Other
Kansas Heritage: Pullman Strike, Chicago, 1894
This detailed and informative site explains how the Pullman Strike, which began as a peaceful protest about rent in the company town of Pullman, spread across the country and brought railroad traffic to a halt.
Digital History
Digital History: Haymarket Square Riot
A description of the Haymarket Square riot and its cause. Find quotes from the Chicago Tribune which called the protesters insurrectionists, and two Illinois governors who doubted the guilt of those rounded up, charged, and convicted of...
Curated OER
History Matters: Parsons Responds to Powderly
Read an excerpt from a letter written by Chicago radical and Haymarket defendant, Albert Parsons, to the "Chicago Times" concerning Terence V. Powderly and the Haymarket riot. Also links to other related sites.
Curated OER
History Matters: I Will Kill Frick
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: George Grantham Bain Collection
This digital collection represents the photographic files of one of America's earliest news picture agencies. The collection richly documents sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, political activities including...
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Bread & Roses: The Strike Led and Won by Women
An article from Workers World describes the Bread and Roses Strike and explains why it ended up to be so effective. One interesting aspect is that there were immigrants working in the Lawrence textile mills speaking 25 different...
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Indispensable Ally: Black Workers, Formation of the Cio
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.
Curated OER
History Matters: Eyewitness to Murder: Recounting the Ludlow Massacre
An eyewitness account provided by an electrical engineer about the brutal Ludlow Massacre in which three women and eleven children were killed in a tent city in Ludlow, Colorado, during the height of the Colorado Coal Strike.
Harvard University
Women Working: National Women's Trade Union League of America
An explanation of the formation of the National Women's Trade Union League of America that brought together working class women and professional women. Read about what their goals were for women in the workforce. Find links to primary...
Digital History
Digital History: Labor Protests
A sure sign that manufacturing was moving from the home to the factory was the organization of skilled workers to protest wage reductions and working conditions. Read about the tension between these skilled workers and their employers as...
Digital History
Digital History: The Movement for a Ten Hour Day
A brief look at the success the workers in several industries had in reducing their work day to ten hours.
Digital History
Digital History: Postwar Labor Tensions
Read about the strength of labor unions just after World War I and see how the gains were eroded throughout the 1920s.
University of Washington
Seattle General Strike Project: The Seattle General Strike of 1919
Labor turmoil spread across the United States in 1919. Read about how the Seattle General Strike led the way. Find out about how the shipyard workers were joined by others, and whether the strike was effective.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign: Eslarp's Social History Project: 1877 Rr Strike
A discussion of the railroad strike of 1877 as it affected particularly Illinois. Read about how the strikes were put down violently and who was blamed for the work stoppages.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Expore Pa History: Railroad Strike of 1877 Historical Marker
Read about the Railroad Strike of 1877 that started in Pennsylvania and spread across the Midwest. Find out about the violence against the strikers and the use of the military to end the strike.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Explore Pa History: The Great Steel Strike of 1919 Historical Marker
A strike by steel workers in Chicago eventually spread across the United States in 1919. Read about the strike, how was involved, and how the employers turned popular opinion against the strikers.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Expore Pa History: Making Steel
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....
Other
Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Great Southwestern Strike
Prior to the nationwide Pullman Railway Strike in 1894, railroad workers struck against rail lines controlled by Jay Gould. Read about the strike, the initial success, and eventual defeat for the workers.
University of California
History Project: The Pullman Strike of 1894
Given background information and primary source documents, students will write an essay describing the events of the Pullman Strike of 1894 organized around a theme.
University of California
History Project: The Homestead Strike of 1892
This high school instructional activity focuses on the Homestead Strike of 1892. Students are asked to write an essay explaining why the strike occurred and how the Carnegie Company went about winning the strike. Included are...
Other
United Mine Workers of America: Umwa History: The Ludlow Massacre
A brief history of the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado in 1914. Read about the thwarted attempts of coal miners to unionize.
Other
Ue News Feature: The Great Strike of 1877 Remembering a Worker Rebellion
Read about how the Railroad Strike of 1877 was a first in many ways in labor history. This article sets up the reasons for the strike and the mixed results.
Other
Irc History: The Ludlow Massacre
A good explanation of the Ludlow Massacre in the coalfields of Colorado and what led up to it. In addition, there is an interesting description of how this violent reaction to a strike by miners affected John D. Rockefeller, Jr., one of...