Klondike Gold Rush, Seattle Unit, National Historical Park [WA]

Description

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park preserves the story of the 1897-98 gold rush and Seattle's role therein. At that time, 70,000 people gathered in Canada's Yukon gold fields, hoping to find their fortunes.

The park offers interactive exhibits, including computers which provide access to participants' journals and personal accounts; films upon request; educational programming between September and May; two traveling trunks; a series of speakers; and Junior Ranger activities. Education programs require reservations. Summer (June 15th through Labor Day) offerings include gold panning demonstrations, guided walking tours of Pioneer Square Historic District, and films about the gold rush. The website offers lesson plans, activities, a teacher resource guide, a scavenger hunt for download, a coloring page, and links to relevant historical websites.

Des Moines Historical Society [WA]

Description

The Des Moines Historical Society is dedicated to preserving the historical heritage of the greater Des Moines area of Southern King County in Washington. The society owns and operates a local history museum, which serves to showcase the society's collection of local historical artifacts and documents.

The society offers exhibits and guided tours of the society's museum. The website offers a history of the area and visitor information.

Maritime Event Center [WA]

Description

The Maritime Event Center is a rental and special events venue which also maintains an interactive maritime museum.

The center offers interactive exhibits and both youth classes and tours about Puget Sound's maritime history, fisheries, global trade, and transportation.

Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society [WA]

Description

The Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society seeks to preserve and share maritime history—with an emphasis on the history of Puget Sound. To this end, the society operates a research library. The library, located in the Museum of History and Industry, includes 4,500 volumes, more than 100 periodicals, 15,000 photographs of maritime vessels, and 40,000 negatives.

The society offers research library access and several exhibits hosted by other institutions. Appointments are required for library access. Exhibits are located at the Museum of History and Industry and at Chandler's Cove. The website offers videos of past speaker presentations.

Washington Trust for Historic Preservation [WA]

Description

The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is first and foremost an advocacy group which works with state authorities to aid the preservation of historic buildings and structures in Washington. However, the trust also offers tours of the trust's landmark headquarters, the Stimson-Greeen Mansion, and the society's other historic property, the Dearborn House.

The website offers visitor information, as well as information regarding the programs offered by the trust.

S.P.& S. Railway Historical Society [WA]

Description

"The Spokane Portland and Seattle Railway Historical Society was founded in 1981 to preserve the history of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway and disseminate information to its membership about the railway and its affiliate lines including the Oregon Trunk, the Oregon Electric, United Railways, Astoria & Columbia River, and the Gales Creek & Wilson River." The society also puts out a variety of publications throughout the year, many of which are focused on modelers, who compose a majority of society members.

The site offers an online store, current and past issues of the "The Northwest's Own Railway," the S.P.&S. publication available for purchase, and a brief history of the society.

United We Stand: Industry and Famous Strikes

Quiz Webform ID
22410
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Teaser

Stand up (or sit down) for better working conditions! Test your knowledge of strikes in U.S. history.

quiz_instructions

As the work of another school year begins, Labor Day reminds us to honor the nation's workers. Since the rise of industry, workers have used strikes and other forms of protest to demand change and recognition. Select the correct answer for each of the labor-related questions below.

Quiz Answer



1. What U.S. census data does this map portray?

a. The 1930 relative concentration of "totally unemployed persons registered" in each state.
b. The 1870 relative amount of "total capital invested (in dollars) in manufacturing" in each state.
c. The 1920 relative concentration of "manufacturing establishments" in each state.
d. The 1950 relative concentration of "employed females" in each state.

By 1920, industry had established itself as a fixture of the American economy and way of life, though its hubs remained in the Mid-Atlantic. New York continued to be a center of industry, and Illinois, with the continuing rise of Chicago as an urban industrial center, had become one, as well.

2. On May 4, 1886, a peaceful workers' rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square ended in death and confusion when a dynamite bomb was thrown into a line of approaching police officers. The Haymarket Affair received nationwide media attention and the trials of the alleged guilty parties went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Four of the accused were hung and a fifth committed suicide.

What reform was the rally supporting?

a. The removal of hazardous parts-manufacturing machinery from a McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant.
b. The passing of a minimum-wage law in the state of Illinois.
c. The paying of compensation to workers who suffered debilitating injuries from repetitive factory work.
d. The institution of the eight-hour workday.

The speakers at the Haymarket Affair supported strikers who had engaged in a May 1 nationwide walkout to support an eight-hour workday. On May 3, the first workday after the walkout, police killed two workers outside a McCormick plant during a confrontation between scabs (temporary workers hired to replace strikers) and strikers. This event provided an impetus for the Haymarket rally.

3. On February 6, 1919, more than 60,000 Seattle workers refused to work, marking the high point of a series of strikes and unrest that started in January 1919. The first labor action to effectively shut down an entire city, this strike hoped to secure what result?

a. The reinstatement of workers ousted by returning soldiers.
b. A pay raise for the city's shipyard workers.
c. The cessation of all U.S. hostilities against the Bolshevik Red Army in Russia and of any support for forces opposing the Red Army.
d. A stop to the installation of new machinery that would reduce the work force necessary in the shipyards.

During World War I, the government imposed wage controls, keeping the wages of Seattle shipyard workers down even as the shipyards expanded through war production contracts. Following the war, the workers expected a raise in their wages; when denied, approximately 25,000 members of the Metal Trades Council union alliance went on strike. A general citywide strike followed, with about 35,000 other workers striking in support of the shipyard protest. The strike officially ended on February 11—though not before touching off a widespread "Red Scare."

4. On December 30, 1936, the workers at Flint, Michigan's General Motors automobile plant began a six-week long strike to press for better working conditions. Organized by the United Auto Workers, the strike used what relatively unusual technique to make its point?

a. Strikers not only stopped working during the strike, but left town entirely, taking their families with them.
b. Strikers remained entirely silent during the strike.
c. Strikers, instead of picketing outside of the factory, occupied the factory, preventing upper management and law enforcement from entering.
d. Strikers sabotaged the factory's power supply, re-sabotaging it whenever plant management repaired it.

Known as the Flint Sit-down Strike, this strike used techniques later adapted by the civil rights movement. On December 30, workers sat down at their places and refused to leave the factory for six weeks. Provided food and supplies by supporters, the workers repelled attempts by the police to drive them out and even initiated the surprise takeover of another plant in the last two weeks of the strike.

For more information

Labourday_answer_thumbnail.jpg The map of the 1920 concentration of manufacturing establishments was generated by the University of Virginia Library's Historical Census Browser. The browser provides searchable census data for 1790 through 1960, with the option to visualize any data selections in maps such as the one above; all of the categories mentioned in Question One are categories available on the website. For Teachinghistory.org's review of the Historical Census Browser, go here.

Teachinghistory.org's reviews the Library of Congress's American Memory collection Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair, 1886-1887 here.

The Seattle General Strike Project looks at the 1919 general strike through primary sources, including photographs, video clips, newspaper articles, and oral histories. The website is part of the University of Washington's larger Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, collecting primary sources on civil rights and labor movements throughout the city's history. NHEC reviews the Project here.

Historical Voices provides a website on the Flint Sit-down Strike: Remembering the Flint Sit-down Strike: 1936-1937. The website provides close to 100 oral history interviews with strikers, as well as essays on the events of the strike. NHEC's review of the website can be found here.

Sources
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National Eight Hour Law Proclamation, 1870
National Eight Hour Law Proclamation, 1870
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Parade banner of Veterans of the Haymarket Riot, 1895
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Kenmore Heritage Society [WA]

Description

The Kenmore Heritage Society is dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Kenmore, Washington, a Seattle-area town. The historical society was born in 1998, and since has worked tirelessly to collect and preserve historical artifacts, provide a variety of historically-themed events, and publish two historical books.

The site offers historical information about the society, an online store for society publications, and information on upcoming events.

The above entry was pre-existing. The society does not offer a physical site for visitation.

Seattle General Strike Project Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/06/2010 - 16:48
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Annotation

The Metal Trades Council Union alliance in Seattle shut down the shipyards on February 6, 1919, in hopes of forcing a promised pay increase following the strict price controls set during World War I. After the Metal Trades Council obtained the support of Seattle's Central Labor Alliance, more than 65,000 Seattle workers staged a sympathy walkout, creating what has come to be known as the first "general strike" in U.S. history, and laying the foundation for labor unrest in the nation's steel, coal, and meatpacking industries in the years that followed.

This website documents the history of this strike through a large collection of primary and secondary source materials.

A four-minute video introduction, containing original film footage from 1919, is a useful place to begin for those unfamiliar with Seattle's labor history.

The website also includes contemporary and more recent newspaper articles, including more than 180 articles from Seattle's major newspapers covering the February 1919 events; 15 oral histories; more than 30 photographs of labor activity in Seattle, prominent union members, and strike activities; as well as research reports on the strike by history students at the University of Washington.