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New York University: Labor Arts

For Students 9th - 10th
Numerous collections of cartoons, buttons, posters, murals, photographs, and similar artifacts, all pertaining to history of American labor, especially its drive to organize and its history of protest. Stretches back to the earliest days...
Website
Other

Labor Arts: Solidarity Forever: A Look at Wobbly Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
An excellent collection of artifacts that highlight the aims and aspirations of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Members of the IWW, known as Wobblies, played a unique role in the American labor movement. Artifacts include...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Learning Page: Labor in America

For Students 9th - 10th
A rich collection of resources, including primary sources, student activities, and lesson plans, to support study of Americans at work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Handout
University of Houston

University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: American Industrial Revolution

For Students 6th - 8th
Aimed at middle school teachers and students, this resource contains lists of labor links. It includes a brief history of strikes, the Knights of Labor and the AFL.
Website
New York University

Nyu: Labor & the Holocaust: The Jewish Labor Committee

For Students 9th - 10th
Resource traces the Jewish Labor Committee from its inception in American labor history, through its anti-Nazi work during WW II.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Movement South and Westward

For Students 9th - 10th
Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...
eBook
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: Alice Henry: The Trade Union Woman

For Students 9th - 10th
Excerpt from the Preface to Alice Henry's book, The Trade Union Woman (1915) in which Henry argues for regulation of wages and working conditions for women. Link to the entire book.
Primary
Other

Labor Arts: Labor Sings

For Students 9th - 10th
Many songs, born of the American labor and civil rights movements, called people to action and were used to spread the messages of workers' rights and civil rights. Here you will find a nice collection of such songs. All songs in the...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Stirrings of Reform

For Students 9th - 10th
The democratic upheaval in politics exemplified by Jackson's election was merely one phase of the long American quest for greater rights and opportunities for all citizens. Another was the beginning of labor organization, primarily among...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Biography of America: Capital and Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
This thirty-minute video, the seventeenth in a series on American history, examines the rocky relationship between labor, management, and industry from 1882 to 1901. You can also read the transcript, find a map of the Anthracite Strike,...
Website
University of Maryland

University of Maryland: The Samuel Gompers Papers

For Students 9th - 10th
Site from the University of Maryland provides primary source documents, a brief history of the labor movement, and biographical information about Samuel Gompers. A great resource for teachers and students.
Website
Other

Michigan State University: Earliest Voices: Samuel Gompers

For Students 9th - 10th
This webpage offers a 1917 historic voice recording of labor leader Samuel Gompers on changes that were taking place in the labor movement as a result of World War I. A biography and downloadable images included.
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Workingmen's Party

For Students 9th - 10th
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the emergence of the Workingmen's Party as a political force in St. Louis, its role in the railroad strikes of 1877, and how it may have...
Handout
California Digital Library

Loc: The Chinese in California 1850 1925

For Students 9th - 10th
Excellent overview of the Chinese experience in California complete with historical photos and primary documents. Site provides information on San Francisco's Chinatown, the anti-Chinese Movement, and Chinese laborers.
Website
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: Emma Goldman

For Students 9th - 10th
Tells the story of a young, brilliant, Russian immigrant who taunted mainstream America with her outspoken attacks on government, big business, and war.
Lesson Plan
University of Maryland

Howard County History Labs: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In order to use this source to assess students' historical thinking skills, students should understand the history of industrialization and the working conditions typical of late nineteenth-century factories. Students will analyze...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Eugene v. Debs and American Socialism

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about the growth of the Socialist Party in America under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs. Find out about the strikes he led, his political activities, and his arrest for sedition in 1918. Read also about the radical union,...
Handout
University of North Carolina

Unc: History of the Negro Church: Electronic Edition

For Students 9th - 10th
This website is quite unique, in that it compiles historical data in a segmented form of the birth and evolution of Black Christianity in America. Carter G. Woodson, one of the most respected names relative to the anthology of the Negro,...
eBook
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Classroom: The Pursuit of Justice

For Students 9th - 10th
This book analyzes 30 Supreme Court cases chosen by a group of Supreme Court justices and leading civics educators as the most important for American citizens to understand. An additional 100 significant cases included in state history...
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Curated OER

Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Clip Art Etc: Samuel Gompers

For Students 9th - 10th
(1850-1924) British labor leader who became a major figure in the American labor movement.