Jan 14, 2016 |
This course provides a historical context for the rise of organized labor in the United States with a special focus on the Mon Valley. Participants in this course will receive information relative to the trends and events that have shaped United States history in a variety of ways while focusing on case studies specific to the Pittsburgh region. The instructors for this course will engage participants in discussion while utilizing a variety of learning methods such as lecture, film, and primary sources and images. March 31 – Class 1: Natives and Settlers “High Muddy Banks,” a Queen and a President, the Battle of the Monongahela, the conquest of the Forks of the Ohio, and a Spirited “Whiskey” Rebellion. April 7 – Class 2: Working-class Culture Women, minorities, immigrants to the United States, paid and unpaid labor, “skilled” and “unskilled” labor, the “patch” and the company town. April 14 – Class 3: The Impact of Industrialization Farms and orchards, the struggle against slavery, from iron to steel, rebellion on the rails, the Battle of Homestead April 21 – Class 4: The Non-union Era Irish, Slavs, and African Americans, 1919: the Great Steel “Hunky” Strike, Mother Jones in the Mon Valley, Mellon Rule, Out of the Furnace April 28 – Class 5: The Two World Wars Repression and cooperation, new workers/new roles, an “arsenal of democracy.” May 5 – Class 6: Organization and Unionization The rise of the United Mine Workers, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, the United Steelworkers, Aliquippa May 12 – Class 7: The Challenges of a Post-World War II World Prosperity in the valley, Donora smog, 1959 Steel...
