HIST 2100 United States Labor History

This course explores the experiences of North American workers from the nineteenth century to the present with a focus on how workers engaged with the problems they confronted and attempted to craft solutions. The course examines the everyday lives and challenges faced by workers at the job site, in their communities, and in their struggles to secure union representation and more favorable public policies. It traces the main outlines of the modern union movement, from the violent confrontations of the late nineteenth century, to the surge in union strength of the mid-twentieth century, to the dramatic membership declines of recent decades in an economy buffeted by globalization, deindustrialization, and downsizing. Special attention will be paid to the particular challenges confronting women, immigrant, and non white workers. The course will consider how particular groups of workers and their supporters engaged within their communities and with civic institutions to address a particular problem or set of challenges. Prerequisite(s): HIST 1010 or HIST 1020 or HIST 1030 or HIST 1040 or HIST 1050
Credits: 3.0