CommonLit
Common Lit: Workers' Rights and the History of Labor Unions
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Workers' Rights
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...
Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Iehs: Lori A. Flores, "The Fight for Farm Workers' Rights Is Still on the Table"
This article focuses on the plight of farm workers. It discusses a 1960 documentary hosted by Edward R. Murrow called "Harvest of Shame" and the book "Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California...
A&E Television
History.com: How Cesar Chavez Joined Larry Itliong to Demand Farm Workers' Rights
In the late 1960s, grapes grabbed national attention -- and not in a good way. Newly organized farm workers, fronted by Mexican-American civil-rights activist Cesar Chavez, asked Americans to boycott the popular California fruit because...
Other
Osha: Parents of Teen Workers
This resource provides information about child labor laws and occupational safety for parents of young workers.
Other
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Remembrances of Civil Rights Movement workers who were active in the 1960s and '70s. Excellent site to gauge the impact of the movement on the workers themselves. Information about the Movement with eyewitness stories, poetry,...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source: The United Farm Workers Delano Grape Strike
This collection uses primary sources to explore the United Farm Workers and the Delano Grape Strike.
US Department of State
U.s. Dept. Of State: 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Spain
The 2018 report on human rights practices in Spain includes information on topics of concern related to human rights such as government corruption; violence against women, children, persons with disabilities, and national/racial/ethnic...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Mechanics/workers, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
Two statements issued by workers' groups advocating greater equality for all who labor.
Other
Ukraine: Rights Are Not Given, They Are Taken
Stories of Ukrainian workers and their struggles to fight for good working conditions as the country tries to break away from its communist past. (Date of Article: March 2004)
Other
United Farm Workers: The Rise of the Ufw
History of the United Farm Workers union, with information about 1960 conditions and the efforts to improve them.
Other
Osha: Young Workers
The premier site for teen worker safety and health information provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Our mission is to help you stay healthy and safe while on the job.
University of Minnesota
The Fourteenth Amendment and the Rights Revolution: Muller v. Oregon
In the Progressive Era many states passed laws to protect workers and establish decent working conditions. Read the text of Muller v. Oregon, heard before the Supreme Court in 1908, that upheld Oregon's laws as constitutional.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist
Students will watch a short video and examine two primary sources in order to understand how Chavez was able to successfully organize a movement among some of America's poorest and most oppressed workers.
Other
Us Eeoc: Title Vii of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided important protection for fairness in employment by establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Read the text of that legislation here, and see how it protects workers on...
Other
Eeoc: Ada: Your Employment Rights as a Disabled Person
This U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission site contains information on employment rights as an individual with a disability.
United Nations
United Nations Cyber School Bus: 3 Plus U
This interactive exhibit follows three friends as they present information about child labor, forced labor, workers' rights, and organizations that are working to help workers. There is also information about where articles are made and...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Political Activism in the Progressive Era: Becoming Helen Keller
Learn about the life and political activism of Helen Keller, one of the 20th century's human rights pioneers, in the AMERICAN MASTERS documentary Becoming Helen Keller. Utilizing video, discussion questions, teaching tips, and a...
A&E Television
History.com: How the 1968 Sanitation Workers' Strike Expanded the Civil Rights Struggle
With the slogan, "I am a man," workers in Memphis sought financial justice in a strike that fatefully became Martin Luther King, Jr.'s final cause. On February 12, 1968, 1,300 Black sanitation workers in Memphis began a strike to demand...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Constitutional Rights Foundation: Economics and Democracy
Lesson in economics and democracy in which learners analyze the decision to outsource jobs and determine if globalization is a threat to American workers. Small group, independent and whole class work. Links to related material.
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...
Other
Young Worker's: Worker Health and Safety Basics
The basics about young worker health and safety. Includes information on workplace rights and responsibilities, work hours, job restrictions, hazards on the job, and ways to prevent injuries, as well as educational resources and factsheets.
Other
Osha: Young Workers
This resource provides information for teenage employees regarding their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
Digital History
Digital History: The Equal Rights Amendment
In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA subsequently failed to be ratified by the necessary number of states and was never added to the Constitution.