The Young America (Ellis Island)

Sociologist Lewis Wickes Hine took up photography at the request of New York’s Ethical Culture School, and he soon became one of America’s earliest and best known social reform photographers. Although his photographs of child laborers are his most recognizable, his subjects extended to adults and families as well. From 1904 until 1909, Hine photographed immigrants upon their arrival at Ellis Island as an assignment for the Ethical Culture School. As with his labor portraits, Hine’s photographs of immigrants tug at the heartstrings without being patronizing. He treats his subjects with dignity and emphasizes their individuality. The figures shown here suggest the complex joy and anxiety of those arriving at Ellis Island.