US Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Compensation From Before Wwi Through Great Depression [Pdf]
This interesting article from the Bureau of Labor Statistics discusses how working conditions and low pay prior to World War I led to the increase in union membership. Read how the government viewed labor and labor unions during World...
Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association: Labor Organizations
The history of the labor movement in Texas is examined, beginning during the Republic of Texas. The article discusses the different labor organizations that formed in various industries, and how these evolved over time. As immigration...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Immigration and Migration
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lengthy essay discussing the differing opinions about immigration and the role of immigrants in the United States in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Find out about the...
Harvard University
Open Collections Program: Immigration to the United States, 1789 1930: Timeline
A broad look at immigration policy, its changes, and the numbers of immigrants arriving in the United States from its beginnings until 1940. Included are hyperlinks to primary sources related to the topic in the Harvard University Library.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Child Labor in America
Historical photographs provide students with a firsthand look at the issue of child labor during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In this lesson plan, students will use photographs to further understanding of the...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Irish and German Immigration
Read about the reasons thousands of Irish and Germans emigrated to the United States in the first half of the 19th century. Find out why there was a backlash to influx of so many immigrants, and learn about the Nativists who wanted to...
Tennessee Historical Society
Tennessee Encyclopedia: Knights of Labor
The Tennessee Encyclopedia offers an interesting account of the Knights of Labor organization, particularly its actions in Tennessee. Read about how immigrants, African Americans, and women were all included in the membership of the...
Library of Congress
Loc: Learning Page: Labor in America
A rich collection of resources, including primary sources, student activities, and lesson plans, to support study of Americans at work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Harvard University
Harvard Univ. Library: The Tide of Immigration: The Alien Contract Labor Law
This chapter from a 1916 book by Frank Julian Warne, titled The Tide of Immigration, outlines how the so-called native workers' jobs should be protected from the influx of immigrants. Read about the law that made it illegal for...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Industrial Revolution & Immigration
[Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson has notes covering the American Industrial Revolution and famous leaders of the industrial age. Also includes the need for immigrants to supply the factories with workers.
George Eastman Museum
Lewis Hine: Immigration and the Progressive Era
Lewis Hine documented the conditions of life during the industrial development of America. His photographs show the impact of both child labor and immigration.
Oakland Museum of California
California's Untold Stories: Natives and Immigrants
This site provides a tour through the history of natives and immigrants to the California Gold Rush area, including African American, California Indian, Chinese, and Latino.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Affidavit and Flyers: Chinese Boycott Case
A lesson plan that includes a history of Chinese labor in America and pertinent historical documents and analysis sheets about the Chinese Boycott Case.
California Digital Library
Loc: The Chinese in California 1850 1925
Excellent overview of the Chinese experience in California complete with historical photos and primary documents. Site provides information on San Francisco's Chinatown, the anti-Chinese Movement, and Chinese laborers.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Industrializing America
Comprehensive teaching unit that explores the "second industrial revolution" and the mass production of consumer goods. This, in turn, caused an increase in the labor force and immigration. Learn how these changes brought about the start...
Other
Wyo History: The Rock Springs Massacre
Read this very detailed description of the Rock Springs Massacre and the circumstances that led up to it. Find out why Chinese immigrants became the focus of hatred and discrimination.
Curated OER
History Matters: Camella Teoli Testifies About the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike
Read the gripping testimony of an immigrant girl who testified before a U.S. Congressional committee detailing the conditons in the textile mill in which she worked. Because of these unsafe working conditions, the textile workers...
Other
Colorado Historical Society: Chin Lin Sou, Chinese Railroad Laborer [Pdf]
Find out about a Chinese immigrant who, after laboring on the Central Pacific Railroad, became a wealthy miner in Colorado. From the Colorado Historical Society.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco:japanese and Korean Exclusion League
Documents from 1905-1906 recording the actions of this anti-Asian San Francisco labor group.
Other
Bringing History Home: The Progressive Era
In this 4th grade unit, learners study how citizens and government of the early 20th century sought solutions to problems that accompanied immigration and industrialization. By focusing on child labor, factory working conditions and...
Ohio History Central
Ohio History Central: Terence Powderly
A brief biography of Terence Powderly, formative leader of the Knights of Labor, as well as an official in the Bureau of Immigration.
PBS
The City: Coming to America
This site from the PBS show "The City" provides a timeline of U.S. immigration. Find out about the many ways immigrants were legally discriminated against by the passage of various immigration laws.
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Agrarian Movements and Populism
While the explosion of industry had its positive marks on the economy, it also took its toll on some aspects of the nation. This slideshow will illustrate the problems and societal changes many farmers, immigrants, labor unions, and the...
Curated OER
History Matters: Protestant Paranoia
Site contains text concerning the APA and the Secret Oath taken to belong to the Association and explains why the group was formed.