White Slaves

A Boston widow sews 120 aprons and takes home just $1.35—while the wealthy firm selling them charges her for the privilege of receiving the work. How many hours can a mother labor when her child depends on every cent?

In late-nineteenth-century Boston, Louis Albert Banks climbs the city’s tenement stairs to see how women and children earn their living at home. The sewing is relentless, the rooms airless, and the pay scarcely covers rent; middlemen and powerful firms keep the work coming only in quantities that leave families hungry. Banks records what he sees in the voice of an eyewitness—and calls these workers “white slaves.” What light might their stories cast on a city that prides itself on liberty?

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