Teaching Class

Labor And Working-Class History In The U.S. Survey

Abstract

When I think back on my undergraduate courses, I cannot recall one instance when a professor or instructor uttered the words "class conflict," "labor movement," or "union struggle." Growing up in a working-class neighborhood as a daughter of a union electrician, I took it for granted that history in general and United States history in particular were not about me, my family or my neighbors, but instead about people with power who controlled and shaped the important events that occurred in our nation's past.

What a surprise, upon entering graduate school, to find that U.S. labor and working-class history was an actual course being offered. It seemed as though I had entered some parallel universe where one's reality is turned upside down. In this case, working-class people, ideology, politics, and movements were at the center of the historical narrative. Students discussed how differently American history looked when examined from the perspective of working people. From the first day of class, I was hooked.