Immigrants at Work in the Nineteenth Century
American history professor Alice Kessler-Harris talks about the plight of the immigrants who came to the United States to work during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. In many cases, Professor Kessler-Harris explains, it was the men who immigrat...
New Corporate Order, A: Plight of the Worker, The
The industrial revolution creates many factory jobs, most of which are occupied by unskilled laborers. These men, women and children earn a very low wage, work long hours and in deplorable conditions. The result is a poor, uneducated working class w...
Progressive Era, The: Women in the Workforce
It is rare for a woman to hold public office in the early 20th century much less enter professions dominated by men. When women engage in "women's jobs" there is not much controversy. It is in higher earning and more prestigious areas like medicine ...
Pre-Civil War Working Conditions
American history professor Alice Kessler-Harris talks about working conditions during the pre-Civil War years. "A twelve-hour working day in the pre-Civil War period in factory labor would be more or less common, and both men and women struggled for...
Men, Women and the Union Movement
American history professor Alice Kessler-Harris traces the history of the labor movement in the United States, beginning with the collectives of the early 19th century, through the huge unionizing drives of the 1930's.
Divergent Paths: Southern Women: The Plantation Mistress and Her Slaves
The mistresses of successful southern plantations are businesswomen who spend most of their time and energy managing the plantation household. The slave women they oversee have a dual burden: the physical work they perform as slaves and the reproduc...
Divergent Paths: Plantation Society of the South
The plantation is a uniquely American form of community for many white and black Southerners. The region is largely rural, dependent on such lucrative but labor-intensive crops as rice, sugar, cotton, and later tobacco. The fact that the hard physic...
Division of Labor in Colonial America
American history professor Alice Kessler-Harris talks about patterns of work during colonial times. Professor Harris notes that both men and women worked in the colonial household. "There was no such thing as a non-working person," she points out.
Revolution of a Different Sort: New Generation of Entrepreneurs
In these decades the country also witnesses the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs...daring, imaginative, and occasionally ruthless. Many of the very earliest industrialists make their money in trade; others pool their money to form corp...
Revolution of a Different Sort: Realities of Factory Work, The
The increasing rate of immigration in the mid 19th century provides many of the workers to fill the low-paying, low-skilled jobs the nation needs. The transition from the old country or the farm to industrial positions is difficult. The hours are lo...