This document provides information for a history course on the history of American labor from the 19th century to World War II. It includes the course description, learning objectives, required texts, and course schedule. The course will cover the evolution of labor history from antebellum Southern agriculture and Eastern industrialization to the auto industry in WWII, with a focus on the roles of women and immigrant workers. Students will learn about the role of labor unions in expanding the American workforce over two centuries. The course assignments include rubrics, papers, and class discussions on the required texts, which cover topics like antebellum women, African American miners, steelworkers, immigration, and the rise of feminism.

1. History 390A: History of American Labor
Fall 2017
Instructor: Ingrid G. Hoskins Office: Brown Hall 300
Office hours: M/W 10am-12pm Phone: 946-5000
E-mail: ighoskin@svsu.edu Class time: M/W 1pm-2:20pm Room: B212
Course Description:
This course will cover the evolution of labor history in America from the introduction of
agriculture in the Antebellum South (1812-1861) and the industrial revolution (1790-1890) in the
Eastern United States urban centers to the auto industry of WWII. There will be a particular
focus on the role of women and immigrant workers and the labor unions that wished to protect
these workers and the skilled trades. Readings will be in secondary works, including both recent
and classic studies. An introduction to immigration and the role of women in society will be
included.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the role in which female workers and labor unions played in the expansion of
the American labor force over the course of two centuries. Students will explain their
understanding through written and verbal communications.
Required Texts:
Antebellum women: Private, Public, Partisan
by Carol Lasser and Stacey Robertson (2011) ($25)
https://encore.svsu.edu/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1399074
Summary: The authors identify three phases in the changing relationship of
women to civic and political activities. They first situate women as "deferential
domestics" in a world of conservative gender expectations; then map out the development
of an ideology that allowed women to leverage their familial responsibilities into
participation as "companionate co-workers" in movements of religion, reform, and social
welfare; and finally trace the path of those who followed their causes into the world of
politics as "passionate partisans." Includes primary and secondary documents.
African American miners and migrants: the Eastern Kentucky Social Club
by Thomas E. Wagner and Phillip J. Obermiller afterword by William H. Turner
($15)
https://encore.svsu.edu/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1514210

2. Summary: Documents the lives of Eastern Kentucky Social Club members, a
group of black Appalachians who left the eastern Kentucky coalfields and their
coal company hometowns in Harlan County. Bound together by segregation, the
inherent dangers of mining, and coal company paternalism, it might seem that
black miners and mountaineers would be eager to forget their past.
Steel and steelworkers: race and class struggle in twentieth-century Pittsburgh
by John Hinshaw ($17.25)
https://encore.svsu.edu/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1424636
Summary: A fascinating account of the forces that shaped Pittsburgh, big
business, and labor through the city’s rapid industrialization in the mid-nineteenth
century, its lengthy era of industrial “maturity,” its precipitous deindustrialization toward
the end of the twentieth century, and its reinvention from “hell with the lid off” to
America’s most livable (post-industrial) city.
Ellis Island nations: immigration policy and American identity in the twentieth century
by Robert L. Fleegler ($25)
https://encore.svsu.edu/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1532763
Summary: The importance of immigrants to the nation's identity is imparted in
civics classes, political discourse, and television and film. Ellis Island Nation provides a
historical perspective on recent discussions of multiculturalism and the exclusion of
groups that have arrived since the liberalization of immigrant laws.
State of the Union: A Century of American Labor
by Nelson Lichtenstein ($12)
Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2013 ISBN: 9780691160276
Summary: The author examines how trade unionism has waned the nation's
political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent
foes. This is the updated version for the past decade of growth in political
consciences.
Ways to Success:
Attend all class sessions and take in-depth notes regarding topics discussed in class and
within reading assignments. Students should look to focus their notes to match the reading topics
for paper assignments and in class discussions based on class topic.
Electronic device policy:

3. Electronic devices such as computers or tablets that will be utilized for note taking are
encouraged in class. However, if a student is found to not be attentive in class the electronic
device will be asked to be put away.
Academic Integrity:
Students Who Practice Academic Integrity
 Respect their peers by not taking unfair advantage in the classroom and in the post-
graduate/professional environment
 Develop habits of ethical behavior that generate respect from their peers and the
community
 Establish a foundation for the professional Codes of Ethics in their chosen careers
 Enhance the value of their degree and promote a positive image of the University in the
community.
Accommodations:
Special arrangements will be made for students who are in need of any changes. Students
are encouraged to meet with the Office of Disability Services and coordinate with the instructor
as soon as the semester begins.
Grading Scale:
A 160+ points B- 130-139 F below 105 (59%)
A- 150-159 C 120-129
B 140-149 D 106-119
Points Scale:
Rubrics 50 points total, 10 points each
Papers 80 points total, 20 points each
Extra Credit 6 points total, 2 points each
Participation 40 points total
Total for Semester: 176 points
Course Schedule:
Date & Topic Discussed Homework Assignments
1) Monday
2) Wednesday
Aug 28th & 30th Gender & Race 1) Begin reading Antebellum Women
Sep 6th Antebellum Labor 1) Finnish reading Antebellum Women
2) Rubric: Antebellum Women: Private, public, partisan by
Carol Lasser and Stacey Robertson DUE

4. Sep 11th & 13th Antebellum
Women
1) In class discussion: Group discussion on the Private and
Public lives of Southern Women and slaves
2) Paper: Antebellum Women due
Sep 18th & 20th Early Mining
communities
1) In class discussion: experiences of early settlers and
miners
1) Begin reading of African American Miners
2) Rubric: African American miners and migrants: the
Eastern Kentucky Social Club by Thomas E. Wagner and
Phillip J. Obermiller; afterword by William H. Turner DUE
Sep 25th & Sep 27th Miners and
Organized Labor
1) In class discussion: what trials and tribulations did
African American's face during work underground?
2) Paper: African American miners due
Oct 2nd & 4th Urban Workers
and Organized Labor
Monday/Wednesday 7pm
Instructor Review Sessions in
Office: by appointment only
1) In class discussion: what is a labor union? How were
unions formed and why? Who were the first reformers?
1) Begin reading Steele and Steelworkers
2) Bring questions regarding the reading to class
2) Students are encouraged to visit the instructor during
offices hours or make an appointment
Oct 9th & 11th Steel Mills and
the American Economy
2) Rubric: Steel and steelworkers: race and class struggle
in twentieth-century Pittsburgh by John Hinshaw DUE
Oct 16th & 18th Steel Workers 1) In class discussion: what role did Steel mills play in the
early American economy? What role did females play in
the steel economy?
Oct 23rd & 25th Immigration
History of America an
Introduction
1) In class discussion: where do we see immigrant
influences today? Where did the first immigrants come
from? How are migrants percieved today?
Oct 30th & Nov 1st New York:
Tenement Housing
1) Extra Credit: As discussed last week in class; What key
issues did immigrants face when they entered through
American ports and entered the cities for work?
2) Begin reading Ellis Island Nation
Nov 6th & 8th New York
Garment History
1) Extra Credit: As discussed last week in class; What
conditions and issues surrounded immigrant children in
New York tenement housing?
2) Questions regarding Ellis Island Nation should be
brought up in class today

5. Nov 13th & 15th Jewish
American Immigrants
experience
1) Guest speaker (a local Rabbi)
2) Rubric: Haney Foundation Series : Ellis Island Nation :
Immigration Policy and American Identity in the Twentieth
Century by Robert L. Fleegler
Nov 20th & 22nd Irish American
Immigrants experience
1) In class discussion: the treatment of Irish immigrants,
experiences of Irish women
2) Paper: Ellis Island Nation
Nov 27th The Great Depression
and American labor
1) In class discussion: how did the Great depression effect
American women and children?
1) Begin reading State of the Union
Nov 29th & Dec 4th The Rise of
Feminism and the effects of
War
1) Rubric: State of the Union: A Century of American
Labor by Nelson Lichtenstein
2) Any questions regarding State of the Union needs to be
brought up today
Dec 6th American Auto
Workers Unions Early
Beginnings
1) Extra Credit; As discussed in class last week; How did
WWII effect the role of Women in the work force?
2) Paper: State of the Union
Dec 11th at 10am Final Discussion; students must attend class to receive a 10
point bonus and take part in a class discussion on the
current state of Labor Unions in the United States
Due Dates: Assignments are due in class on the day they are due. Exceptions can and will be
made if a student misses class due to illness and or special reasons foretold beforehand. Please
see instructor.
Assignment Instructions:
Rubric Assignments
10 points. May be hand written as these are notes you take during reading the assigned
text. Students are encouraged to visit the instructor during office hours, email their ideas, or talk
to the instructor during class if they have questions. Students that follow the below instructions
very closely and offer the MOST detail with minimum spelling errors will received a full grade.
Page length is up to the student due to the level of detail they wish to include.
Introduction: include the overarching purpose of the text. Meaning, what does the
author/historian look to prove or provide information on. An introduction or preface of a book
is a great place to find this information, it may also be found in each individual chapter
depending on the type of book.
Theme of each chapter.
May need to be broken into
chapters.
Evidence author provides
for the theme of each
chapter or section.
What did you learn in this
section that will assist you
on your paper for the text?

6. Theme 1 Evidence
 1
 2
 3
Evidence 1: What I learned
is....
Evidence 2: What I learned
is....
Theme 2 Evidence
 1
 2
 3
Evidence 1: What I learned
is....
Evidence 2: What I learned
is....
Assessment and Conclusion
Assess the academic work the text assigned.
What sources were used? Could there be bias?
Assess your overall learning of the assigned reading. What caught your attention? What did
you already know. Give several examples.
Conclude with your critique of the authors writing. Include the following: where could the
author approve upon? What information, if any, seemed repetitive? Was there a section that
lagged information or were there times you needed clarification? Provide several examples
were applicable.
Paper Assignment Topics
Text and Topic of Paper Due Date
Antebellum Women
"In the expanding market economy, women were not excluded from
participation in a larger world; rather, in an unstable compromise, certain
activities were defined as domestically linked. Thus, poor women of all races
used various economic strategies on behalf of household survival, while white
women from the emergent middle class took their places in churches and
voluntary societies, before the law, and in the classroom." Examine the ideas
the authors provide here and give particular examples from class and the
reading to prove the experiences of Antebellum Women.
Sep 13th
African America Miners
Examine the experiences of African American Miners in the Coal camps and
communities within Kentucky.
Sep 27th
Ellis Island Nation
"The passage of the Immigration Act of 1965 was relatively unheralded at the
time, but it signified the emergence of a broader conception of American
identity and a ‘‘nation of immigrants’’ that included southern and eastern
Europeans. The grandchildren of the Ellis Island immigrants who were once
so despised had achieved a new level of acceptance." The author examines
within the introduction how early immigrants experiences America, detail
how the author explains and the evidence he provides in describing late
twentieth century immigrants.
Nov 22nd
State of The Union Dec 6th

7. Examine the author's argument that the "labor question has never been simply
a function of the labor market, the character of production technology, the
social composition of the workforce, or the state of the business
organization." Where do you see the future of the American working
consciousness? What roles will government and technology play? How did
the 1930s reconstruction by the government shape the later years of the labor
consciousness?
Steele Workers
Only a rubric is due October 11th. No Paper.
Paper Layout Information
20 points. Papers are to be typed and turned in during the beginning of class on the
assigned due date. The best papers should include the MOST detail on each theme and make use
of the rubrics and information from class. Class notes are a good portion of each paper. A student
should demonstrate a clear understanding of the overarching purpose of each text. Students are
encouraged to sent drafts to the instructor and also visit the writing center on campus for
assistance with spelling and grammar.
Introduction: introduce topic of paper from the assignment table above this should include
the overarching purpose and catch the reader's attention
Themes: for each theme from the rubric provide evidence the author gives as well as
information for class lectures to prove your thesis
Conclusion: conclude your paper with the overarching theme of the paper and main points to
summarize your argument
Assessment: give an assessment/critique of how well the author proves their overarching
purpose make use of your rubric for this section heavily and site particular evidence and or
quotes from the author
Extra Credit:
2 points each. Three extra credit writing prompts will be given in class. These prompts
have been provided on the course schedule as to prepare students. Well written prompts must
include a minimum of three examples that are well developed and free of miss communication.
These points may be added to rubric and paper assignments.
The instructor holds the right to alter or adjust the course schedule or assignments as
necessary