A New York Times article about newsboys, published October 13, 1929, more than five years after the above photograph, explained that on Saturday nights, it was common to see many boys selling as late (or as early) as 2:00 AM. According to the Children's Bureau, some of these boys were as young as four or five and were on the streets as late as 11:00 PM. The article goes on to say that teachers complained that newsboys often fell asleep in class. Medical experts testified that fourteen percent of the newsboys examined in several cities had heart disease, a proportion three times greater than similar groups of children. The newsboys also disproportionately suffered from other medical problems. The experts attributed this in part to irregularity of meals, since the boys are often worked during family meal times.

On May 19, 1902, Raffaela Zizza, about 26 years old, stepped off a ship called the Aller, which had sailed from Italy to Ellis Island. A native of Ariano, Mr. Zizza was headed to Newark, New Jersey, where his brother Nicola (later called Nicholas) lived. No more than several years after, he married Gabriella (later called Bertha), who had come to the US in 1899. In 1905, they had their first child, Nicholas. They were to have 12 more, the last, Ralph, born in 1921. Among them were twin boys, Carmine and Edward, born on June 7, 1911.

According to his 1918 WWI draft registration, Mr. Zizza was a laborer for Newark Transfer, a railroad that connected New York City to northern New Jersey, including the city of Newark. Sometime between 1921 and 1930, he passed away, because in the 1930 census, wife Bertha is listed as a widow. She was living in a house at 51 North Sixth Street, with 12 of her children still at home, including Carmine, who worked at a bottling plant, and Edward, who was a meter tester.

Six years earlier, Lewis Hine had traveled to Newark, where he had previously taken pictures in 1909, 1912 and 1923, mostly of boys engaged in various street trades. Almost all of Hine's child labor work was done between 1908 and 1917, but in 1924, the National Child Labor Committee asked him to check up once again on the newsboy situation. By that time, child labor had declined substantially in factories and coal mines, but not among newsboys. It was a hotly debated issue in large cities such as New York and Newark, and Hine wanted to show once again that the problem had not gone away. He found the Zizza twins selling the Star-Ledger, on Friday, August 1.

Carmine (later called Carmen) Zizza was born on June 7, 1910, according to Social Security records, but the family claims it was 1911. He married Jennie Russo in 1938. They had four children. Carmen died November 2, 1991, at the age of 80. Jennie died in 1995. Edward Zizza was born the same date. He married Anna Elizabeth Lisanti in 1934. He died on January 28, 1945, at the age of 33. Anna married two more times, and passed away in 2000, at the age of 86.

I found Carmine's death record and obituary, which connected me to his daughter, Sandra Nalepka. She put me in touch with Edward's daughter, Edna Robbins. Both live in New Jersey.