HIST3852: U.S. Labor and Working-Class History

This course examines the history of labor and working-class people in the United States from the colonial era to the present. We will discuss the various forms of forced labor that were essential to European colonization in the Americas, and the impact they had on social and political development of the United States. We also examine differences and similarities among agricultural and manufacturing employment, and how they changed over the course of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Finally, we examine struggles over the control, conditions, and rewards of employment, as they were shaped by struggles over slavery and the rise of industry in the late 19th century, debates over immigration and the welfare state in the early 20th century, and the shift from an industrial to a service-based economy in the past half-century. Central to our study will be the experiences of working people, and how they differ by gender, race, nationality, and sector. Students will be asked to analyze how and why those differences changed over time, and how they shaped the nation in which we now live.

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