Lesson Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Houghton Mifflin Company: Teacher's Guide for Bread and Roses, Too

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Katherine Paterson writes historical fiction for middle school aged learners. This book on the Bread and Roses strike includes good factual information about the strike woven into a personal story. This teacher's guide is a handy...
Primary
Other

Ussc the Pullman Strike: Its Causes and Events

For Students 9th - 10th
An excerpt from U.S. Strike Commission Report on the Pullman Strike. Site presents questions at the end for study.
Website
Other

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Little Steel Strike

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief look at the steel workers' strike against the steel producers in Ohio. Read how the strike progressed, and how it was eventually resolved.
Handout
Other

Illinois Labor History Society: When Women Were Knights

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses women's roles in the Knights of Labor.
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...
Graphic
New York University

San Reiss: An Eyewitness to Labor History 1948 1975

For Students 9th - 10th
Considered the "Labor photographer," this online exhibit of Sam Reiss' work is a pictorial history of American labor from 1948-1975.
Website
Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central: Little Steel Strike of 1937

For Students 9th - 10th
An interesting article about the strike against the Little Steel companies in Ohio in 1937. It describes the use of the sit-down strike by the unionized steel workers.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at not only Samuel Gompers and the formation of the American Federation of Labor, but also of the course of unionism in general, its successes and failures, its goals, and membership in the late 19th century.
Website
Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central: Knights of Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
Ohio History Central gives a brief summary of the actions and goals of the Knights of Labor in the last half of the 19th century. Find out about their push for improved working conditions and whether striking was advantageous or not in...
Unit Plan
Virginia Tech

Digital History Reader: Which Side Are You On? The Flint Sit Down Strike

For Students 9th - 10th
The first conflict between a corporation and labor union materialized in Flint, Michigan in the 1930's. Identify the tensions between General Motors and the United Automobile Workers during this time through Context, articles, images,...
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,...
Article
US Department of Labor

U.s. Department of Labor: The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in u.s. Policy

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the background of coal miners and coal mine operators prior to the coal strike in 1902. Find out the significant role of the federal government in bringing the strike to an end.
Graphic
Chicago History Museum

Encyclopedia of Chicago: Soldiers in Gary During Steel Strike, 1919

For Students 9th - 10th
See a picture of soldiers parading down the street in Gary, Indiana, during the Great Steel Strike of 1919. A quote from union leadership explains the reasons behind the strike.
Website
Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central: Great Steel Strike of 1919

For Students 9th - 10th
Ohio History Central gives a brief summary of the Great Steel Strike of 1919, an attempt by steel workers to get higher pay and a shorter work day. Find out the results of the strike.
Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Labor Unions and Strikes

For Teachers 5th - 9th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart focuses on the Haymarket Riot, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike.
Primary
University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Labor Legacy: Great Railroad Stike of 1877

For Students 9th - 10th
See a list of the pictures of places burned in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and view pictures taken at that time.
Website
Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central: Great Railroad Strike of 1877

For Students 9th - 10th
Read how the Great Railroad Strike started and why federal troops were called in to control the strikers.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Labor Protests

For Students 9th - 10th
A sure sign that manufacturing was moving from the home to the factory was the organization of skilled workers to protest wage reductions and working conditions. Read about the tension between these skilled workers and their employers as...
Article
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: Labor and Law

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the rise of unions in the United States in the early 1900's. Understand Roosevelt's role in unions, the Wagner Act, and sit down strikes.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1865 1898: Labor Battles in the Gilded Age

For Students 9th - 10th
As the United States became a major industrial power, conflict between workers and factory owners intensified. Read about the Homestead Strike and the Pullman Strike, two of the most famous labor battles in American history.
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: I Will Kill Frick

For Students 9th - 10th
Find information about the Homestead strike and the treatment of the workers inspired some labor activists to plot the murder of Henry Clay Frick. Part of the autobiography of Emma Goldman.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Great Upheaval

For Students 5th - 8th
What started as a localized railway strike by workers upset by a pay cut spread across the country in the summer of 1877. Read about the striking workers and the force used against them, how the strike affected rail service, and what the...
Website
Other

Irc History: The Ludlow Massacre

For Students 9th - 10th
A good explanation of the Ludlow Massacre in the coalfields of Colorado and what led up to it. In addition, there is an interesting description of how this violent reaction to a strike by miners affected John D. Rockefeller, Jr., one of...
Primary
Other

Afscme: "I've Been to the Mountaintop" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the the events of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike which drew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis, which is where he was soon to be assassinated. Excellent source of primary sources and first hand accounts of the...

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