He Lays a Beam High Upon Empire State Building

Lewis W. Hine devoted his life to improving exploitative American labor practices, celebrating workers’ accomplishments, and advocating for the dignity of immigrants through photography. During the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930–1931, Hine scrambled about the towering structure to record laborers working in incredibly dangerous situations. His photographs, like this one of a man laying a beam, celebrated the courage, skill, and daring of these anonymous artisans.

According to Hine, “Cities do not build themselves, machines cannot make machines, unless back of [behind] them all are the brains and toil of men. We call this the Machine Age. But the more machines we use the more do we need real men to make and direct them.”