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Introduction to the History of the Labor Movement

This guide focuses mostly on labor in the U.S.

What to Expect and What to Gain

This introductory and diverse online research guide is the result of a Summer 2024 project held both by the UC Merced Library and the UC Merced Community and Labor Center. As a graduate student researcher, I completed the first stage of a reading list that covers the history of the Labor Movement and the working class, especially highlighting the Central Valley and rural labor in the United States.

This is a varied sample of some of the most interesting/relevant genres, aspects, characters, and events that I encountered and constitute an important part of this history of hope, power, resistance, and resilience.

This project was supervised by Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco.

Learning Outcomes

  • Find resources about the history of the Labor Movement

  • Identify the foundational theory/thought on the Labor Movement and the working class

  • Recognize how the theory/thought on the Labor Movement and workers has evolved

  • Acknowledge the different genres/media that have constituted the Labor Movement, and the creative ways in which workers have engaged with the causes of the Labor Movement

  • Identify relevant authors, thinkers, characters, events, and organizations that have shaped the history of the Labor Movement

  • Recognize the importance of rural work and the role of rural workers in the history of the Central Valley, California

  • Identify key characters, organizations, and events that have shaped the history of the Labor Movement and workers in the Central Valley, California

Labor History Photographs held by UC Merced Library Special Collections

This guide features photographs from the Ernest Lowe and the George Ballis Photography Collections. Both collections are held by UC Merced Library's Special Collections.