The American Vision: Modern Times © 2008

Chapter 5: Industrialization

Web Lesson Plans

Introduction
Students have read about the early unions and how they faced opposition in industry and government. In this activity students will research the events of the violent 1892 Homestead Mill strike—a strike that arose from a wage disagreement between the nation’s largest craft union and the nation’s largest steelmaker.

Lesson Description
Students will use information from The Richest Man In the World: Andrew Carnegie Web site to learn about the violent 1892 Homestead Mill strike. Students will read about the reasons that the union went on strike, the events that led to violence, and the bloody battle that ensued. Students will also read about the results of the strike and how Andrew Carnegie gained control over his workers. Students will then answer four questions and apply this information by writing an editorial that analyzes the causes and outcomes of the Homestead Mill strike.

1. Students will describe the violent events that erupted during a union strike in 1892 and summarize the results of the strike.
2. Students will be able to use this knowledge to write an editorial that analyzes the causes and outcomes of the Homestead Mill strike.

1. While union workers were willing to negotiate in an ongoing disagreement over wages, Henry Clay Frick, a partner in Carnegie Steel, locked out 3,800 workers. The workers seized the mill and sealed off the town to prevent non-union workers from entering the mill.
2. The Pinkertons were workers for a private police force named the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The Pinkertons served the needs of industrialists who wanted to put down labor strikes. While their tactics were usually within the law, they sometimes used violent means in order to restore order.
3. As workers dug in at the mill, the Pinkertons tried to approach the mill from the river. Workers fired guns, cannons, flaming oil sticks, and dynamite. While the Pinkertons tried to fire back from rifle ports in their boats, they did not deter the workers’ efforts. Three workers and seven Pinkertons died in the battle. Terrified and overwhelmed, the Pinkertons surrendered to the workers. Citizens brutally clubbed the surrendering Pinkertons. The Pennsylvania governor sent the National Guard to restore order and enable the Carnegie Company to employ non-union workers.
4. After months of deadlock, the union agreed to give up the strike. Three hundred union workers were rehired, and many more were blacklisted. After the workers returned to the mill, Carnegie cut wages, imposed twelve-hour workdays, and eliminated 500 jobs. The Homestead Mill strike turned the public against the Pinkertons, and in the years following the strike, 26 states passed laws against the hiring of outside guards in labor disputes.
5. Students' editorials will vary.