Lesson 4 The Winds of Change
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words
As quickly as a camera captures a scene, an image can grab hold of our ____.
Through speech or ____ text, it can be difficult to convey a complex message quickly.
Yet photographs ____ change people’s hearts and minds in an instant.
And ____ the magic of photography sparks an emotional reaction in a great number of people, it can change history.
The ____ River That Started a Movement
In the 1880s, industry began to grow ____ along the Cuyahoga River in the city of Cleveland.
This industrial growth provided steady ____ to people in the area.
Meanwhile, ____ mills and factories started dumping large amounts of waste into the river.
Although the river became polluted, most people ____ regarded this as a sign of the area’s economic success.
In June 1969, the ____ river caught fire.
The likely cause was a burning flare falling from a train, which set ____ to oil-soaked waste beneath a bridge.
At that ____, few people in Cleveland cared.
This was because fires had been recorded on the Cuyahoga more than ten times before, and some of them had been ____ worse.
However, it wasn’t long before the 1969 ____ became famous.
This was ____ to an article published in Time magazine that year.
The article featured a shocking photograph of flames and smoke rising from the ____.
But this was not a photograph of the 1969 fire, which was put out so ____ that nobody took a picture of it.
In fact, it was a picture of a much worse fire that had occurred on the river ____ years earlier.
Still, the image had a ____ impact on people.
Around that time, the attitudes of Americans ____ environmental problems were starting to change.
More and more people were becoming aware of the need to protect the environment, and the shocking image of the burning river sparked public anger about ____ pollution.
As a ____, the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 became a symbol of pollution.
A national environmental awareness event was held on ____ 22, 1970, which later became known as the first Earth Day.
And in 1972, national water quality standards were ____ with the passage of the Clean Water Act.
Exposing the Harsh Reality of Child Labor
In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution led to a dramatic ____ in factory production in the United States.
The demand for workers increased, and ____ new positions were filled by children.
By 1900, about twenty percent of all children in the United States were employed, and some of those ____ in factories were only four years old.
The work was difficult and dangerous, leaving many child laborers with health ____.
Factory ____ turned to child labor for several reasons.
For ____, children could be paid less than adult workers.
They were also ____ likely to go on strike.
Lewis Hine, a teacher and photographer, wanted to reveal ____ cruel this system was.
So he quit his teaching ____ and started to work for the National Child Labor Committee as an investigative photographer.
He gained access to factories by pretending to have different jobs like insurance agent or ____ inspector.
Once inside, he would photograph the ____ working there.
He would also ask their names and ages and record ____ about their living and working conditions.
____ 1908 to 1912, he secretly gathered information and took photographs to expose factory owners who were taking advantage of helpless children.
Hine’s photographs captured ____ children doing all sorts of jobs.
These included picking vegetables, weaving baskets, and even handling dangerous ____.
What is more, the children’s faces showed the tragic ____ of hard labor.
When people saw the children’s joyless expressions, they ____ not help but feel heartbroken.
The pictures were later shown in exhibitions, ____, magazine articles, and so on.
As a result, the public ____ just how serious the situation was.
Soon, many states passed stronger laws to ____ the employment of children.
In 1938, the United States Congress passed an act that made it illegal for children under ____ to work in factories during school hours.
These examples ____ that photographs can bring meaningful change to society.
They prove that, sometimes, a ____ truly is worth a thousand words.