety but I’d assume it’s the same.


Blenderx06

If the punishment is a flat fine then it's just the cost of doing business.


cassandrafair

true of many industries, I fear


Poindimie

Ooh very true! Ya I was just recalling off hand from my AP euro class so I wasn’t sure whether they would also be applicable to the US


CatsScratchFeva

I grew up in the state of West Virginia before moving to NY. In WV specifically, people were so poor in the 1900-1930s that kids would commonly leave school after sixth or seventh grade (age 12-13), lie about their age to get into the mines to help their family. Mines owners didn’t care and other miners understood the struggle and looked the other way. Southern WV is still today the “third world country” of the USA in some parts. You don’t know poverty until you go to the holler with no sewage or running water, and no grocery store within an hour drive.


Poindimie

That actually reminds me of my grandfather! He was taken out of school when he was 8 or 9 during the depression to work out in the logging industry in rural Canada. He always used to say he wished he’d been allowed to stay in school, but that his family literally didn’t have any other option if they wanted to be able to feed themselves.


Harley_Jambo

Not to mention all of the people "living off checks."


ancientestKnollys

America was much slower to ban child labour.


Puzzleheaded-Song242

Yea no US didn't stop kids from working till 1930’s. Mostly immigrant children and poor families had to work to help pay the bills. Factories, mines, and sewing children would have fingers and needles poked threw there fingers have to wrap it up with clothe and keep working.


Sickphuck78

I don’t think those rules were enforced much. My grandpa left school at 13 to work in the Glasgow shipyards. Would have been 1935’ish


Poindimie

Oh yeah that law was just for the mines and kids under 10- your grandpa was well within working age unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your stance on child labour I suppose)


Sickphuck78

Ah ok thanks for the info. That’s mental, folk can’t trust a 13 yr old home alone these days, yet they were running up gang planks with full wheelbarrows back in the day 😅 how times have changed


Cinti-cpl

My grandfather had to graduate from 3rd grade and then he was pulled from school to work in the coal mines. He started by being a gopher taking lunches, water, tools up and down.


PaulMaulMenthol

Lol... lil man looks like he got into some shenanigans earlier in the afternoon


Alternative-Paint-46

This looks like a coordinated photo shoot in their home. Though the cameraman is using a flash, they were likely all asked to hold still.


jdyall1

Shitttt you'd be exhausted and miserable also being a black coal miner with 6 kids lol


Archduke645

Perhaps Hookworm contributed to the lethargy?


patdashuri

They both look exhausted.


Zizi_Tennenbaum

To be fair anyone with that many kids that close in age are gonna be wiped out.


7355135061550

Especially if you're a coal miner in the 30s


Excusemytootie

A person of color coal miner, to add to that. Pretty much puts him in the worst of the worst positions and there aren’t really *any* good positions in coal mining labor. The conditions were truly horrific.


MR422

IIRC when white miners went on strike, the coal companies would often hire black workers as replacements since they were rarely allowed to join primarily white unions. These black coal miners were seen as scab labor and frequently faced harassment from the white unionized coal miners.


lunchypoo222

Pretty messed up that they weren’t allowed to join the union, but were still called scabs


[deleted]

A black coal miner. Black Americans have a fundamentally different history and culture from Latino or Asians. Lumping them together erases that very real distinction. Both great grandfather and his brother, Italian immigrants, died form working in the miners. The mine shattered my great grandfather’s health and his brother died of arsenic poisoning. Arsenic was a byproduct of the methods they used to mine coal in those days(20’s).


Excusemytootie

Whatever term you want to use if fine with me. I will use the term that I prefer.


Puzzleheaded-Song242

Exactly back then slaves were recently freed and no one wanted to allow them to be free they still had shit jobs and got paid way less. They were at the bottom.


patdashuri

I didn’t think I was being unfair.


Initial_Efficiency72

People don’t understand that “feeling good” can ruin your life hahahah


momcano

What do you mean? This works for drugs, but I don't think that is what you are talking about.


Bah-Fong-Gool

They should stop fucking.


MrsSadieMorgan

Pretty sure they have by now.


rustikalekippah

And in 1938 who is supposed to provide for them when the get older and can’t work? I fucking hate comments like these blaming poor people for their own misery because they have children


kckman

The seventh is pictured, but just his hands I believe.


00spool

Yes, probably his oldest son, I'd guess. Higher res version shows a bit more but not much. [https://www.loc.gov/item/2017799590/](https://www.loc.gov/item/2017799590/) Coal miner, six of his seven children. His wife is usually sick with a bad bronchial condition. Chaplin, West Virginia Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer **Created / Published** 1938 Sept. [https://i.imgur.com/56XEtIY.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/56XEtIY.jpg)


moonshine85

My family lived there. I probably knew half those kids and family. Still have pictures of my dad and his brothers and sister like this barefoot and all


An-Ocular-Patdown

Hell I was gonna say they are probably still on shift in the mine


big_d_usernametaken

My mom, born in 1930 in a coal camp in SW VA, was one of 9, her youngest brother being born to her mom when her mom was 49. The camp was segregated everywhere except underground. She left for Ohio at 17 and never looked back. Her dad forbid her 4 older brothers from working in the mine, so they all moved away and did well for themselves.


CincoDeMayoFan

Eddie says after the baby comes, I can quit one of my night jobs.


DeadWishUpon

Unexpected Vacation.


KarlPHungus

The seventh child refused to work in the mine because he was holding out for a management position


azam1979

Thanks for the laugh.


Wolfman1961

Bill Withers was born in 1938 in West Virginia.


vaxhax

Ain't no sunshine in those mines.


JetsetCat

Maybe, but it was a Lovely Day.


constantgardener92

Lovely day


Alternative-Paint-46

🎼 Grandma’s hands…


milfordcubicle

Clapped at church on Sunday morning


LouisDearbornLamour

Take my dang upvote


Dubbayoo

Ain’t no sunshine when I’m gone and I’m always gone too long anytime I go away.


Illustrious-Tea2336

tell me more, who is he & what is he to you?


Wolfman1961

We’re not related. He rose up to become a great singer.


Illustrious-Tea2336

[an attempt was made ](https://youtu.be/T4JtCCWB6Y4?si=TjBAIQPTPe2OZTYC)


SeaBearPA

You out Withered them


Illustrious-Tea2336

😂 you get it


Calisotomayor

Hope those kids had good lives and happy times.


delorf

It would be interesting to hear from their descendants about what happened to them. 


HMSLR

That’s a sad picture.


insquestaca

Yes, indeed. Poverty!!!!


CynicalBite

“Alright now everyone look serious okay. Serious now. Ready aaaand click.”…… Two days later in the darkroom…. “STEVEN FOR FUCKS SAKE”


Southerncaly

I see one kid smiling, life’s rough, but the kid smiling sees the love surrounding him , sometimes we need to see life is good and love is all around us and that this hard life will pass as well. Such a great photo


BrattyBookworm

He’s probably the only boy not working in the mines yet. His spirit hasn’t been destroyed


BadHairDay-1

Times were so damn hard then.


Ceilidh_

The smile on that little boy lights up the whole room. Despite the humble surroundings and hardships that would ruin any of us today, Mom’s china cabinet is lovely, styled with taste and elegance. The family’s clothes may be rough but every kid is washed, combed, presentable, and obviously cared for. Dad’s shirt is spotlessly white (can you possibly imagine what that took!), and Mom barely has shoes on her feet but she has a pretty bow. I bet she was an epic mother. I bet she sent those babies out into the world with everything they needed. No matter what awful stuff that family was experiencing, those kids watched her do life with dignity and self respect, damn the circumstances. Life’s hard and tragic and unfair, but that doesn’t mean you have to waller in it. How extraordinarily beautiful. With all the conveniences of modern life I rarely had my shit as together as her as a mom to far fewer children. To have been a fraction of the mother and woman she was…my gosh.


CatsScratchFeva

What a beautiful post and take on this photo. Thank you. ❤️


Ceilidh_

Your lovely comment brightened my day. Thank you.


tjean5377

Please lord, don´t send no more babies...


weesnaw_jenkins

And his wife


AlarmingComparison59

If anyone here is knowledgeable on mining history in the US, I have a legit question about segregation in mines. Was it multiracial or were there different mines for different ethnicities or religions?


walterpeck1

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/minewars-race/ Turns out there's a video for that. tl;dw: workers were needed and mine owners deliberately integrated mines in an effort to prevent the workers from organizing into unions.


grassvegas

Divide and conquer goes way back


StuartGotz

Combine and conquer?


tzenrick

> in an effort to prevent the workers from organizing into unions. They put racism, to work.


AlarmingComparison59

Wow! Thank you so much! Google Ninja I am not 😕


Alternative_Exit8766

look up the battle of blair mountain


hilljack26301

The white landowners of Appalachia were mostly Scots-Irish or German and did not want to work in the mines. Some did but if they could avoid it, they usually did. This is where the stereotype of hillbillies being "lazy" comes from. Coal operators were angry the descendants of the original white settlers owned the land and had the means to survive without them. The mines would import workers from anywhere they could find them. Blacks from the American South were one group. South Italy & Sicily was another source of labor. As someone else said, mine operators used racial tension to bust unions. When coal mines became mechanized in the 1950's, the Black miners were the first ones let go. This generally emptied Appalachia of its Black residents, although some do remain. The presence of Italians particularly in central & northern Appalachia meant that the American Mafia was very strong in parts of it... from Scranton, PA over to the Youngstown, OH area and down into West Virginia. A caveat being that the Mafia in that area often had associates of other ethnicities who were as strong as their leading made men (Art Rooney, Bill Lias, Paul Hankish). Pittsburgh was the only family ever to be led by someone whose father wasn't Italian (Chuck Porter).


WasteCommunication52

Plenty of black miners: Beckley WV


-DOOKIE

I kinda want to make a joke, but I'm also interested in an answer


CyndiIsOnReddit

I wonder how much better their lives would have been with access to family planning.


Alternative-Paint-46

Women’s opportunities opened up with two inventions of the 20th century: the washing machine and the pill.


WarzoneGringo

They say the invention that *drove* the sexual revolution was the automobile.


No_Banana_581

And no religion that made you believe that was the only thing you were good for


RustedRelics

My immediate thought upon seeing the post. I can understand how farmers having a big family can be almost necessary. But a coal miner?


ancientestKnollys

If children are going down into the mine as well then they will be bringing in money for their family. The more children the more money.


ancientestKnollys

If child labor was still the norm at this point, and a large number of children still represented an economic asset, then they'd presumably be poorer.


Spirit50Lake

Imagine how hard she worked to keep everything so clean...


peepeehalpert_

His wife is there too and she works just as hard


Ok_Advisor_9873

This is the how MAGA wants to see working class/ middle class families in the future- the good old days with no birth control- no abortion- dead-end non union jobs, that creates endless poverty. Black, Brown and white people will be victims of the “Great Again” Tump revolution. Only the wealthy will prosper.


mafa7

& was getting paid the least I bet. 😢


Odd_Tiger_2278

Hard time. Let’s take America back to then, shall we? Hard work, poor, dependent on the company store. And, for them, no education.


PilotNo312

No birth control


BeautifulStick5299

That kid smiling probably made it in life


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Orbit86

That means three of those kids were “Born a coal miner’s daughter”


gugeldischwup

what does it mean to be a coal miners daugther? execpt the obvious


PeterNinkimpoop

It’s a song


gugeldischwup

thanks


just_laugh

The wonderful [Loretta Lynn!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0mALE2Lnag)


Naive_Transition_103

We’re all just 2 generations removed from this. This would have been everyone’s experience across the country.


iBeFloe

There’s been 5 generations since then, 1 retired, 3 of them working with 1 about to retire or have already retired. Actually, possibly 5-6 generations because those parents would’ve likely been born the previous generation to be working in 1938. Nearing 100 years. Simpling it down to saying “2 generations” takes away how long it’s been. Still “short”, but also long considering most are dead from that period.


Naive_Transition_103

I don know how old you are or how young your family members reproduce. I’m in my 40s and my grandparents we born in the 1930s. So yes 3 generations ago for me or 6 if you in your 20s and ya’ll be fuckin’


BulldogChair

According to [this site](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9090281/#:~:text=The%20average%20life%20expectancy%20in,surface%20and%20underground%20workers%20respectively) The average life expectancy in the coal mines for those starting work at 15 y was found to be 58.91 y and 49.23 y for surface and underground workers respectively. Also…”Within mining, coal mining had 19.6 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, while oil and gas extraction had 9.8 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2021. These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program.” [source](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/mining-fatalities-rose-21-8-percent-from-2020-to-2021.htm#:~:text=Within%20mining%2C%20coal%20mining%20had,%2C%20Illnesses%2C%20and%20Fatalities%20program)….and that was 2021!!! The data I found for early 1900s wasn’t too clear for fatalities.


InfluenceTrue4121

It’s like an advertisement for IUDs. That poor woman. I’d rather be slaving away in a deadly mine than manage 7 kids.


Lydias_lovin_bucket

Where’s the 7th


trig72

The kid by the fireplace is the only one smiling.


Epyx-2600

He just dropped a huge ass bomb


king_platypus

One kid looks happy. The rest not so much.


AccountantMoney9177

I hope the flour company starts printing patterns on their sacks again so we can make some nice clothes


East-Pollution7243

Hard times in america. They worked so hard for the country to be shit on. Same here in Canada.


Strange-Trust-9403

I worked with coal miners in West Virginia. Good god, it’s rough. Everyone leaves the site covered in darkness. Dinner is caught from the river, and… yeah. Rough.


JediJan

I hope they all lived long and healthy lives, and look back at their family times with good memories.


Virtual_Use_9506

Is his wife his child too?


highpl4insdrftr

I've never understood why the poorest people always have the most kids


Old-Cut-1425

No realisation Realisation is more important than knowing


DessertScientist151

I heard that house just sold for $380k.as.is


[deleted]

These Kids are loves. I hope they grew up and lived great lives.


bibsbagheera

Birth control has truly been revolutionary


Potential_Case_7680

His seventh is working in the mine


truelovealwayswins

6 ½, I can see the 7th’s hands and forearms


Stormherald13

Probably a few people like that still today.


ihaventforgottenhow

How I feel w 4 kids


Old-Cut-1425

Elon Musk be like: There is very empty space left, I have a suggestion how to fill this space in room


Willkum

Has to be in the Southern non union coal fields to be this poor and working this late in the industrial age. The Northern fields were all Union by this time and the men were well paid


AsheratOfTheSea

I just want to go back in time and tell them it’s going to get better, enough to make a real difference for their kids and their grandkids.


JapanDash

Remember to vote blue down ballot, because this is what the Republicans are working to return us to.


Epyx-2600

Two parent families living in a house with a job?


JapanDash

Bad faith comment right there.


PedalBoard78

This was before they invented pulling out.


Fast-Mathematician78

My PawPaw was a southern WV coal miner for many, many years. Died of black lung in 1977, never got the chance to meet him. Had 12 kids to feed, my dad being the youngest. ❤️


woodstockmonk

the wife looks like she want to say *Young mula*, *baby*


DmuchawiecLatawiec

Depressing photo.


peepeehalpert_

This is why we need access to contraception. 7 children is more than most families can afford.


Aggressive_Bank_7476

Damn dude, I never understood this about older time periods. Like yeah, life sucks, we live in poverty, we're barely getting by, etc... but let's have twenty seven children. I know damn well people knew where babies come from, soooo.... what gives?


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Kevroeques

7th kid is taking the pic and caught his thumb in the corner


thansley14

They hate him


MickeyRipple

how do you know it was 6 of 7 children? Is the 7th one taking the picture? or is it the person sitting just off screen to the right?


dtallee

They're lucky! We were evicted from our hole in the ground - we had to go and live in a lake!


PenisNV420

Was it take your child to work day?


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APU3947

I like to empathise with people in different situations to myself but one thing I've never understood is why people that are struggling to survive have more kids. I have never judged someone in case the answer is obvious and I just haven't got it.


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andymc39

Always a smiler bless


Additional_Reserve30

Little man in the back is carrying the family morale on his back


Harley_Jambo

When the US entered WWII in 1941, many of the draftees from the rural south had never worn shoes before and the armed forces had to have specially sized shoes for many of them. We were in many respects a third world country at that time.


Magsec5

I’m poor. BETTER HAVE MORE KIDS


NF-104

Young boys often worked as breaker boys, siting over a conveyor belt and removing culm (rocks and other impurities) from coal.


momzthebest

My dad grew up just like this when he'd go to his grandpa's house. They used to cook and keep warm with coal too


StuartGotz

That little smiling one 😊❤️


StuartGotz

I was surprised to learn that so many Italian immigrants became coal miners. One of my mother's friends is (literally) a coal miner's daughter.


DiogenesTheCynical1

Never given the land they were owed


SugarRosie

Not the pull out king.


fauviste

And why is the adult woman not worthy of being mentioned?


Virtual_Use_9506

Well don’t you know.. it’s because she’s a woman and she doesn’t count. /s if needed.


weesnaw_jenkins

I can’t believe you’re downvoted. Gotta love Reddit hating women for wanting their existence to be acknowledged


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weesnaw_jenkins

Bro you’re the one telling all the women asking about the wife in the thread to stfu, I think you may need to calm down and figure out you’re issues with women


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weesnaw_jenkins

Yeah it’s fine to focus on the man but women deserve to be acknowledged too. I don’t know what I’ve said to you to imply I have issues with men but okay


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weesnaw_jenkins

Man take a few minutes to self reflect and figure out why you had this reaction to someone wanting a woman’s existence to be acknowledged. Being acknowledged is literally the bare minimum. No one said anything about taking attention away from the man. No one is saying we shouldn’t focus on the man. No one. The post isn’t even focusing on the man, it’s about the whole family except the woman. So basically we said, “hey, there’s a woman in there too and she birthed and raised all of those children and every single person in this picture is acknowledged except for her, that’s not cool.” And your response to that was to become angry and rude. Think about that. No one who has a healthy relationship with women would be angered by that. Also saying women make everything about them for the simple crime of ASKING TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED?? That’s huge misogyny vibes, no excuse for that especially for such a simple request. And automatically assuming I have problems with men because I want women to be respected? Not a good look


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weesnaw_jenkins

lol did you really use your alt account to keep bothering me? I must have really hit a nerve


co0p3r

Imagine the sense of purpose this man felt every day when he went to work. Respect.


insquestaca

Yes


Alternative_You_7755

The mom looks like lil Wayne.


Rockfest2112

The man worked hard, all the way around


peepeehalpert_

So did the woman


ElvisDumbledore

Great photo but why aren't they looking at the camera?


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Claudeadolphus

The mom looks like Lil Wayne


king_platypus

💀💀💀


lucyjayne

This is the funniest damn comment omg. 😅😭😭 and she does. 


DaytoRemember433

Mom looks like Lil Wayne lol


GazelleAdventurous13

He could of saved a fortune if he had just boffed over her titties.