Items tagged Work (128 total)

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In this letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Works Progress Administration workers in Michigan ask him to continue the program, claiming that it makes them feel more American. This version includes tax supports.

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1936

This letter was written to Harry Hopkins, who was then head of the Works Progress Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when it was terminated, the W.P.A. was the nation's largest employer; in March 1936, W.P.A. rolls included over 3,400,000 people. In a little over eight years, W.P.A. workers completed over 1,410,000 projects, including the…

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1936

White Californians complained that the new American government, which took over California after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in May 1848, was not doing enough to control and regulate Indian labor. In the chaos of the Mexican War, many Indian laborers had abandoned the farms and ranches where they worked as low-paid or unpaid…

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Item Type: Book (excerpt)
Date: 1984

Five Pointers were destitute when they arrived and settled in New York’s poorest and most run-down neighborhood. On top of this, Irish Five Pointers worked for some of the lowest wages in the most dangerous and unstable jobs in the city. Statistics attest to the dire and exceptional conditions of the neighborhood.

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Item Type: Quantitative Data
Date: 2010

In the United States, the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) increased the demand for industrial production while decreasing the flow of European immigration. Labor shortages in both factories, mines, fields, and service industries meant greater economic opportunities for African Americans willing to move north. Many African Americans heard…

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Item Type: Advertisement
Date: 1916

The hard times of the Great Depression were even harder for African Americans, who were often the “last hired and first fired.” Particularly hard hit were black domestic workers (mostly female) and black tenant farmers (mostly male), the two broadly defined occupations that employed about 60% of all African Americans. As the National…

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Item Type: Quantitative Data
Date: 1935

These worksheets help students gather evidence from the Five Points census database. Students then compare their data with prevailing 19th century stereotypes of Irish immigrants and conclude whether or not they were accurate. These worksheets are designed for the activity Telling the Whole Story: Irish Americans in Five Points.

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Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2010

This viewing guide and associated activities will help students analyze propaganda images of women workers during World War II and compare them with the real experiences of women. The instructions for using the film and viewing guide can be found in the activity "The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter."

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Item Type: Worksheet
Date: 2008

Having heard about successful braceros, Salvador Esparza Carreño decided to enlist in the bracero program in 1945. He worked as a railroad worker, in the fields cutting asparagus, and as a camp cook. He describes his work and leisure time in and around Chicago in a camp of about 150 bracero railroad workers repairing track. He recalls…

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Item Type: Oral History
Date: 2003

Although he had received a rare scholarship to attend middle school, Andrés Héctor Quezada Lara dropped out to become a bracero. His work took him to many places in the United States, including South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. First he worked on the railroads, but later worked cutting lettuce and sugar beets…

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Item Type: Oral History
Date: 2003