Freda Denis-Cooper reads her poem "Cocoa Beans," dedicated to the children of Cote Dvoire, West Africa, to bring attention to the issue of child labor. Cooper lives in Durham, N.C. Her collection ...

In 1916, two years after her poem became something of a national icon, Congress passed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, banning the sale of products from any factory, shop or cannery that ...

The poem concentrates on tactile, concrete details: the child’s coat ... a furniture designer and a labor organizer; he fought in World War II; and, with his family, he lived in Mexico as ...