DID YOU KNOW...

 These were the Breaker Boys. 

The boys didn’t wear gloves, masks or other safety equipment, despite facing many dangers. This was common—safety was often an afterthought to productivity in the late 1800s. Breaker boys often cut their hands on the slate or had fingers amputated. Some would become caught in the conveyor belt and be flung into the grinding gears of the machinery. Those who fell into the flow of coal were crushed or smothered by the mass. Many lost their feet, legs, hands, or arms. Wet coal leached sulfuric acid, which burned their unprotected hands. Dry coal kicked up dust, which can cause asthma and black lung disease.By the 1920s, several factors help bring the boys out of the mines. New laws made school attendance mandatory, machinery could do the work faster, and public outrage ended the era of breaker boys.