Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Industrializing America
Comprehensive teaching unit that explores the "second industrial revolution" and the mass production of consumer goods. This, in turn, caused an increase in the labor force and immigration. Learn how these changes brought about the start...
Other
Afl Cio America's Union Movement
The AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) enables working people to have a voice on the job and in the government through the creation of labor unions. This very extensive website offers...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Biography of America: Capital and Labor
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,...
Steven Kreis, PhD
The History Guide: Lech Walesa
A brief biography of Lech Walesa and the independent labor movement in Poland. Describes how labor used strikes to improve their working conditions and qualities of life. Their struggles have been an inspiration to labor movements all...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The Industrial Age in America
In this lesson plan from EDSITEment, students will discuss the significance of the labor movement, the industrialists involved and the attitude of the American people toward working conditions in the United States. Contains links to many...
University of Maryland
University of Maryland: The Samuel Gompers Papers
Site from the University of Maryland provides primary source documents, a brief history of the labor movement, and biographical information about Samuel Gompers. A great resource for teachers and students.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography: Labor Reformers
Biographical information on Samuel Gompers, Frances Perkins and Cesar Chavez. All three were inspirations for the labor union movement.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Movement South and Westward
Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...
University of Pennsylvania
Mary Harris Mother Jones
A short, easy-to-understand biography of Mother Jones (1837-1930 CE) who was active in union and labor movements.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Knights of Labor
Learn interesting details about the Knights of Labor, the first major American labor union to be established.
University of Washington
University of Washington: Strikes and Unions
The Great Depression built the modern labor movement by growing and strengthening unions. Follow the labor movement through a day-by-day database of newspaper articles chronicling strikes in Washington State. Additionally, students can...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: The Chinese Experience in 19th Century America: The Rock Springs Massacre
This lesson plan is from a larger site examining the Chinese Experience in the United States in the 19th century. Discover the role the official support by the labor movement played in the discrimination, and in the case of the Rock...
Other
Michigan State University: Earliest Voices: Samuel Gompers
This webpage offers a 1917 historic voice recording of labor leader Samuel Gompers on changes that were taking place in the labor movement as a result of World War I. A biography and downloadable images included.
University of Missouri
Famous Trials: The Haymarket Trial
"Attention Workingmen! Mass Meeting Tonight, at 7:30." This pamphlet was distributed on May 4, 1886. Chicago had been simmering with labor disputes which culminated in a riot at Haymarket Square where eight officers were killed. Use this...
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: American Industrial Revolution
Aimed at middle school teachers and students, this resource contains lists of labor links. It includes a brief history of strikes, the Knights of Labor and the AFL.
National Women's Hall of Fame
National Women's Hall of Fame: "Mother" Mary Harris Jones
The National Women's Hall of Fame recognizes the important and influential life work of the famous labor organizer and worker's rights activist "Mother" Jones.
Other
Labor Arts: Labor Sings
Many songs, born of the American labor and civil rights movements, called people to action and were used to spread the messages of workers' rights and civil rights. Here you will find a nice collection of such songs. All songs in the...
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Agrarian Movements and Populism
While the explosion of industry had its positive marks on the economy, it also took its toll on some aspects of the nation. This slideshow will illustrate the problems and societal changes many farmers, immigrants, labor unions, and the...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Roots of the Movement
Progressivism got a push from the Populist movement, a reaction to the forgettable presidents and laissez-faire government in the Gilded Age. Find a listing of authors who wrote about progressive ideas, and see what influence populism...
Other
Apri: Biographical Notes, A. Philip Randolph 1889 1979
An in-depth biography on A. Philip Randolph gives details about his family, childhood, and his life dedicated to the fight for civil, labor, and human rights.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Transformation in North 1800 50: Early Industrialization Northeast
Examines the transformation of work from artisan-centered to a mechanized workforce. Looks at the emergence of industrialization and the impact it had on production and on the worker experience, the development of the consumer society,...
Social Studies Help Center
Social Studies Help Center: The Labor Union Movement in America
Discusses the Labor Union Movement in America from its origins in the 1700's.
My Hero Project
My Hero: Mary Harris
Mary Harris, better known as "Mother Jones," was an activist for the reform of laber laws. Read about her long life, which she dedicated to the working class and labor movement.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Alice Henry: The Trade Union Woman
Excerpt from the Preface to Alice Henry's book, The Trade Union Woman (1915) in which Henry argues for regulation of wages and working conditions for women. Link to the entire book.