Primary
Harvard University

Harvard Univ. Library: The Tide of Immigration: The Alien Contract Labor Law

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: A Separate Peace: Alice Henry on Women and Unions

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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,...
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.
Lesson Plan
University of Houston

University of Houston: An American Industrial Revolution Unit: Rise of Labor

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students learn about the history of the labor movement in Industrial America, including some of the major unions that emerged and the most well-known strikes. Next, they make connections to the role of unions today. They then work in...
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.
Activity
Cornell University

Cornell University: Law School: Labor Law: An Overview

For Students 9th - 10th
This site gives a description of labor law and describes government acts which protect the labor force.
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Railroad Unions

For Students 9th - 10th
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section lists a number of the railroad unions that formed in the latter half of the 19th century, and what they stood for.
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
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...
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Labor Unions and Working Conditions: United We Stand

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Think about your work environment. Are you allowed to rest periodically? Do you earn a decent wage? Can you voice your concerns without losing your job? There was a time when workers in the United States did not have basic rights such as...
Article
PBS

Pbs News Hour Extra: 1911 New York Factory Fire Was Fuel for Labor Laws

For Students 9th - 10th
Article discusses the impact that the Triangle Company fire had on labor laws and unions.
Handout
Other

Illinois Labor History Society: The Haymarket and Its Memorial

For Students 9th - 10th
This site contains a description of the Haymarket Tragedy, and also includes many related topics.
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.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: National Labor Relations Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia offers information on the National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act. Includes background, content, controversies that arose, and criticisms of the Act, along with many links to more information.
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...
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Struggles of Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
Outline of the struggles, conflict and violence experienced by 19th Century industrial workers.
Handout
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Celebrating Labor Day

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A high school lesson plan using two primary source quotes to determine if working conditions have improved in the last 100 years.

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