Article
A&E Television

History.com: Labor Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Article takes a look at the history of the Labor Movement and labor unions through videos, pictures, speeches and more.
Article
PBS

Pbs: History Detectives: The Early Labor Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief summary of the early labor movement and the role that labor unions played.
Article
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Labor Organizations

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of the labor movement in Texas is examined, beginning during the Republic of Texas. The article discusses the different labor organizations that formed in various industries, and how these evolved over time. As immigration...
Graphic
Other

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...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Industrializing America

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Comprehensive teaching unit that explores the "second industrial revolution" and the mass production of consumer goods. This, in turn, caused an increase in the labor force and immigration. Learn how these changes brought about the start...
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
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.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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...
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,...
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,...
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...
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.
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...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Roots of the Movement

For Students 5th - 8th
Progressivism got a push from the Populist movement, a reaction to the forgettable presidents and laissez-faire government in the Gilded Age. Find a listing of authors who wrote about progressive ideas, and see what influence populism...
Article
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Emma Goldman

For Students 9th - 10th
This Britannica biography provides a brief, objective view of Emma Goldman's (1869-1940 CE) political life. Includes additional reading references.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Religious Revival: The "Social Gospel"

For Students 5th - 8th
Social reform and teaching in the church which reflected social reform joined forces in latter part of the 19th century. Read about how an urban revivalist movement addressed such problems as poverty, child labor, and working conditions.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Text Sets: Workers' Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
As America grew, so did its production of agriculture and manufacturing, leading to a rise in workers and their demands. Study the history of worker's rights in America from the Industrial Revolution to today. This collection includes 13...
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
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.
Professional Doc
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Collection: Unladylike2020

For Students 9th - 10th
These digital resources present the rich history of 26 little-known Progressive Era women, diverse in profession, race, ethnicity, geographical and class backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender expression, who broke barriers in...