Scope and Purpose
This course
explores episodes in the history of American working classes since
1865. Formerly, this course
began in 1776, but I have limited chronological focus because it
is too difficult to survey the material
since the
American Revolution adequately. To be sure, important developments did
occur between 1776 and 1865, including
the rise of industrialization, the formation and
development of working classes, the beginnings of unions, the entrance
of women and
immigrants into the labor market, and the upsurge of
working-class political action, among other things.
It is important to know
something about these developments and how they helped shape working-class
history after the Civil War.
I will try to summarize major themes in American labor
history between the Revolution and the Civil War in a lecture on
January 26;
thereafter our
focus will shift to the years since 1865.
The
purposes of this course are to introduce you to so me of the important
events and developments in the
history
of American working classes; to explore the changing nature of
class and
class consciousness; to study changes
in union philosophies and activities; to understand the more recent forces
that have shaped workers and unions today;
and to stimulate critical thought about such subjects
and the many readings that we will consider this semester.
A WORD OF
WARNING: Students often take this course expecting that it will
focus on the history of labor
unions.
But stable unions did not emerge until the 1930's.
Moreover, most American workers
have not belong to unions.
Only 35 percent of workers were union members in the peak year of
1954. Now only about 12.5 percent belong to unions.
There is much evidence to suggest that labor organizations have
reflected and stimulated working-class aspirations and
consciousness, even among workers who were not union members. But
by focusing solely on labor unions and their
members we would ignore the history of those countless workers who
never belonged to unions or who did so only sporadically.
We also would miss much about the lives of all workers that was
not related to union membership, such as family concerns,
leisure time activity, customs, thought, religious beliefs, and
political activity. So our focus is on the experiences of workers,
both individually and collectively. We will examine their
thought, behavior, and protective institutions, as well as class
formation, development and recomposition during successive waves
of immigration, and changes in industrial capitalism
and American society. We also will consider how and why
work has changed.
Required
Readings
All of
the following except the last set are available for purchase in the
University Bookstore, however I encourage
you to seek less expensive copies at on-line sources. The
books also are on reserve in the library.
Here are the
readings:
Bruce Watson, Bread & Roses:
Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream. New
York:
Viking, 2005. The first book to focus on the massive and
important 1912 textile
strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts,
Bread &
Roses opens up the rich and complex world of early 20th century
immigrant labor.
Jonathan Rosenblum, Copper Crucible:
How the Arizona Miners’ Strike of 1983 Recast Labor-Management
Relations in America.
Ithaca, NY: ILR Press, 1995. This book is useful not only because
it focuses on the struggles of Chicano workers in this little-known but
strike, but also because it reveals much about new trends in
labor-management relations in the 1980s.
David K. Shipler, The Working Poor:
Invisible in America. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.
A former New York Times
reporter, Shipler helps make “invisible” poor workers more visible
in this readable and important
book. He argues that “Nobody who works hard should be poor in America,”
yet the number of working poor in
America equals the population of Canada! This book is a
nice
accompaniment to a book we used
last year in this course, Beth Shulman’s, The Betrayal of
Work:
How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans,
and also to Barbara Ehrenreich’s more well-known,
Nickel Dimed: On
(Not) Making It in America.
NOTE: Because
this course has no textbook, you might find it useful to consult Robert
Zieger’s
American Workers,
American Unions: The Twentieth Century, 3rd Edition. Baltimore:
Johns
Hopkins university Press,
2002. This book summarizes main events and developments in labor
history over the last one
hundred years. On reserve.
Written
Assignments
Written
assignments should help you to think about course content and develop
your ability to
communicate
effectively in writing. Because of the heavy reading load, I am
limiting the number of writing assignments, but I WILL give you an
opportunity to write about the readings in the essay assignments
discussed below. I will exercise my responsibility as the
convener of this course--and the person who will collaborate with you
in assessing the quality of work--by insisting that assignments must be
handed in on the dates they are due. Absolutely no extensions
will be granted for any reason other than verifiable illness or family
emergency.
Here are the
assignments:
1. A take-home essay assignment on the years
1865-1919, distributed on June 6, due on June 7. .
2. A 2 page summary of Watson’s Bread & Roses,
in which you summarize the book’s scope, purpose and
arguments. Due June 6.
4. A 2 page summary of Rosenblum’s Copper Crucible,
in which you summarize the book’s scope, purpose and
arguments. Due June 13.
5. A paper, based on Shipler’s The Working Poor,
entitled “Why Americans Should Care about the Working Poor”.
Length: 6-7 pages maximum.
Due: June 20.
6. A final exam, covering the years 1929-present, on
Thursday, June 21, 9:00-11:40.
In addition to
the above requirements, graduate students must also write a paper of
about ten pages on a subject relating to American labor history. Please
consult with me on a topic.
Criteria for Evaluating Student
Work
Exams
I will evaluate your essay exams
by how well you state, develop, and support an argument that
answers the question. You must support your argument by
presenting information from lectures, class discussions, readings, and
films. “Information” means details (names,
dates, events), developments (historical trends, innovations, changes).
Please be specific. If you
make a generalization, please provide specific examples that illustrate
or support your position. For example, suppose someone
states in an essay that “The Knights of Labor were quite
progressive for their time.” This is a good generalization,
but its meaning will be lost if the writer doesn’t
elaborate. Here is how to add meaning to this statement:
The Knights of Labor were
quite progressive for their time. For example, their platform
advocated equal pay for equal work for
women, a progressive income tax, and the belief that
skilled and unskilled
workers, and women and African Americans should
all be included as members.
Papers
The book summaries should identify
the book’s main argument(s), scope, and purpose, and provide a
general overview of the main points and topics. The final paper should
begin with background information about problems Shulman discusses in
her book. Then, analyze how well you think Shulman’s
proposed compact addresses these problems. The final paper must conform
to conventional standards of style and grammar for preparing college
essays. If you are unsure about these standards, please consult a
manual such as Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide for
Writing College Papers, third edition (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1976).
Grades
Undergraduates
Summaries: 10 percent each
Essay on 1865-1919: 20 percent
Final paper: 30 percent
Final exam: 30 percent
Graduate
Students
Summaries: 10 percent each
Essays on 1865-1929: 20 percent
Final Paper: 20 percent
Final exam: 20 percent
Extra paper: 20 percent
CLASS MEETINGS
5/29
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE, AND LECTURE ON "FROM
ARTISANS INTO WORKERS:
ARTISAN
WORKSHOPS, EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION, AND CLASS FORMATION, 1775-1865
Assignment
Begin reading Bruce Watson, Bread and Roses,
for discussion on jUNE 6..
5/30 PROGRESS AND POVERTY IN
THE 1870S AND 1880S: THE
NEW FACTORY SYSTEM,
THE
STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AND DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORKERS IN THE GILDED AGE
Assignment
Albert Parsons, "Challlenge to
a Free Market" (1878).
Why Organize?
Preamble to the Cigarmakers' International Union (1864).
National Negro Labor Union, Statement of
Purpose (1869).
International Workingmen's Association Call to
Action (1871).
Testimony
of Samuel Gompers (1883)
Testimony
of John Morrison (1883)
Testimony of Conrad
Carl (1883)
Film
excerpts
1877: The Grand Army of Starvation
(documentary)
The Molly Maguires (1977) 123
minutes
Director:
Martin Ritt
Set in 1870s
Strike by
Irish immigrant miners in Pennsylvania coal fields and union-busting
violence
waged by coal
operators and Pinkerton Detective Agency. Based on actual events.
5/31
THE RISE OF MASS LABOR ORGANIZATIONS ANDTHE UPHEAVALS OF THE 1880S
Assignment
Preamble
to the Knights of Labor Constitution (1878)
“In The Beginning
. . . “: A Knight’s Sacred Oath (1880's)
Knight
Errant: Drawing the Line on Black-White Equality (1886)
A Woman’s
Place: Leonora Barry on Women Workers (1886)
Knights
of Labor in Their Mettle (1886)
Adolph Strasser on "Pure and Simple
Unionism" (1884)
Albert
Parsons on Anarchism (1887)
“Commit
No Rash Act”:
Albert Parsons’s Last Words to His Wife (1886)
“I Am Sorry
Not to Be Hung”: Oscar Neebe on Haymarket (1886)
Powderly
on the Haymarket Defendants (1886)
Parsons
Responds to Powderly (1886)
For additional interesting information, see:
The
Haymarket Massacre Archives
The Chicago Public Library's
Haymarket
Tragedy
The Chicago Historical Society's
wonderful Haymarket
Affair Digital Collection
which includes complete trial transcripts and exhibits.
Also a new site at Chicago, The
Haymarket Dramas.
And the Wisconsin Labor History
Society's site on the Annual
Bayview Tragedy Commemoration.
Film
The
Bayview Massacre (documentary)
6/4
THE UPHEAVALS OF THE 1890S ND THE AGE OF REFORM IN
THE EARLY 1900S
Assignment
The
Gospel
According to Andrew Carnegie: Hymn to Wealth (1889)
Cheri
Goldner, The
Homesetad Strike, 1892
George
Pullman
Answers His Strikers (1894)
Populist
Party Platform (1892)
Populist
Party Platform (1896)
Upton
Sinclair, The Jungle. The entire
book is available online, but especially skim:
chapters 3,5,14,21,26,28 to get the flavor of this great
book.
The
Westinghouse World: The Company, The People, and The Places.
From the Library of Congress,
American Memory Project. You can see actual films of work inside the
plant during the
early 1900s.
If you're interested, see the Historic
Pullman Web site.
Film
Excerpt
Newsies (1992) 125 minutes
Director:
Kenny Ortega
Set in 1899
Disney musical
about newsboy strike in New York, based on actual event.
Film excerpt
Modern Times
(1936) 89 minutes
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Set in 1930s
Classic scenes of workers trying to keep pace with
assembly line demands.
6/5
THE NEW YORK SHIRTWAIST STRIKE AND THE
TRIANGLE
SHIRTWAIST FIRE, 1909 AND 1910, AND THE IWW AND THE
SOCIALISTS BEFORE WORLD WAR I
Assignment
Emily Kane, "Portraits
of a Ladies' Strike: Perspectives of the Uprising of the 20,000."
The Kheel
Center, Catherwood Library, Cornell University, and
UNITE HERE ,
The Triangle Factory Fire
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
"On the Lower
East Side: Observations of Lower Manhattan at the Turn of the Century."
The Triangle Fire,
March 25, 1911. New Deal Network.
Pauline Newman, Working for the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company. Here this labor activist in an oral
history interview.
Mary
Harris "Mother" Jones, The
Autobiography of Mother Jones.
(Read excerpts.)
Walter Fink’s The
Ludlow Massacre (1914)
The
Trial of Big Bill Haywood.
The Paterson Strike
(1913) Pageant Program. This is the program of the pageant
that striking
Paterson, New Jersey, silk workers staged to
dramatize their struggle.
Film Excerpts
Clara Lemlich (documentary)
The Wobblies (documentary, 1979)
90 minutes
6/6
THE LAWRENCE STRIKE OF
1912, LABOR STRUGGLES DURING WORLD WAR I AND AFTER
Assignment
Bruce Watson, Bread
& Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream.
Entire
book will be discussed today.
DUE: Summary of Bread & Roses.
Take-home essay
assignment on the years 1865-1929 distributed today. (Due June 7.)
Film excerpts
The Killing Floor (1984)
Matewan (1987)
6/7
THE GREAT DEPRESSION, THE UPRISING OF 1934,
AND
THE FIRST NEW DEAL, 1929-1935
Assignment
Benjamin Glassberg, "Relief
with Both Mind and Heart,"
The Nation (January 3,
1934). About Milwaukee.
H. K., "White-Collar
Strike," The Nation
(January 9, 1934). About the Boston Store strike.
Lois M. Quinn, John Pawasarat
and Laura
Serebin Jobs
for Workers on Relief in
Milwaukee County:
1930-1994," Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
, 1995.
T. Arnold Hill, "An
Emergency is On!" Opportunity, Journal
of Negro Life (September,
1933).
John Dos Passos, "Harlan:
Working under the Gun,"
The Nation (December
2, 1931).
Wayne W. Parrish, "Report,
Brooklyn, New York, November 24, 1934."
Letter to
Harry Hopkins, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hopkins Papers.
DUE: Essay on 1865-1929.
Film excerpt
The Uprising of '34 (documentary)
3/13
THE SECOND NEW DEAL AND THE RISE
OF THE CIO
Assignment
Begin reading
Rosenblum's Copper
Crucible
for discussion on June 13.
Peruse the following as time permits:
The
San Francisco Maritime Strike of 1934.
A Philip Randolph, Pullman Porter Museum
Curtis
Hansen, The
Battle of
the Overpass. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State
University.
See also link to photographs.
The Flint
Sit-Down Strike Audio Gallery. Terrific site with excerpts
from interviews and a slide show.
Film excerpt
Mean Things Happening
(documentary)
6/12
WORKERS
IN WORLD WAR II AND THE 1950S
Assignment
On the Taft-Hartley Act, see:
Info Please
brief
article on Taft-Hartley
The
Taft-Hartley
Act provisions
On
Operation Dixie, and purges of Communists in the CIO and elsewhere,
see:
"They Teamed Up with the
Police and the Klan:" Jack O'Dell on Redbaiting in the
National Maritime Union,"
an excerpt from an oral history interview, from History Matters.
Film excerpts
The
Life and Times of Rosie the
Riveter (documentary)
The
Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
6/13
MINERS’ STRUGGLES IN THE 1950S AND
1980S
Assignment
Rosenblum’s Copper Crucible.
The entire book will be discussed today.
Due: Summary of Copper Crucible.
Film: “The
Salt of the Earth” (1953)
6/14
CIVIL RIGHTS AND LABOR STRUGGLES IN THE
1950S
Assignment
Begin reading Shipler's The Working Poor
for discussion on June 20.
Film
At
the River I Stand (documentary)
6/18
THE CHANGING CLIMATE OF THE 1970S AND 1980S: DEINDUSTRIALIZATION
AND UNION BUSTING
Film
American
Dream (documentary about the Hormel strike)
6/19
THE BEGINNINGS OF GLOBALIZATION, SWEATSHOPS,
AND
SOCIAL
MOVEMENT UNIONISM
Assignment
International Forum on
Globalization. Find resources here that interest you.
The
Globalization Website. See links here to other sites too.
Emory University.
International Monetary Fund, Globalization:
Threat or Opportunity?
The World Bank Group, Globalization.
Between A Rock and A
Hard Place: A
History of American Sweatshops, 1820-Present.
Exhibit at the Smithsonian
Institution.
United Students
against Sweatshops.
Co-Op America, Sweatshops:
Economic Action to End Sweatshop and Forced Labor.
Radley Balko, Sweatshops
and Globalization. At the World Conmnected site.
Good links here.
Film excerpt
Bread and Roses (2000)
6/20
THE WORKING POOR AND THE FUTURE OF
AMERICAN WORKERS
Assignment
David K. Shipler, The Working Poor:
Invisible in America.
Due: Paper on
poor workers.
6/21
FINAL
EXAMINATION, 9:00-11:40
Declaring a History Major
If
you have earned in excess of 45 credits and have not yet declared a
major, you are encouraged
to do so. You must have declared and completed the requirements
of a major in order to graduate.
If you are interested in declaring a major in History or simply
exploring that idea,
you should contact Professor Neal Pease, at pease@uwm.edu, or at
414-229-5205.
