American Labor History

Catalog description

This course examines the lives of the ethnically and racially diverse women and men, skilled and unskilled, and rural and urban laborers that produce the goods and provide the services that society consumes. At critical moments, working people have joined social movements in an effort to improve some aspect of their lives. We therefore will assess workers in relation to several known and less known American social movements, such as the eight-hour day movement during the late nineteenth century, the peace movement during WWI, and the Civil Rights movement in the wake of WWII. As we study these social movements through the lens of labor history, we will focus on making sense of periods of conflict and cooperation between European American, African American, and Mexican American workers. Throughout the course we will also discuss the politics of time-managed work, the role of unions within a competitive market economy, the influence of public policy and government institutions, and the relationship between industrial economies and blue-collar communities. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.