Activity
Other

Illinois State Museum: The American Railway Union

For Students 9th - 10th
Excerpt from U.S. Strike Commission Report. Site also provides focus questions at the bottom.
Handout
Other

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

For Students 9th - 10th
The fascinating history of the WCTU and the many causes it advocated.
Handout
Khan Academy

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

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the Homestead Strike of 1892 and the Pullman Strike of 1894 and how these ended, as well as responses of the federal government to the labor movement. Includes questions for students at end.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1865 1898: The Knights of Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
In the late nineteenth century, the Knights of Labor attempted to organize workers of all kinds into a union to improve working hours and conditions for laborers.
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.
Handout
AllRefer

All Refer Reference: Soviet Union: The Khrushchev Era

For Students 9th - 10th
This article surveys Soviet Union and its leader Nikita Khrushchev, who eventually wielded virtually supreme power after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953.
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,...
Handout
Other

Illinois Labor History Society: The Parable of Pullman

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource gives an account of the Pullman Strike of 1894. It discusses what the strike was about, how it was resolved, and the effect its outcome had.
Handout
Washington State University

Washington State University: Introduction to 19th Century Socialism

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses the origin of 19th-century socialism. Discusses the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, social classes, Karl Marx and labor unions. An in-depth article.
Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

Econ Ed Link: Worker Safety the Triangle Fire Legacy

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learners investigate the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy and how its impact is still felt today. Students identify eerie parallels between the Triangle Fire and more recent workplace events with safety implications. How can future...
Website
Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central: Samuel Gompers

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography of Samuel Gompers focusing primarily on his activities in labor union history.
Handout
Other

Choate Rosemary Hall: Trade Unions

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief description of how labor unions emerged from the Industrial Revolution.
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
Other

Amistad Digital Resource: Early Labor Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Description of the early labor movement and the growth of the black urban working-class. Also discussed is the unionization of African Americans and left-winged political organizations such as the African Black Brotherhood, Brotherhood...
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Forced Labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses the Soviet Union's use of German citizens and prisoners of war as forced laborers as a feature of war reparations during and after World War II.
Website
Other

Mighty Fine Films: Where Do You Stand?

For Students 9th - 10th
Through voices of mill workers, learn the struggle of the American worker to unionize. Includes a timeline and a study guide. The website is a companion piece to the film that must be purchased.
Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Cesar Chavez

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), the Mexican American labor activist and leader of the United Farm Workers. During the 20th century, he was a leading voice for migrant farm workers.
Article
Hartford Web Publishing

World History Archives: Indispensable Ally: Black Workers, Formation of the Cio

For Students 9th - 10th
This article relates the history of African Americans in the union movement during the Great Depression. Read about the importance of black membership in the CIO, the ILA, and the steel industry.
Handout
National Women's Hall of Fame

National Women's Hall of Fame: "Mother" Mary Harris Jones

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Women's Hall of Fame recognizes the important and influential life work of the famous labor organizer and worker's rights activist "Mother" Jones.
Handout
Country Studies US

Country Studies: The Struggles of Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses how for much of the latter half of the 1800s, the life of the common laborer was horrendous. Working in a unsanitary factory, for at least 10 hours a day, making far less than needed to survive, the struggles of the...
Handout
Other

United Mine Workers of America: Umwa History: The Ludlow Massacre

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief history of the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado in 1914. Read about the thwarted attempts of coal miners to unionize.
Website
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Explore Pa History: Founding Convention of the Cio Historical Marker

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, a union that represented steel workers, among many other factoy workers. Find out about their tactics used in strikes during the Great Depression.
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
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Expore Pa History: Making Steel

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at three of the titans of the steel industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Read about Andrew Carnegie and his business relationship with Henry Clay Frick, and the development of Bethlehen Steel by Charles Schwab....

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