Learning about the neglected heroines of the last century.

Theme: The plight of women factory workers, most of whom were very young and poor, during the 1800s and early 1900s, their mistreatment and subsequent battles against substandard wages and working conditions, and their impact upon the American labor movement.

Objectives:

1. Identify major participants in the Strike of 1909
2. Identify key figures in the labor movement during the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.
3. Describe and discuss the impact of the Strike of 1909 upon the American labor movement.
4. Describe and discuss the working conditions of women factory workers during the period covered.
5. Compare and contrast the rights and treatment of female and male factory workers.
6. Analyze the differing roles of organized labor in employment for men and women.
7. Discuss the conditions faced by women factory workers relative to the state of women’s rights at the time.
8. Discuss both the positive and negative aspects of organized labor.

Featured Book:

We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909

Joan Dash describes the conditions of women factory workers in the Garment District of the Lower East Side, the events leading up to the Strike of 1909, the successes and defeats brought about during the strike, and the uprising’s aftermath.

Topics For Discussion:

• Living conditions of workers.
• Working conditions in the factories.
• The lives of immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York City.
• The dreams and expectations of immigrants coming in through Ellis Island.
• The inequality in the treatment of men and women, both then and now.
• The use of cheap child and immigrant labor, both then and now.
• The assistance of wealthy society matrons in the fight for better working conditions.
• The role of the strike in the women’s suffrage movement

Activities:

• Create a newspaper, complete with both articles and editorials relating to the factories, women’s rights, the strike, etc.
• Write and perform a readers’ theater from the feature book and supplementary books.
• Research and hold a debate between factory workers and owners.
• Research the cost of goods, services, etc., during the time period, and compare them to wages earned. Discuss the findings in terms of the difficulty of living on such low wages.
• Stage a mock strike, researching and portraying the roles of strikers, union organizers, strike-breakers, negotiators, policemen and owners/bosses. Afterward, write journal entries from the perspective of the role played, including a description of how it “felt” to portray that role.
• Locate and learn some of the strikers’ poems and songs. Discuss their meaning.

We Shall Not Be Moved.

Looking for more information on women and their role in history? Take a look at the National Women's History Project.