Introduction
This Labor History course aims to set the story straight: to fill in the details of workers contributions and correct misconceptions of how our country got where it is today. With these new insights, you will be prepared to meet the challenges of civic life today.
In the series of modules to follow, we will be investigating different groups of workers in northeastern Pennsylvania: Anthracite Coal Miners, Textile Manufacturing workers, Teachers and a final topic which will be developed as a class. In each case, we will look at:
- Daily life of the workers
- Nature of the work/working conditions
- How workers organized
- Role of the union(s)
- Role of the government
- Strikebreaking
- Legacy of the struggle
- What were the workers fighting for?
- What were the unions fighting for?
- Were the strikes/actions victories or failures?
- How did race/ethnicity/class/religion factor in?
- How are labor events analyzed/interpreted?
- How are these events remembered/memorialized?
We will be studying the work of labor historians as well as examining primary documents, oral histories, songs, poems, artwork, literature and memorials.
We will also be contributing to the scholarship through the creation of class projects and individual or group projects. Throughout the class you will practice:
- asking good questions
- examining the evidence
- comparing viewpoints
- contextualizing events