Lesson Plan

The Industrial Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories

Steel mills in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Photo caption

Steel mills and in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About a century has passed since the events at the center of this lesson—the Haymarket Affair, the Homestead Strike, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. For some people in our nation, these incidents illustrated the unfair conditions faced by workers as the United States assumed its position as the most highly industrialized nation in the world. For others, they demonstrated the difficulty of managing industries. Such disagreements continue to this day. Where do we draw the line between acceptable business practices and unacceptable working conditions? Can an industrial—and indeed a post-industrial—economy succeed without taking advantage of those who do the work?

Note: This lesson may be taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a complement to another EDSITEment lesson The Industrial Age in America: Robber Barons and Captains of Industry.

Guiding Questions

What were working conditions like during the Age of Industrialization?

How did workers respond to these conditions?

Where do we draw the line between acceptable business practices and unacceptable working conditions?

To what extent do issues and arguments regarding early industrialization remain relevant today?

Learning Objectives

Evaluate the actions taken by the managers and workers involved in the incidents studied.

Analyze the working conditions that led to the Haymarket Affair, the Homestead Strike, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

Evaluate the significance of the featured events to the labor movement, the industrialists involved, and the attitude of the American people toward working conditions in the United States.

Construct an argument regarding working conditions today using evidence drawn from primary and secondary source materials.

Lesson Plan Details

Content Standards

NCSS.D1.2.9-12. Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

Preparation

Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Download the Labor Events Chart, available as a PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
For concise background information on the featured labor actions, consult the following resources:
- General Summary of Major Events (1876-1925): Timeline: Events of 1876-1999 on the EDSITEment resource Learner.org
- Haymarket Affair (from The Dramas of Haymarket on the website of The Chicago Historical Society, the source for the material on the EDSITEment resource American Memory and a direct link from the home page of Chicago Anarchists on Trial):
  - Haymarket Affair Chronology
  - Haymarket Affair Narrative
- The Homestead Strike (from Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World on the PBS website The American Experience, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library):
  - Strike at Homestead Mill
  - The Homestead Strike
- The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire from Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820 to the Present on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia

Lesson Activities

Activity 1. Background on the Industrial Age

If necessary, review with your class the historical context in which the labor actions at the center of this lesson occurred. Use your class text or other classroom resources, or refer to either or both of the following interactive timelines available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Learner.org:

Events of 1876–1999 (but focus on 1876–1925)
Interactive Timeline: Inventions 1868–1898

Read with—or to—your class Riis the Reformer and The Gilded Age on the PBS website Big Apple History and, if possible, share some of the images and the video. Discuss the income and lifestyle disparities illustrated by these two articles. What were some of the indications of poverty Riis noted? What specifics does "The Gilded Age" article offer as evidence of the wealth of the industrialists? As they continue to learn more about the Age of Industrialization, ask students to think about the following:

Was the income disparity noted in the two articles the norm? Is great income disparity part of the process when a nation is undergoing rapid economic growth?
Is there sufficient evidence to dispel the notion that "the poor were lazy and deserved their fate?"
Did the enormous wealth earned by the "captains of industry" eventually benefit everyone through their investments in new factories and their charitable donations?
Were workers better off in the Industrial Age than they had been before? Did the benefits of industrialization eventually improve the lot of workers? Did benefits come to workers through the actions of the industrialists or through the efforts of the workers themselves or both?

Though not the specific focus of this lesson, students might also have an interest in viewing archival photos of children at work, an unregulated practice before 1906--and one that was not completely outlawed until 1938. The photographs below offer an opportunity for students to consider how the growth of documentary photography affected reform efforts at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. One of the greatest crusaders against child labor was Lewis Hine. Just as Riis had used compelling and sometimes shocking photographs to provoke a public response to the conditions of tenement dwellers, Hine used mages to make a vivid case against the use of child labor:

"The National Child Labor Committee campaigned for tougher state and federal laws against the abuses of industrial child labor, and Lewis Hine was its greatest publicist. A teacher who left his profession to work full-time as investigator for the committee, Hine prepared a number of the Committee's reports and took some of the most powerful images in the history of documentary photography"

—From American Treasures of the Library of Congress, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Memory

In his report "Child Labor in the Cotton Mills of Mississippi" (1911), Hines noted that he had taken pictures of "most of the youngest workers," as well as older workers under sixteen who worked 60 hours a week instead of 63 1/2, "reduced hours" compared to adults. Hine's colleague, Edward F. Brown, in his report "Child Labor in the Gulf Coast" (1913), identified 26 children from ages 7 to 14 (including, for example, six 10-year-olds and five 12-year-olds) working at one oyster factory at 4:45 a.m.

Share with the class some of Hine's photos, including the following, available on the EDSITEment reviewed website American Memory:

How old are the workers in the pictures? Do the students believe they were able to put in a good day's work? Were they likely paid a fair wage? Why do you think these children and young people were working or allowed to work?

Now share with the class both Hine's and Brown's comments regarding these documentary photos, and consider how Hine and Brown might have answered the questions above.

After they have read and discussed these comments, ask students to think about their earlier response to Hine's photographs and to consider the following questions: How might Brown and Hine have responded to the same pictures? Why might their responses differ from yours? How does the effect of Hine's photographs compare with that of Riis the Reformer's?

Activity 2. Workers Respond

Divide the class into three student groups (or six, if you'd like each labor incident to be covered by two groups). Assign one of the historical incidents below to each group. Distribute to the groups the "Labor Events Chart" on page 1 of the PDF. Using the following resources and/or any other approved sources available in your classroom or online, each group should fill in the chart for their assigned individual.

Note: The Haymarket Affair and the Homestead Strike were violent and the language from both sides was inflammatory. Teachers should review all websites below before sharing with students.)

Haymarket Affair, 1886–87 (NOTE: The specific documents listed below are particularly useful but are by no means the only useful documents.)
- From the EDSITEment resource American Memory
  - Chicago Anarchists on Trial (If desired, share this definition of an anarchist with the students: An anarchist is someone who rejects completely the need for a government and wants to abolish it.)
  - Proclamation Granting Eight-Hour Day for federal workers, 1869 (Includes text. Click on the image for larger versions.)
- From The Dramas of Haymarket on The Chicago Historical Society, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Memory
  - Haymarket Affair Chronology
  - Haymarket Affair Narrative
  - Highlights of the Collection
  - Broadside: Revenge!
  - Haymarket Affair Digital Collection: Table of Contents
  - Act I: Subterranean Fire (The last few paragraphs starting with the words, "On May 4, exactly a year…")
  - Who Threw The Bomb?
- From Haymarket Riot (Chicago Public Library), a link from the EDSITEment resource American Memory
  - Another Summary of Events
  - Haymarket Photo Library (NOTE: "Photo" is a misnomer here. This page contains digitized images of various graphics related to the Haymarket Affair such as posters and editorial cartoons.)
- From The Haymarket Tragedy, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Memory
  - May Day Remembered, a recent poem commemorating the May Day event
  - Narrative About the Eventual Pardon
- From Haymarket Trial on Famous Trials, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library
  - Timeline of the American Labor Movement
  - Summary of Trial (Includes a brief discussion of anarchism.)
Homestead Strike, 1892 (NOTE: The specific documents listed below are particularly useful but are by no means the only useful documents.)

"It shall be the rule for the workman to be Partner with Capital, the man of affairs giving his business experience, the working man in the mill his mechanical skill, to the company, both owners of the shares and so far equally interested in the success of their joint efforts."

—Andrew Carnegie

From Andrew Carnegie, the Richest Man in the World on The American Experience, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library
- The Steel Business (Discusses what a steel mill is like.)
- Strike at Homestead Mill
- Homestead Letters
- The Homestead Strike
From the EDSITEment resource History Matters
- The Musical Saga of Homestead "Workers sang during strikes not only to state their beliefs and goals, but because singing helped bind workers together. The Homestead strike of 1892 even had its own Homestead Strike Songster, and the story of the strike can be traced in the lyrics of the following four songs."
- "I Will Kill Frick": Emma Goldman Recounts the Attempt to Assassinate the Chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company During the: Homestead Strike in 1892 "Known for his uncompromising and cruel tactics, Frick became an obvious target for labor activists looking to make a statement during the protracted strike."
- Frick's Fracas: Henry Frick Makes His Case "During the 1892 strike at the Homestead Steel Works, plant manager Henry Clay Frick attempted to defeat the strikers forcibly by hiring three hundred armed agents of the notorious Pinkerton Detective Agency. The strikers fought back, and, after casualties and deaths on both sides, the Pinkertons surrendered. In the aftermath of the Pinkerton debacle, Frick spoke with a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post. He laid out his implacable opposition to dealing with the union, his belief that the Pennsylvania governor should send in troops, and his goal of reducing wages at the plant, the central issue in the conflict. Frick argued that the Homestead owners were not allowed to reap the fruits of their investment because of workers' inordinately high wage scales. The union, on the other hand, claimed that the cost of producing steel at Homestead was well below the industry standard, in large measure because the Homestead workers had cooperated in the recent mechanization of the plant."
Sweatshops and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911 (NOTE: The specific documents listed below are particularly useful but are by no means the only useful documents.)
- From Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820 to the Present on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia
  - Tenement Sweatshops
  - Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
- From The Triangle Factory Fire, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women and Social Movements
  - Introduction
  - Sweatshops and Strikes Before 1911 (Gives background information.)
  - My First Job (Tells about working conditions.)
  - New York Times Account of the Fire (March 26, 1911)
  - Stories of Survivors (from the New York Times, March 26, 1911)
- Triangle Fire on the EDSITEment resource New Deal Network
- Obituary of the Last Survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire on National Public Radio, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library

When the groups are finished with their research, have each present its findings to the class. Do students think workers were justified in their actions? Were owners/managers? What lessons can be gleaned from the situations studied?

Activity 3. Sweatshops Today

"Contrary to what you have heard, sweatshops in third-world countries are a good deal for the people who work in them. Why? Because work, other than slave labor, is an exchange. A worker chooses a particular job because she thinks herself better off in that job than at her next-best alternative. Most of us would regard a low-paying job in Nicaragua or Honduras as a lousy job. But we're not being asked to take those jobs. Those jobs are the best options those workers have, or else they would quit and work elsewhere… sweatshops are a normal step in economic development."

—From "The Case for Sweatshops" by David R. Henderson, Hoover Institution, a link from the Hoover Presidential Library, administered by the National Archives

"As part of the Clinton/Gore Administration's ongoing commitment to the improvement of working standards around the world, the Departments of Treasury and State will announce two new initiatives to protect workers, children, and families from abusive and unfair labor practices. These two new initiatives represent important milestones in the President's leadership on anti-child labor and sweatshop efforts …"
—The White House, January 16th, 2001, housed at the National Archives

Read with—or to—your class the essay The Case for Sweatshops, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website National Archives. Make sure the students understand the argument offered. Does that argument echo ideas that were stated during any of the labor controversies studied in Activity 2.

Share with your class the following two documents available through the EDSITEment-reviewed CongressLink: the Washington Post article about sweatshops on U.S. territory and the companies that use them (one of many informative documents from U.S. Congressman George Miller's Information on Sweatshops); and the Garment Enforcement Report October 1995 – March 1996 from the Department of Labor. Students can also read Is It Getting Better? on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia. Do these documents echo any ideas that were stated during the labor controversies studied in Activity 2.

Would students recommend that sweatshops be abolished or supported? Have individuals or student groups compose position papers, stating

Assessment

Socratic Seminar

Organized around the compelling question Was the industrial revolution a blessing or a curse?, have students analyze the primary sources included within this lesson and organize their notes before participating in a discussion about the ongoing process that is industrialization. Discussion questions can include:

What were short and long term benefits and problems that emerged during the early period of industrialization in the U.S?
What is the proper role of government when regulating working conditions?
What is needed to ensure worker's rights and an owner's right to make a profit coexist?
How did men, women, and children differently experience industrialization in the U.S?
What were the cultural and environmental ramifications of industrialization?
Who benefited economically as a result of industrialization?
To what extent are issues present at the start of industrialization still relevant today?
Is the industrial revolution an event or a process?

Lesson Extensions

Sweating the Big Stuff: A Lesson About Labor Conditions Around the World, a partner-reviewed lesson for both middle- and high-school students available on ArtsEdge, and Child Labor in America, on the EDSITEment resource American Memory, may be fruitfully adapted for use in your classroom.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

Materials & Media

The Industrial Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories: Worksheet 1

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