Your task is not an easy one. You stand at the gates in the early morning hoping that the factory manager will pick you to be one of the workers for the day. It would be better if he chose you to work for a week, but there are no guarantees. You're tired of it. You want fair wages and job stability. You want better working conditions. Your task is to look up information on the websites provided about unions and try to convince your co- workers to unionize against the railroads. You need to take notes on any relevant information that is going to help you organize and win the strike against the railroads industry!
History of Knights of Labor http://6hourday.org/knightsoflabor.html
Rise of Railroad Construction and Labor http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/riseind/railroad/rail.html
The Great Railroad Strike of 1894 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/riseind/railroad/strike.html
Illinois during the Gilded Age and its impact on the Pullman Strike. http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/narr7.html
www.google.com. www.yahoo.com. Classroom encyclopedia. Dictionary for any unknown words.