Resources
This unit plan required several resources, and they are listed below by category: for teachers, students, classroom use, and resources specific to Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.
Annotated Bibliography for Teachers
Clark, Christopher, et al. “Community and Conflict: Working People Respond to Industrial Capitalism, 1877-1893” in Who Built America? Working People and the Nation’s History 1877 to the Present. New York: Worth Publishers, 2000. Clark details how industrial capitalism affected daily life among America’s urban and rural working-class.
Clark, Christopher, et al. “The Producing Classes and the Money Power - A Decade of Hard Times, Struggle, and Defeat 1893-1904” in Who Built America? Working People and the Nation’s History 1877 to the Present. New York: Worth Publishers, 2000. In this chapter, Clark explains the major defeats of the Labor Movement during the late nineteenth century..
Helgeson, Jeffrey. “American Labor and Working-Class History, 1900-1945.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-330. Helgeson provides a detailed overview of the Labor Movement ranging from its beginnings to the years following World War Two.
Ostreicher, Richard. “Terence V. Powderly, the Knights of Labor, and Artisanal Republicanism” in Labor Leaders in America. Edited by Melvin Dubofsky and Warren Van Time. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Ostreicher writes a biography that goes into depth of Powderly and the Knights of Labor’s rise and fall during the Industrial Revolution in the United States’ railroad industry.
Student Reading List
“Against the Union Men: HC Frick Is Fighting the Amalgamated Association.” Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago, IL. July 3, 1892. This newspaper article captures the tensions between Henry Clay Frick and the Amalgamated Association during the Homestead Strike.
“Anarchy Chosen, Says Gompers: Labor Leader Discusses Philadelphia Strike.” The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, GA. March 6, 1910. The Atlanta Constitution covers the thoughts prominent labor leaders had on the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike.
Carnegie, Andrew. “The Gospel of Wealth.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://www.carnegie.org/about/our-history/gospelofwealth/. This website provides the text of Andrew Carnegie’s view on philanthropy.
“Philadelphia in Grip of Sympathetic Strike; Thousands of Men Out: Labor Leaders Estimate that 75,000 Workmen Are Resting from Their Labors.” The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, GA. March 5, 1910. This article discusses how workers across various job sectors participated in sympathy strikes.
“Philadelphia Rapid Transit: Earnings Show the Effect of the Strike of Last Spring.” Wall Street Journal. New York, NY. September 22, 1910. The Wall Street Journal shows the economic consequences the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike had on the Rapid Transit Company.
Reed, John. “Back of Billy Sunday.” Metropolitan Magazine. April 1915. Reed, an American Journalist and a member of the Communist Party, records his interviews about how Philadelphia leaders raised funds for Billy Sunday to deliver sermons throughout the city.
List of Materials for Classroom Use
Biden, Joseph R. “Workers in Alabama—and all across America—are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. It’s a vitally important choice—one that should be made without intimidation or threats by employers. Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union.” Twitter. February 28, 2021. https://twitter.com/potus/status/1366191901196. President Biden delivers an address via Twitter that endorses the right of Amazon warehouse workers to unionize.
Counsman, Randy, writer, et al. The Men Who Build America. Directed by Patrick Reams and Ruán Magan, featuring David Donahoe, Matt Boliek, Adam Jonas Segaller, Cary Donaldson, John C. Bailey, Eric Rolland, Justin Morck. Aired 2012, in broadcast syndication. The History Channel, 2012, TV. This series documents the contributions individual magnates had during the Gilded Age.
Joe Biden: “Ordinary Middle-Class Americans Built America.” Politico. June 27, 2019, video. 1:28. https://www.politico.com/video/2019/06/27/biden-2020-debate-068402. Biden compared his vision of American economic history to that of incumbent President Donald Trump as a candidate.
Shierholz, Heidi. “Working People Have Been Thwarted in Their Efforts to Bargain for Better Wages by Attacks on Unions.” Economic Policy Institute. August 27, 2019. https://www.epi.org/publication/labor-day-2019-collective-bargaining/. This economist provides a graph that visualizes the correlation between labor union membership and wealth inequality in the United States.
Piketty, Thomas and Emmanuez Saez. “Top Incomes and the Great Recession: Recent Evolutions and Policy Implications.” IMF Economic Review 61, no. 3 (2003): 463. Economists Piketty and Saez present information regarding wealth inequality following the Financial Crisis of 2008.
The Trust Giant’s Point of View. “What a Funny Little Government.” Library of Congress. 1900. Photo. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96507002/. This political cartoon criticizes the political influence industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller had during the Gilded Age.
Resources Specific to Pennsylvania and Philadelphia
AFL-CIO. “1892 Homestead Strike.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/1892-homestead-strike. This webpage provides a brief overview of the Homestead Strike.
“All Philadelphia Unions Vote to Strike: Plan for Sympathetic Walkout Involving 125,000 Workers.” San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, CA. February 28, 1910. The San Francisco Chronicle explains the developments of sympathy strikes during the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike.
Burgoyne, Andrew G. Homestead: A Complete History of the Struggle of July, 1892, between the Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, and the Amalgamated Association of Iron Workers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1893. Burgoyne provides an exhaustive and detailed account of the events of the Homestead Strike.
Casper, Amanda. “Row Houses.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/row-houses/. Casper explains the development and use of row houses in Philadelphia.
“Company Accepts Philadelphia Car Strike Agreement: Men Are Expected to Return to Work Tomorrow Following Accession to Compromise at Session Today.” The Christian Science Memoir. Boston, MA. June 4, 1909. A journalist in Boston covers the agreements between the Rapid Transit Company and the streetcar union after weeks of strikes and riots.
Conway, Jr., Thomas. “Street Railways in Philadelphia Since 1900.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. September 1904. Conway provides a brief history of Philadelphia’s public transportation system.
“Day of Disorder in Philadelphia: Riots in Very Heart of City.” New York Tribune. New York, NY. March 1910. The New York Tribune recounts the riots that took place during the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike.
“Few New Developments in Strike Situation as Peace Movement Marks Time.” Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, PA. March 17, 1910. The Inquirer records the daily events the strike in Philadelphia had on everyday life.
Hepp, John. “Public Transportation.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/public-transportation/. Hepp writes about the history of Philadelphia’s public transportation system.
“Industrial Unionism and the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike” in New York Call, vol. 3, no. 158. June 7, 1910. Eugene V. Debs criticizes the union leadership during the Philadelphia Streetcar Strike.
Kornacki, Julianne. “General Strike of 1910.” Last modified July 22, 2021. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/general-strike-of-1910/. This webpage provides a summary of the transit strike in Philadelphia.
The Labor Troubles at Homestead, Pennsylvania—Attack of the Strikers and Their Sympathizers on the Surrendered Pinkerton Men, Library of Congress, July 14, 1892, photomechanical print, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96507002/. The cover of this illustrated newspaper depicts the surrender of the Pinkerton Detective Agency during the Homestead Strike.
Lewis, Edwin O. “Philadelphia’s Relation to Rapid Transit Company.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Lewis describes the contract the Rapid Transit Company negotiated with the City of Philadelphia in 1907.
Rioters Charging a Car, Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia—The Car Was Wrecked. Library of Congress. February 21, 1910. Photographic print. https://www.loc.gov/item/97504553/. Rioters are shown stoning a streetcar on Kensington Avenue in this photo.
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