The child labor stamp is a walk through history, back to a time when children worked in mines, mills, and agriculture. It represents progress in curtailing child labor's worst abuses in the United States. The National Consumers League was there when Lewis Hine took the famous photographs, one of which is depicted on the stamp we honor today. The League, on behalf of the nation's consumers, has advocated for nearly 100 years for child labor laws and effective enforcement of those laws.
Today, we join with other members of the Child Labor Coalition in celebrating the progress which has been made. But, this stamp should also remind our nation that child labor is more than an exercise in history, but a reality today. Child migrant workers, here in the United States, are at work harvesting and processing many of our nation's fruits and vegetables. Children around the globe are at work producing many of the goods we find on our nation's store shelves and clothing racks.
Let us use this opportunity, not to applaud where we've been and how far we have come. But, let us look forward and work toward a day when child labor exploitation is eradicated in our communities, our nation, and around the globe.
Other child labor resources on the Internet
What consumers can do to stop child labor
Highlights of the Child Labor Coalition's 1997 Child Labor State Survey
NCL and AFOP Launch Campaign to End Child
Labor