tlp_10_kodonoghue


 * Kathleen O'Donoghue Teacher Lesson Page**

**Student Side of Lesson**
Kathi's Lesson Page (Teacher Side) Kathi's Primary Source Page

Kathi's WebQuest

**Standard:**
US II.3 Describe the causes of the immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and describe the major roles of these immigrants in the industrialization of America.

Guiding Question**:** How did immigrants respond to America's systemic inequities?

**Essential Question**:
What were the options available to the strikers and their families? If you were a member of one of these families, what would you have done?

**Title:**
The Bread and Roses Strike, Lawrence MA 1912 "We want bread and roses too."

**Introduction:**
**Background:** In 1912 Lawrence was one of the greatest textile centers in the world. The primary owner of the mills was the American Woolen Company with thirty-four factories Over 40,000 people, or approximately half of the population of Lawrence, were employed by the mills. Men, women, and children often worked fourteen hours a day, six days a week, in unhealthy and hazardous factory environments. The factory floors were brutally hot in summer and painfully cold in winter. The machinery was dangerous and the constant pressure to speed up production increased the risk of accident and injury.

The cost of living in Lawrence was higher than elsewhere in New England. Wages were low, rents were high, and living conditions in Lawrence were crowded, unhealthy and often dangerous. Mortality rates for children were high and 33% of adults died before they reached age twenty-five. Under Massachusetts’s law, school was compulsory for children until age fourteen. Many children took full time jobs in the mills when they reached 14 years old and many poor parents lied about their children’s ages and sent them before they reached fourteen years old.

On January 1, 1912, in response to the hazardous conditions in the mills, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a law reducing the work- week for women and children from 56 hours per week to 54 hours per week. At that time, half of the workers in the mills were women and children. Families were financially dependent on these wages to survive. This decrease in hours resulted in a lower weekly take home wage for all women and children in the mills.

Upset with the pay cut, immigrant employees of the American Woolen Company Mills went out on strike on January 11, 1912. The first to strike were Polish women. Soon other immigrant women joined the strike and within a week more than 20,000 workers were on strike. This strike became known as the "Bread and Roses Strike."

Mill management and city and state officials responded to the strike with force. The Mayor ordered a company of the local militia to patrol the streets. The state militia broke up meetings and marches.

The I.W.W. union raised funds to help to striking workers. The union also arranged for several hundred children of strikers to temporarily live sympathetic families in New York, Philadelphia and Barre, VT. The question is, what were the options available to the strikers and their families? If you were a member of one of these families, what would you have done?

**Task:**
Explore the primary source documents you have been provided and write an essay either supporting or denouncing the relocation of the strikers; children. You will participate in a classroom debate in which you will be asked to support or denounce the actions taken by all parties involved in the relocation of the strikers’ children during the Bread and Roses Strike.


 * Lesson Process **


 * First Class:** (Listening)

> Your teacher will present a brief, but informative, Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on the Lawrence Mills Bead and Roses Strike of 1912. You should take notes and record any pertinent facts they have been presented.
 * 1) As a class, you will look at a set of documents and decide if the documents are primary or secondary sources. You will record each example on the board and in your notes.
 * 2) Background to the Bread and Roses Strike


 * Second class: ** (Acquires and evaluates information)

In this activity, you will examine primary sources to gain knowledge of the Strike at Lawrence in 1912. In groups assigned by your teacher, you will explore House and Senate hearings on the events that transpired surrounding the strikers sending their children to leave with strike sympathizers in Philadelphia, New York and Barre, VT. You will try to uncover why this event became a national concern and even warranted a response from the President of the United States wife.


 * All groups read: **
 * ** Group 1 ** ||  ** Group 2 **  ||  ** Group 3 **  ||
 * · [|Statement of C. F. Lynch, Commissioner of Public Safety, City of Lawrence, MA - U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, March 2-6, 1912 pp. 261-282]

· Statement of Miss Margaret Sanger, House of Representatives Report on Strike at Lawrence, pp. 226-231

· [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 17, SPOKANE, WASH., February 25, 1912.] · [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 23, Report of the Woman’s Committee of Philadelphia, PA, as to the Children of Lawrence, Mass]
 * Letters to Committee: **

· Parvenues and Poverty, Belleville News Democrat, Feb. 10, 1912 · Senate to Take Action on Lawrence Strike, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 27, 1912 · Scores Injured in Lawrence Riot, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 26, 1912 · More Children Sent Away From Lawrence, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 18, 1912 ||  · [|Statement of Mr. Samuel Lipson, of Lawrence, MA, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, March 2, 1912, pp. 36-40]
 * Newspaper Articles: **

· [|Statements of Representative Robert O. Harris and Butler Ames, of Massachusetts, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, March 2, 1912, pp. 52-66]

· Statement of Miss Margaret Sanger, House of Representatives Report on Strike at Lawrence, pp. 226-231

· [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 17, SPOKANE, WASH., February 25, 1912.] · [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 23, Report of the Woman’s Committee of Philadelphia, PA, as to the Children of Lawrence, Mass]
 * Letters to Committee: **

· Who Owns Those Babies, Wilkes Barre Times Leader, March 1, 1912 · Four Probes of Lawrence Matters, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 27, 1912 · Militia Prevent Strikers from Sending Their Children Away, The Daily Herald, Biloxi, MS   · Give Babies to Win Strike, Kansas City Star, Feb. 5, 1912  ||  · [|Statement of Mr. John J. Sullivan, Assistant Marshall, City of Lawrence, MA, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, March 6, 1912, pp. 297-309]
 * Newspaper Articles: **

· Statement of Miss Margaret Sanger, House of Representatives Report on Strike at Lawrence, pp. 226-231

· [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 17, SPOKANE, WASH., February 25, 1912.] · [|U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, p. 23, Report of the Woman’s Committee of Philadelphia, PA, as to the Children of Lawrence, Mass]
 * Letters to Committee: **

· Concessions are Granted to Strikers, Idaho Statesman, Feb. 29, 1912 · Strikers’ Children On Way, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 24, 1912 · Woman Clubbed, Children Siezed In Lawrence Riot, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 24, 1912 · More Riotius Scenes in Lawrence Strike, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 25, 1912 ||
 * Newspaper Articles: **

Today you will be asked to go into your previously assigned groups and you will be provided with photographs from Lawrence during this time period. Examine and discuss these handouts amongst your group and later as a class. Individually complete the **Photograph Analysis worksheet [] ** or the **Political Cartoon Analysis work sheet [] .**
 * Third class: **


 * Fourth class ** :

The Final Word Exercise: You have been asked to come to class with four or five quotes/facts you obtained from the readings, teacher lecture/PowerPoint, photographs, political cartoons, charts, or additional research you may have done about the Bread and Roses Strike. Today you will be asked to sit in a circle of five.
 * Process**
 * 1) Sit in a circle, and identify a facilitator/time-keeper.


 * 1) Each student needs to have one “most” significant idea from the text underlined or highlighted in the article. It is often helpful to identify a “back up” quote as well.


 * 1) The first person begins by reading what “struck him or her the most” from the article. Have this person refer to where the quote is in the text - one thought or quote only. Then, in less than 3 minutes, this person describes why that quote struck him or her. For example, why does s/he agree/disagree with the quote, what questions does s/he have about that quote, what issues does it raise for him or her, what does s/he now wonder about in relation to that quote?

4. Continuing around the circle each person will respond to that quote and what the presenter said, briefly, in less than a minute. The purpose of the response is: • to expand on the presenter’s thinking about the quote and the issues raised for him or her by the quote, • to provide a different look at the quote, • to clarify the presenter’s thinking about the quote, and/or • to question the presenter’s assumptions about the quote and the issues raised (although at this time there is no response from the presenter).

5. After going around the circle with each student having responded for less than one minute, the person that began has the “final word.” In no more than one minute the presenter responds to what has been said. Now what is s/he thinking? What is his or her reaction to what s/he has heard?

6. The next student in the circle then begins by sharing what struck him or her most from the text. Proceed around the circle, responding to this next presenter’s quote in the same way as the first presenter’s. This process continues until each student has had a round with his or her quote.

7. For each round, allow about 8 minutes (circles of //5// participants: presenter 3 minutes, response 1 minute for 4 people, final word for presenter 1 minute). The role of the facilitator is to keep the process moving, keep it clear and directed to the article, and keep time so everyone gets an opportunity for a round. Total time is about a forty minutes for a group of 5 (32 minutes for a group of 4, 48 minutes for a group of 6). End by debriefing the process in your small group.

Assessment: Notes, Document Analysis Worksheets, Photograph/cartoon Analysis Worksheets, Brief essay, and participation in classroom debate (Final Word exercise)


 * STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO… (SWBAT) || STRONG || GOOD || ADEQUATE || INADEQUATE || WEIGHTING ||
 * SWBAT to have an informed discussion about the quality of life the unskilled immigrants were living in Lawrence such as: wages, working conditions, living conditions, rents, and prices of goods needed by a family at this point in history. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * SWBAT study and surmise information from historical documents, surveys, and testimonies and decide if they think the protesters were justified in striking. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * SWBAT analyze work effectively with their peers, given primary source material such as a testimonies, surveys, articles, photographs, cartoons, and letters and formulate an opinion on whether or not the children of the strikers exodus from Lawrence was justified or "interfering with commerce." ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * SWBAT use historical documents to learn about the organization of the unskilled immigrant’s mill workers into the International Workers of the World trade union in Lawrence Massachusetts and the violation of the civil liberties of the workers who joined said organization. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * SWBAT compare and contrast their own experiences with the children of the strikers and whether or not they would have supported their parents’ decisions to be sent away during the strike and be knowledgeable of the cities and towns that assisted the families who participated in sending children away. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * SWBAT accurately identify actions taken by immigrants to fight the systemic inequalities given various information from PowerPoint presentation, texts, cartoons, and photographs made available in class. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

**Resources:**
Senate Reports on Strike of the Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass in 1912 Communications of Mayor M.F. Scanlon Communications of Governor Eugene N. Foss Communications of President of American Woolen Mills, William Wood 62d Congress House of Representatives Report on Strike at Lawrence MA Hearings Before the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives on March 2-7, 1912 The Report on the Lawrence Surveys: Studies in Relation to Lawrence, MA Made in 1911 Image: Strikers and Police Final Word Protocol []

Images:
Strikers and Militia during Lawrence Strike Guarding the approach to Mills, Lawrence, Mass. 1/1912

Strikers and Militia during Lawrence Strike -- from the website: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http ://libcom.org/files/Lawrence-strike.JPG&imgrefurl= http://libcom.org/history/articles/lawrence-textile-strike-1912&usg= __j3IoL5GFW3_dug8mbLpzXPoAJyA=&h=280&w=350&sz=33&hl=en&start=0&sig2=QdwS69dNFGlLEAG3dZj1NQ&zoom=1&tbnid=FOebzD72ycR5GM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=166&ei=VnSTTZDPL-ay0QG-tNzNBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstrikers%2Band%2Bmilitia%2Bduring%2Blawrence%2Bstrike%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D705%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divnsb0%2C7&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=553&oei=VnSTTZDPL-ay0QG-tNzNBw&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&tx=93&ty=67&biw=1366&bih=705//



//University of Texas image - I.W.W. Strikers -// //http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/salinas/students/student_sites/Spring2005/Lawrence_Strike_of_1912/iwwx01.jpg//

//** Children in Barre: **// //Barre's Old Labor Hall - received children from Lawrence, Massachusetts who were sent to Barre to protect them from the discord that ensued during the historic Bread and Roses Strike.// //A famous photograph shows the children on the steps of the Hall shortly after their arrival. -- from the website: http://oldlaborhall.com/history// // [|__http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dchildren%2Bof%2Bthe%2BBread%2Band%2BRoses%2Bstrike%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701&w=640&h=519&imgurl=oldlaborhall.com%2Fyahoo_site_admin%2Fassets%2Fimages%2FBreadandroseslaborhall.27110320_std.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Foldlaborhall.com%2Fhistory&size=299KB&name=Today+the+Hall+i...&p=children+of+the+Bread+and+Roses+strike&oid=7107ac0aadf36eeca320abcb99907327&fr2=&no=8&tt=87&sigr=10vbs6s95&sigi=12n4p9qq5&sigb=13b0jc41a&.crumb=8/6okd1lL4K__] //

// Political Cartoon: __http://www.lcworks.org/images/sce/Lawrence%20strike.jpg__ //

// More images: //

//Fast Track Teaching - Mr. Burns U.S. History Class - more images under Progressive Era and Negative Effects of Industrialization section.//

// I (wikimedia from LoC) // // Images of Child Labor (Library of Congress,National Child Labor Committee, on Lawrence History Center website) //

//[] Created by Daniel Baron and Patricia Averette for the National School Reform Faculty. //The Power of Protocols//, Teachers College Press, 2003


 * Images: **

An image of conditions in the city of Lawrence from the Lawrence Survey in 1911. Additional images in PDF file below ||

[|ps10-kodonoghue-Lawrence-survey-pics.pdf]



Additional Resources:
[|ps10-kodonoghue-Lawrence-survey-pics.pdf]