Between a Rock and a Hard Place
This is a well designed and illustrated history of sweat shops in America from 1820 to the present. Yes they still exist today. n August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced compound of seven apartments in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 illegal Thai immigrants who had been forced to sew in virtual captivity. Although the El Monte incident was an extreme case of exploitation, sweatshops are not new to America. Since the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, many generations of Americans have toiled in sweatshops. Then, as now, their labor has been accompanied by widespread debate over what constitutes a fair wage, reasonable working conditions, and society's responsibility for meeting those standards. This exhibition places the current debate on sweatshops in the garment industry in a historical context and explores the complex factors that contribute to their existence today.
Tour this great exhibit >>>>>> http://americanhistory.si.edu/sweatshops/index.htm


Labor Day - History, Pictures, Sources
This page on the history of Labor Day is from the Library of Congress web site complete with pictures of parades 100 years ago and links to other material. On September 5, 1882, some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City to participate in America's first Labor Day parade. After marching from City Hall to Union Square, the workers and their families gathered in Reservoir Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches. This first Labor Day celebration was initiated by Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and labor union leader who a year earlier cofounded the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, a precursor of the American Federation of Labor.
Labor Day Parade 1900
 Read (and see) more >>>>>> http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep05.html

A Curriculum for Teachers of Labor History
An excellent resource both for teachers and those looking for many basic facts and dates related to the history of labor and labor unions.
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/curricul.htm#contents

American Labor History
This site has been created and is maintained privately by an individual college professor without public support. It appears to be both extensive and well done with a good index to a century of topics related to labor history and many links to other resources on the Internet.
www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/AmLabHist/

History of Labor Day
This is the history of Labor Day presented on the official site of the U.S. Department of Labor. It is relatively brief and would be suitable to include or quote in any material being put out about the purpose and origins of Labor Day.
www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

Women in Labor History
Mother Jones to Susan B. Anthony - wow! what a site to visit. If you want to know something (anything) about the role of women in labor union history this is the place to start - names, time periods, resources, links to resources - it's all here and more. This is an AFSCME site and extremely well done.
http://www.afscme.org/otherlnk/whlinks.htm

African Americans in Labor History
This is similar to the site above but is focused on the role of African Americans in labor history - a great resources from AFSCME.
http://www.afscme.org/about/aframlink.htm

Heros in Labor History
This is a good labor history resource site from the United Auto Workers. It is basicly a page of links to other resources, books, sites etc. Here you can download curriculum to accompany the timeline and portraits for the classroom; read about recommended books; and link to other labor/union history Web sites.
http://www15.inetba.com/saturnuaw/filecabinet/Satfile/heroes.html

Yahoo! U.S. Labor History
An excellent listing of more than 50 web sites, including multiple sites on Haymarket Riot, Ludlow Massacre, Homestead Strike, Pullman Strike and many more key events in the history of American labor unions.
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/U_S__History/By_Subject/Labor/

Mother Jones
Background on the historic march of "Mother Jones" in the attempt to better the lives of children being forced to work in factories in the early 1900s and her role in the labor movement.
More>>>>>>

Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez, the migrant worker who emerged from the poverty of an agricultural valley in Arizona to found America's first successful union of farm workers, died April 24, 1993 at the age of 66. Blending the nonviolent resistance of Gandhi with the organizational skills of his mentor, the social activist Saul Alinsky, Mr. Chavez captured worldwide attention in the 1960's. Leading an initially lonely battle to unionize the fields and orchards of California, he issued a call to boycott grapes that soon became a cause celebre. Chavez, was described by Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 as "one of the heroic figures of our time,"
More>>>>>>