“How Labor’s Story Is Distorted in High School Text Books”
Excerpts…
In case someone, in the future, should want to learn the details of my case, from beginning to end, I would like to have it all together… — Joe Hill, labor activist and songwriter framed and executed in 1915 for a murder he did not commit
With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race … than any other association of men. — Clarence Darrow, The Railroad Trainman (1909)
- Labor played a vital role in the establishment and growth of democracy in America.
- Labor has been a crucial force for social progress in America.
- Labor has been a leader in the fight for human rights at home and abroad.
- Labor is one of the major American political and social forces of the 19th and 20th centuries—and continues to be a political and social force today.
- Learning about labor is part of students’ civic education.