Women's trade unions, women in unions, the impact of unions on women and women on unions, and key women labor leaders.
From the late colonial period through the American Revolution, women's work usually centered on the home, but romanticizing this role as the Domestic Sphere came in the early 19th century.
America's first working women's association to press for better working conditions and pay -- in other words, a union -- was organized in 1844, and Sarah Bagley was the first President.
In the late 19th century, a growing number of groups organized to work for higher wages and better working conditions for women workers.
Story of the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike, sometimes called the Bread and Roses strike, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, key to an IWW victory and winning better wages and working conditions for women.
An overview of the Women's Trade Union League - WTUL - and its role in the labor movement and women's history.
The early history of the American organization, the Women's Trade Union League, and a mention of the British predecessor.
The WTUL participated in major strikes and many of the same individuals helped organize the NAACP.
After World War I, with increasing opportunities for women at work, the WTUL changed its focus and evolved. Learn about the WTUL's role in the Depression, its connection with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and its final end in 1950.
For women working in labor reform and in the trade union movement, the WTUL provided a community of personal friendship and support as well as an effective organization. A few of the women of the WTUL are listed here.
The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) was a ground-breaker in organizing women in the workplace.
Dolores Huerta biography - profile of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers.
Quotations from Karen Nussbaum, 9to5 organizer and director of the Women's Bureau of the US Department of Labor under President Clinton.
A profile of Lucy Parsons, anarchist and socialists who helped found the IWW.
WEIU - an early women's labor organization.
From the Illinois Labor History Society, a booklist of good sources on this topic. A good beginning for middle school or high school research.
Emma Goldman on the attempt by Alexander Berkman to assassinate the chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company during the 1892 Homestead Strike.
She claimed a background as daughter of a Mexican mother and Creek Indian father. With her husband Albert Parsons, she worked for racial justice for African Americans as well as for anarchist and labor causes. Her husband was executed as one of the defendents in the Haymarket trial, and she continued her work, including helping to found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies").
Part of a bibliography from the National Archives on women's history resources.
Mine Workers' Union organizer who was killed in a strike in 1919. This is a sketch of her life and contributions, short but worth the reading.
A short page honoring the late President of the Chicago Teacher's Union. A woman worth knowing; I wish there were more on her life somewhere on the Net.
Frances Willard on her 1880s meeting with Elizabeth Rodgers, Master Workman and head of the Knights of Labor large Chicago District No. 24.
