Working in America

From colonial times to today, the destiny of the United States has been inextricably linked to its workforce. The Puritan work ethic - the belief that hard work helps to secure one's future status in heaven - provided a context for the millions of Americans who labored to build the country from an agriculturally based colony to an industrial sovereign nation. By tracing U.S. labor history, ""Working in America"" relates social history as well - from slavery and expansion in the West to child labor laws and equal rights for women and minorities. This revised edition adds more detail and depth to the history of workers in the United States and also updates the experiences of African Americans, women, and immigrants to the present time, focusing on such contemporary issues as outsourcing and immigrants' rights. Each chapter begins with a detailed narrative that chronicles the experience of workers in the United States - from factory workers, cowboys, seamstresses, and newsboys to truck drivers, migrant farm workers, computer programmers, and genetic engineers. Chronologies of important events follow, along with eyewitness testimonies on the experience of working in a wide range of professions and trades - from Thomas Jefferson, Malcolm X, Samuel Gompers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jesse Jackson, Cesar Chavez, and Jane Addams, as well as a wide range of American workers. This volume also features relevant primary source documents, including the Morrill Act of 1862, the Land Ordinance Act of 1785, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the constitution of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and the Equal Rights Amendment. Additional features that will be useful to students include 141 concise biographies of key figures and 102 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, as well as maps, graphs, tables, a glossary, appendixes, notes, a thorough bibliography, and an index.