I’m thinking about teaching a course in Labor History. It would be an evening course, and it would feature a few excerpts from relevant films.
I’d probably have a few short readings, but no tests and no papers, although we’d need a fee to cover the cost of the facility. Here’s a tentative syllabus.
1. Labor in pre-industrial America: guilds, hired hands, and slaves.
2. The industrial revolution and the Knights of Labor.
3. Haymarket and Homestead.
4. Organizing miners. The AFL. (excerpts from “The Mollie Maguires” or “Matewan”).
5. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Progressive era reforms.
6. The First Red Scare and the Industrial Workers of the World.
7. The Thirties–the New Deal and the Wagner Act (excerpts from
“The Grapes of Wrath”).
8. Post War retrenchment and Taft-Hartley (excerpts from “Norma Rae”)
9. The American labor movement today.
What do you think?
Great idea. I would attend but I live too far away. It would be great if it could be filmed and put on You Tube. People need to know why unions and the labor movement are needed in todays economy.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. Of course, I'd need some assistance from someone who would know much more about social media than I do.
ReplyDelete