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The Labor Movement and Conflict in America: Through the Lens of Geography
Album Description
To fully understand the relationship between humans and the environment, it is important to look at the production of natural resources and the fallout. To do this, students can analyze historical labor sources, the resources that led to prosperity for some, how humans were used as a resource, and how resources can perpetuate conflict. This album is designed to examine the Ludlow Massacre through a geographic lens and how it is different and similar to current day labor conflicts.
No Technology Access
Use this learning activity modification when students have no access to a device or to the internet.
Low Technology Access
Use this learning activity modification when students have intermittent access to a device or to the internet and also have the ability to use technology with minimal support.
High Technology Access
Use this learning activity modification when students have few or no device or internet access limitations and also have the ability to use technology with minimal support.
This is a collaborative lesson built by 
Kelly Jones-Wagy , 
Mark Olmstead 
Tim Lorenz
9 - 12Coal production
Teaching Notes
Has the uneven distribution of coal led to any inequality among the different states? Why isn't Pennsylvania so much more prosperous? What other natural resources do different states have that would lead to more equality among the states?
Reference link: https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html
Reference note
Go to the 1910 link, then Final Reports, and then Volume 2, Full Document.
'Digging for Hope: Inside an Ohio coal mine'
Teaching Notes
No Tech:
After watching both videos as a class, answer the following questions as a class:
How have we used technology to improve upon mining? How have we made it safer? What are some of the impacts still on the environment? Would any students want to do this?
If watching the video is not applicable, the teacher can summarize the video and the technology that is being used to make mining more efficient. Summarize the worker safety as well.
Low tech:
High Tech:
Have students research the environmental impacts of coal mining today. Has our better and more efficient technology made it worse for the environment?
On the flip side, what is the affects of coal mining on miners today compared to 100 years ago? Has our better and more efficient technology made it better for worker safety and health?
Reference note
'Matt Beaver and other miners describe their difficult working conditions and how they hope President Donald Trump can save their struggling industry. They work at the Vail Mine, owned by the Rosebud Mining Company, in Freeport, Ohio.'
'Coal Mining 1920s - 1930s (1920-1939)'
Teaching Notes
In the early twentieth century, how did people mine coal? What was the process? What kind of damage did it do the environment? What were some of the safety concerns for the workers?
Reference note
'Unissued / unused material.
Compilation of coal mining material from the 1920s and 1930s. VS of men walking to the coal face. Shots of pit ponies. Miners' Lamps of different kinds. Men work the coal with picks and carry the coal away from the seam. MS of men drinking and eating 'snap' during break. Shots of early cutting machines in use in pit. Coal trucks are pushed back from the face. VS of steam power and pithead winding gear. Very quickly cut montage of winding gear in use bringing cage up the shaft at a colliery. VS of men leaving cage at end of a shift and handing in their tally tokens. VS of houses in mining village. Shots of men going home as smoke rises from chimneys. VS of railway yard with lots of coal trucks. Points are changed automatically. VS of coal being delivered on horse and cart by coal merchant. VS of coal being off loaded from ships and fed into power stations and factories. VS of chimneys and winding gear.
FILM ID:3409.06
A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. http://www.britishpathe.tv/
FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT http://www.britishpathe.com/
British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. https://www.britishpathe.com/'
Funeral parlor
Teaching Notes
Have students research how coal mining could lead to death, either individually or mass death. How have we adapted to the environment to make it safer for coal miners over the past century?
Christmas carols
Teaching Notes
This is a photo of coal miners singing Christmas carols in Wales, 1943. How were these people interacting with their environment? How did they have to alter the environment to make them more comfortable? Why is there an animal wearing a mask?
Bevin Boys
Teaching Notes
How old do you think these boys are? Why are they being used for coal mining? This happened during WWII, in England, when all the men were off to war. Why was the coal so important during the war?
Industrial Workers of the World interactive map
Teaching Notes
Low or no tech: Are there are patterns with these protests? Do they happen closer to cities? Or are they virtually scattered? As a class, you can go through a state and look at the history of conflicts.
High tech: Have students go through the website and the interactive maps. Is there any correlation between where strikes occured and unions? Which states had the most strikes and why would that be? Research what natural resources led to the most natural resources? Was there any correlation between the difficulty of getting the natural resource and strikes?
Worker safety during a pandemic
Teaching Notes
How has the coronavirus changed our environment, both natural and man created? Do workers have enough safety? Whose responsibility is it to maintain the safety of workers?
Comrade after battle
Teaching Notes
Low tech:
Answer these questions as a class:
What was the outcome of this conflict? Was the Ludlow Massacre an example of violent or nonviolent conflict? How would this compare to the protests we have seen recently?
High Tech:
Find images from past conflicts that depict both nonviolence and violence. What were the results of those images? Did one side have a stronger impact than the other? This could be a segue into talking about media coverage of protests, both violent and nonviolent. Examples could include; Civil Rights protests of the 1960s, Tiananmen Square, Black Lives Matter Protests 2020, Rodney King Protests 1992
Coal miners at work in mine
Teaching Notes
What are the working conditions of these miners? Have students write down the potential dangers that these workers could face. How would they like to work in this setting? lowtech
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2012648311/
Reference note
Summary: Photograph of sterograph half shows two miners working by candlelight in mine.
Contributor Names: Underwood & Underwood, copyright claimant
Created / Published: c1906.
Subject Headings: - Coal miners--1900-1910
- Coal mining--1900-1910
- Men--Employment--1900-1910
Notes: - Copyright 1906 by Underwood & Underwood.
- U-85503.
- Title devised by Library staff.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: cph 3a28672 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a28672
Black Lives Matter protest
Teaching Notes
Four Level analysis
What do you see?
What are some patterns?
What explains these patterns?
(What if) question. For example, what would this map have looked like ten years ago?
Coal mining fields
Teaching Notes
Four level analysis:
What do you see?
What are some patterns?
What do you think explains these patterns?
(What if) question. For example, what would California look like if they had more oil fields?
Reference link: https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html
Reference note
Go to the 1910 link, then Final Reports, and then Volume 2, Full Document.
Forbes, Colo. -- Correspondents under flag of truce
Teaching Notes
By looking at these pictures, can you tell what the two different sides are? Have students try to divide the people into the two sides of the conflict, how were they able to group people together? What does that say about inequality?
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/resource/ggbain.15858/
Reference note
Summary: Photo shows events relating to the Ludlow Massacre, during which a tent camp of striking miners at Ludlow Colorado was attacked by the Colorado National Guard on April 20, 1914. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2010)
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: [1914]
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Title from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative. Date from print of negative in LOT 7157.
- Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 15858 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.15858
Ruins Ludlow Colony -- Trinidad, Col.
Teaching Notes
What effects of the massacre can be seen in this photograph? How does this show how uneven distribution can lead to competition and conflict? What are the effects of the conflict?
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/resource/ggbain.15859/
Reference note
Summary: Photo shows ruins in the aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre, during which a tent camp of striking miners at Ludlow, Colorado was attacked by the Colorado National Guard on April 20, 1914. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2010)
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: 1914 April 29 (date created or published later by Bain)
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Title and date from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative.
- Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 15859 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.15859
[Massacre during Colorado Coal Strike at Ludlow, Colorado] / Drawn by John Sloan.
Teaching Notes
How can natural resources lead to class war? What is behind the fighting?
This resource can be used as a opener into the inequalities between the people who work to get the natural resources and those in power.
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.10032/
Reference note
Summary: Cover illustration shows mine worker firing a gun after his wife and children were killed in a massacre at their tent camp by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards.
Contributor Names: Sloan, John, 1871-1951, artist
Created / Published: New York : The Masses Publishing Company, 91 Greenwich Avenue, June 1914.
Subject Headings: - Coal Strike, Colo., 1913-1914
- Miners' strikes--Colorado--Ludlow--1910-1920
- Massacres--Colorado--Ludlow--1910-1920
- Dead persons--Colorado--Ludlow--1910-1920
- Coal miners--Colorado--Ludlow--1910-1920
Genre: Drawings--Reproductions--1910-1920
Periodical illustrations--1910-1920
Lithographs--Color--1910-1920
Notes: - Title from item.
- Illus. in: The Masses, a monthly magazine devoted to the interests of the working people, June 1914, front cover.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ds 10032 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.10032
Mining Sodium Nitrate
Teaching Notes
“In getting out the nitrate rock a hole about a foot wide is bored down through the sand, salt rock, and nitrate to the soft earth underneath. A small boy is now let down into the hole. He scoops a pocket out of the earth just under the stratum of nitrate, and fills it with powder, inserting a fuse which extends up over the top. The boy is then pulled out and the fuse lighted. There is a loud explosion. A cloud of yellow smoke and dust goes up into the air, and the earth for a wide distance about is broken into pieces. The nitrate rock is now dug out with picks and crowbars.”
No Tech: Is this a safe process? Why do they use a small boy?
Low tech: Have this link printed out or be used.
What is sodium nitrate used for? With all of the uses, does it justify how difficult it is to mine?
High Tech: Why is this resource so valuable and what can it be used for? Research how diamonds are mined and compare the difficulty. Which resource is harder and more valuable. Students can use a prezi or an online storyboard to show the two processes and results.
Forced Labor in Russia
Teaching Notes
This is a photo of a Russian labor camp in 1891. How are people who commit crimes treated as another resource? How could that compare to the prisoners in America today? The American Jail Documentary and Prison Labor
No Tech: Print out the above link and answer the above questions.
Low Tech: Have students watch the 1619 project video introduction and answer the discussion pictures below. Students could then compare the 1619 project to this picture.
High Tech: Have the students examine how slaves in America were seen as a natural resource. This link provides a timeline of events starting in 1619. Students could create a timeline, visual, presentation, or paper describing how America's economic system was built on using humans as a natural resource, similar to this picture. Teachers can also lead this into a larger discussion about the ideas that were used to justify seeing humans as a resource, instead of a human, and the lasting consequences. How can we see these consequences still today?
children newspapers
Teaching Notes
Children have been used as labor for most of human history; they have been considered a resource to families. How are they considered a resource? Are they a valuable resource? Or is it unethical to think of them as a resource?
No Tech
For a collaborative project, break the students up into groups and have them look at the primary sources of people working in the mines, within a printed packet. Have them answer the following questions:
- What do you think the working conditions were like?
- How did the environment affect the working conditions?
- What problems could arise from these conditions?
- Would you want to do it?
After students answer these questions, using a small to big approach, students can discuss what the working conditions are like for themselves. Start individually, then partners, then as a full close answer the same four questions. Write the list of problems on the white board. Depending on when this is being taught, it can include different scenarios based on some of the problems education has faced recently, ie. pandemic, gun safety, larger class sizes, and inequality between schools.
Finally, after the class has made a list, students can discuss the concept of unionizing, fighting for better conditions, and what they would be willing to sacrifice. Are any of the problems worth consequences or are they just annoyances? Looking at the outcome of the Ludlow Massacre, are student working conditions that dire? What would cause it to be that dire?
Low Tech
If working remotely or if there is a shortage of computers, students can communicate on a Google Doc to come up with a list of grievances and solutions.
High Tech
For high tech abilities, in small groups, students can create an online pamphlet or a video that they could use to document their struggles related to their environment, add pictures of their working conditions, list their grievances, provide potential solutions, and create a call to action.
Air Traffic Controller Strike Legacy
