May Day lesson plans on the Labor Movement: organized labor, strikes, child labor and unions

Hello my friends of the Omschool. Teacher Omi here with a post that resonates deeply for me. It's about labor history, in the US and abroad. Spring is a poignant time in labor history. March 25, 1911 remembers 146 workers, mostly women, lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. April 16 mourns Ireland's Easter Rising of slain Feinians (Irish Sinn Fein followers who fought for home rule in Ireland). 

April 28 marks Workers' Memorial Day, on which the organized labor movement pays tribute to the fallen in workplace accidents or in organized labor struggles. May 1 is May Day, honoring International Workers' Day. May 4 commemorates casualties at Chicago's Haymarket Square Massacre at a 1886 labor rally. May 19, 1920 is a day when the organized labor movement grieves the Matewan and Mingo County massacre of coal miners. On May 26, 1937 those who would form unions were assaulted at Ford's River Rouge plant "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

Organized labor history is taught as part of American history, but there is no American (or world) history without labor history. Unions, collective bargaining--the fight for workers' rights impact every industry, occupation and person. Teachers and homeschoolers, you can educate students about unions with these free printable May Day and labor history lesson plans. These links include websites, activities, worksheets, movies and books on the organized labor movement.

The American Labor Studies Center offers a gamut of free printable organized labor movement lesson plans. It covers history, events, strikes, lockouts, workplace injuries, child labor, working conditions, collective bargaining, 8-hour workday, sweatshops, slavery, organizing, indentured servitude, socialism and labor, women's rights, African American labor issues, minority discrimination concerns, ULP (unfair labor practices). Lessons cover the Triangle fire (the worst workplace accident in history), West Virginia labor, Pullman Strike (1894), Lawrence Textile Strike (1913), Lowell Strike, Paterson Silk Strike, agriculture strikes and other events. Get free printable union labor worksheets, fill-ins, puzzles and study guides. There are links to films and books.

Historical labor organizers 

AFL-CIO explores famous labor leaders: Noam Chomsky, Joe Hill, "Big Bill" Haywood, Caesar Chavez, the Wisconsin 14 and others from the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), AFL-CIO, Teamsters and more. Here's another list of biographies of union organizers. This site has biographies of women labor leaders including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and more. To use in lessons, print the list of names on one side and short bios on the other side (mixed up). Students match person with details. Print photos and pin to a map at places they are associated with. Or make a time line along the wall. Plot images in history.

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit maintains the largest organized labor history archive in the U.S. It has an impressive collection of images in physical exhibits and digital archives on The Labor Movement and Organizations. It also maintains a labor history document base. The library is named for the leaders of UAW (United Auto Workers) and CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) unions Walter Reuther who was one of several injured at Ford's Rouge factory "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

The United Farm Workers is the union begun by Cesar Chavez that tends to itinerant and agricultural labor issues. Along with labor movement, the UFW educates people about food safety, immigration, deportation, earth and green initiatives, pesticides and more. An important piece is the youth activism page. UFW seeks to take union and agricultural awareness beyond the classroom walls and into real life.

The Wobblies is a documentary about the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World). The IWW is a world-wide union that seeks to organize all workers regardless of occupation. This authoritative video is engaging and covers a broad labor perspective. It helps students understand the differences between business, trade and collective unions. The IWW honors May Day as the real Labor Day.

And a child shall lead them...

Some of the most influential yet overlooked labor leaders were kids. Abuses were rampant prior to child labor laws. The first ever unskilled labor strike in London, 1888, just two years after Haymarket was the Matchgirls of Bryant & May was girls protesting the use of phosphorus which led to "phossy jaw." The "Newsies strike" of 1899, featured newspaper carriers like Kid Blink and Dave Simmons and other poor, immigrant East End kids taking on Goliath's of industry like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer in New York City. But it wasn't just the newsboys who walked out. Bootblacks, Breaker Boys, Matchgirls, dock hands,  millworkers, kids in sweatshops. Even kids in others states struck in solidarity. 

Modern Heroes of the American Labor Movement 

It's been said that American Labor Movement is dead. It certainly isn't. The fight for worker rights continues to the present with the work of activists such as:

• Chris Smalls: Founded the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) in 2021, leading successful unionization efforts at an Amazon warehouse, marking a resurgence in grassroots organizing.
• Sara Nelson: President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), known for her powerful advocacy for labor solidarity and organizing in the service sector.
• Liz Shuler: As president of the AFL-CIO, she is leading the largest federation of unions into a new era focusing on diverse, modern industries.
• Dolores Huerta: A legendary co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW), she continues to fight for worker rights through the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
• David Rolf: A prominent leader in the "$15 minimum wage" campaigns, pushing for structural wage improvements.
• Terri Gerstein: Director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard's Labor and Work Life Program, advancing legal protections for workers.
• Derrick Palmer: Co-founder with Chris Smalls of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), playing a crucial role in worker organizing.

Carrying the Banner

From the Newsies Musical, comes the song "Carrying the Banner" a cry to keep the flame burning. In honor of May Day, here's a quote from the Albert Shanker Institute. "Imagine opening a high school U.S. history textbook and finding no mention of-or at most a passing sentence about-Valley Forge, the Missouri Compromise...Benjamin Franklin, Lewis and Clark. Imagine if these key events and people just disappeared as if they'd never existed...That is what has happened in history textbooks when it comes to labor's part in the American story." Use these lesson plans to keep the May Day stories and message alive.