HIS 151 - History of American Labor

1. Describe the differences between the old and new labor history.
2. Define the origins of organized labor in America.
3. Explain the rise of industrialization and the changing relationship of big business, government and organized labor.
4. Explain the role of working-class institutions in workers’ lives.
5. Compare and contrast events, such as war, that impacted workers’ lives.
6. Describe the relationship among race, class, ethnicity and gender in American labor history.
7. Evaluate working-class history through discussion, written assignments and the review of representative primary and secondary documents.

1. Free, wage and contract labor
2. The farm to factory movement
3. Working-class culture: native, African American and immigrant workers
4. The emergence of organized labor in America
5. Labor strife: the Haymarket Square Riot, the Homestead Strike and the Pullman Strike
6. Iron, steel and the Pittsburgh Survey
7. Progressivism and social reform
8. Taylorism and Welfare Capitalism
9. Workers during World War I and World War II
10. Organized labor in post-World War II America
11. Industrial decline in the twentieth century

Course and Section Search