Labor Leaders in America
Labor Leaders in America

Author: Melvyn Dubofsky

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9780252013430

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Here are the life stories of the men and women who have led the labor movement in America from Reconstruction to recent times, from William H. Sylvis, the first major labor leader, to Cesar Chavez, who organized California's farm workers in the 1960s. All of the chapters have been written expressly for this volume by leading authorities, several of whom are authors of booklength biographies of their subjects. Taken together these readable yet authoritative life studies provide a broad overview of the American labor movement that will appeal to the student and lay reader as well as to the specialist in social history and labor and industrial relations.

Artisans Into Workers
Artisans Into Workers

Author: Bruce Laurie

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780252066603

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In the only modern study synthesizing nineteenth-century American labor history, Bruce Laurie examines the character of working-class factionalism, plebian expectations of government, and relations between the organized few and the unorganized many. Laurie also examines the republican tradition and the movements that drew on it, from the General Trades Unions in the age of Jackson to the Knights of Labor later in the century.

Grand Master Workman
Grand Master Workman

Author: Craig Phelan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2000-01-30

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1567508847

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The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was the most ambitious and significant labor organization of the Gilded Age. As the charismatic leader of this group, Terence Powderly was America's first nationally known labor leader, the first to achieve a high degree of recognition from working people, industrialists, and politicians across the continent. To most Americans, Powderly was the Knights of Labor. Based on an exhaustive examination of Powderly's voluminous correspondence, this book offers a critical analysis of Powderly's efforts to oversee the most spectacular experiment in class-wide solidarity ever undertaken. Phelan paints a sympathetic and probing portrait of a complex figure caught up in the whirlwind of local and national events. He details the challenges and pressures of labor leadership at a time when industrialization was convulsing the nation, and when the labor movement was struggling to build a viable national institution capable of creating a more egalitarian society. The national focus of this study helps to synthesize the numerous community studies written on the Knights in recent years and offers fresh perspectives on the ultimate meaning of the organization. It is the first detailed examination of the Knights' leadership since the Powderly and Hayes Papers have become available.

Their Fathers' Daughters
Their Fathers' Daughters

Author: Bonnie Stepenoff

Publisher: Susquehanna University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9781575910284

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Social reformers of the early twentieth century drew attention to the tender age of many of the silk workers. Through the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, these female workers struggled to establish themselves, not as childlike victims, but as independent women, capable of finding their own way in the world and standing up for their own rights."--BOOK JACKET.

The Fruits of Their Labor
The Fruits of Their Labor

Author: Cindy Hahamovitch

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780807846391

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In 1933 Congress granted American laborers the right of collective bargaining, but farmworkers got no New Deal. Cindy Hahamovitch's pathbreaking account of migrant farmworkers along the Atlantic Coast shows how growers enlisted the aid of the state in an unprecedented effort to keep their fields well stocked with labor. This is the story of the farmworkers_Italian immigrants from northeastern tenements, African American laborers from the South, and imported workers from the Caribbean_who came to work in the fields of New Jersey, Georgia, and Florida in the decades after 1870. These farmworkers were not powerless, the author argues, for growers became increasingly open to negotiation as their crops ripened in the fields. But farmers fought back with padrone or labor contracting schemes and 'work-or-fight' forced-labor campaigns. Hahamovitch describes how growers' efforts became more effective as federal officials assumed the role of padroni, supplying farmers with foreign workers on demand. Today's migrants are as desperate as ever, the author concludes, not because poverty is an inevitable feature of modern agricultural work, but because the federal government has intervened on behalf of growers, preventing farmworkers from enjoying the fruits of their labor.

American Economic History
American Economic History

Author: James S. Olson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-04-28

Total Pages: 737

ISBN-13: 1610696980

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Covering figures, events, policies, and organizations, this comprehensive reference tool enhances readers' appreciation of the role economics has played in U.S. history since 1776. A study of the U.S. economy is important to understanding U.S. politics, society, and culture. To make that study easier, this dictionary offers concise essays on more than 1,200 economics-related topics. Entries cover a broad array of pivotal information on historical events, legislation, economic terms, labor unions, inventions, interest groups, elections, court cases, economic policies and philosophies, economic institutions, and global processes. Economics-focused biographies and company profiles are featured as sidebars, and the work also includes both a chronology of major events in U.S. economic history and a selective bibliography. Encompassing U.S. history since 1776 with an emphasis on recent decades, entries range from topics related to the early economic formation of the republic to those that explore economic aspects of information technology in the 21st century. The work is written to be clearly understood by upper-level high school students, but offers sufficient depth to appeal to undergraduates. In addition, the general public will be attracted by informative discussions of everything from clean energy to what keeps interest rates low.