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Hillsborough Community College: The Rise of Unions and Labor Activism [Pdf]
Lengthy article on the Second Industrial Revolution in the United States. Looks at the growth of businesses into corporations with large workforces and manufacturing facilities, and the labor issues and organizations that arose as...
A&E Television
History.com: Labor Movement
Article takes a look at the history of the Labor Movement and labor unions through videos, pictures, speeches and more.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The Gilded Age: The Knights of Labor
Discusses the rise of labor unions and the history of the Knights of Labor. After the Haymarket Square riots, members deserted it and many joined the American Federation of Labor instead. Includes questions for students at end.
PBS
Pbs: History Detectives: The Early Labor Movement
Brief summary of the early labor movement and the role that labor unions played.
US National Archives
Our Documents: National Labor Relations Act (1935)
Explore the original document that established the National Labor Relations Board written in 1935. Also known as the Wagner Act, its intention was to give employees the right to form unions and to engage in collective bargaining.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Rise of Industrial Unions
Article outlines the rise of industrial unions during the 1920s and 30s and the impact unions had on politics.
Tennessee Historical Society
Tennessee Encyclopedia: Knights of Labor
The Tennessee Encyclopedia offers an interesting account of the Knights of Labor organization, particularly its actions in Tennessee. Read about how immigrants, African Americans, and women were all included in the membership of the...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Unions in Paterson, New Jersey
[Free Registration/Login Required] An excerpt from an interview with a textile factory worker named Marianna Costa. In the interview, Costa talks about working conditions at the Arrow Piece Dye Works in Paterson, New Jersey, prior to the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Forming Unions
This activity uses technology to generate interest in the study of labor unions. Students will use the Internet for research and conclude with a presentation about union leaders or labor organizations.
US Department of Labor
U.s. Department of Labor: Labor in the Industrial Era
This interesting essay traces the growth of the Knights of Labor from a group that represented those in the shoe industry in Philadelphia to a nationwide union fighting for workers' rights. It also traces other union developments over...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Alice Henry: The Trade Union Woman
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.
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Mexican Border Workers Fight for Unions
The story of Mexican workers and their attempt to unionize due to poor working conditions at a Hyundai plant in Tijuana. Fom a story by David Bacon in the San Francisco Bay Guardian on 06/11/1997.
Other
New York University: Labor Arts
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...
New York University
San Reiss: An Eyewitness to Labor History 1948 1975
Considered the "Labor photographer," this online exhibit of Sam Reiss' work is a pictorial history of American labor from 1948-1975.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography: Labor Reformers
Biographical information on Samuel Gompers, Frances Perkins and Cesar Chavez. All three were inspirations for the labor union movement.
Other
Afl Cio America's Union Movement
The AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) enables working people to have a voice on the job and in the government through the creation of labor unions. This very extensive website offers...
Harry S. Truman Library and Museum
Truman Library: Telegram: Injunction in the Copper Industry Strike
Beset by labor unrest and strikes after World War II, President Truman sent a telegram to the Attorney General advising him to step into the dispute between copper companies and labor unions to avert strikes and lock outs. Read the...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Industrializing America
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...
Harvard University
Harvard Univ. Library: The Tide of Immigration: The Alien Contract Labor Law
This chapter from a 1916 book by Frank Julian Warne, titled The Tide of Immigration, outlines how the so-called native workers' jobs should be protected from the influx of immigrants. Read about the law that made it illegal for...
Curated OER
History Matters: A Separate Peace: Alice Henry on Women and Unions
A primary source on the influence of women in labor unions in the early 1900's. A distinction between men and women at union meetings is examined.
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: How Labor Got Its Day
If you asked students what comes to mind first when they think of Labor Day, what do you think they would say? The last days of summer? A family picnic? Shopping the Labor Day sales? The purpose of this instructional activity is to...
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: Work, Earnings and Economics: Using Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
In reading and discussing Lyddie, by Katherine Paterson, young scholars examine basic economic concepts and explore the growth of labor unions and the role of government in a market economy.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Joe Hill and the International Workers of the World [Pdf]
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that focuses on the growth of militant labor unions like the International Workers of the World, on Joe Hill's role in the IWW, and on the...
Other
Nlrb: 1947 Taft Hartley Substantive Provisions
The Taft-Hartley Act was a contentious law aimed at limiting the influence of labor unions immediately after World War II. Read about the act and the changes it made to the Wagner Act.
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