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Three miners with federal soldier prepare to surrender weapons.
View: Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain–WVA coal miners, 1920

What Made the Battle of Blair Mountain the Largest Labor Uprising in American History. Its legacy lives on today in the struggles faced by modern miners seeking workers’ rights

Group of striking women-shirtwaist workers in New York City, circa 1909.
View: Uprising of 20,000 (1909)

On November 23, 1909, more than 20,000 Yiddish-speaking immigrants, mostly young women in their teens and early twenties, launched an eleven-week general strike in New York’s shirtwaist industry. Dubbed the Uprising of the 20,000, it was the largest strike by women to date in American history.

View: Who Built America Badges

Part of the City University of New York, the American Social History Project is a recognized leader in effective, engaging history education. Who Built America Badges for History Education is designed for Grade 7-12 teachers

View: The Southern Historical Association

The Southern Historical Association was organized on November 2, 1934 with the idea of promoting an “investigative rather than a memorial approach” to southern history. Its objectives are the defense of history education and historical thinking in the South; the promotion of rigorous research in southern history; the collection and preservation of the South’s historical records; and the encouragement of state and local historical societies in the South.

View: Bread and Roses Strike of 1912: Two Months in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that Changed Labor History

The Lawrence Textile Strike was a public protest mainly of immigrant workers from several countries, including Austria, Belgium, Cuba, Canada, France, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Syria, and Turkey. According to the 1910 census, 65% of mill workers (many of whom eventually struck) lived in the United States for less than 10 years; 47% for less than five years.

View: Lawrence History Center

Our collections are being digitized and made available through our website, OCLC WorldCat, Internet Archive, Digital Commonwealth, and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

View: Lawrence Textile Strike, 1912 – Book Resource

One of the most significant struggles for workers’ rights began on January 12, 1912, in Lawrence, Mass., when thousands of textile workers began a walkout that would come to be known as the Bread and Roses Strike, the Lawrence Textile Strike, and the Singing Strike. Read an overview and find teaching resources below.

View: Lowell Historical Site – National Park Service

Lowell’s water-powered textile mills catapulted the nation – including immigrant families and early female factory workers – into an uncertain new industrial era. Nearly 200 years later, the changes that began here still reverberate in our shifting global economy. Explore Lowell, a living testament to the dynamic human story of the industrial revolution.

View: Eckley Miners’ Village Museum

Perched atop a mountain ridge at the center of one of the planet’s largest concentrations of disturbed terrain, Eckley Miners’ Village is a world within a world. Visit our authentic 19th-century company mining town, and experience the lives of the working-class families who once fueled America.

View: John L. Lewis Memorial Museum of Mining and Labor

John L. Lewis was born February 12th 1880, to Welsh immigrant parents in the coal mining camp of Cleveland, Iowa- one mile East of Lucas, Iowa. He began working in the Big Hill Coal Mine in Lucas, IA as a teenager, joining the UMWA Local #799 in 1900. He began his rise to power in the United Mine Workers of America and served as President of the UMWA for forty years and was founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

View: Socialist Labor Party Hall and Historical Society

The Barre Historical Society is the historical society for the City of Barre, Vermont. It is the owner of two historic buildings, the Socialist Labor Party Hall National Historic Landmark and the Union Cooperative Store bakery building, being restored as the Rise Up Bakery.

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