I Am Committed to Becoming a Historian
As a Ph.D. student in U.S. history, I would like to continue to explore the intersections of culture and economics in U.S. history, especially as they relate to working-class life and consumption. Although I am now committed to becoming a historian, my academic background has been quite varied. Disillusioned with the often reductionist truths of physical science, I transferred from the School of Engineering to State College after my first year. As an undergraduate, I not only majored in history, but also concentrated in mathematics, especially as it related to economics. For a year, I acted as an economic research assistant, and, following that, I worked on a joint project with the Federal Reserve Bank and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) doing empirical research in labor economics.
During the summer after my junior year, I received a research grant from Columbia, the Edwin Robbins Prize, for my senior thesis: "New York Organized Labor and Prohibition Resistance: The 'No Beer, No Work' Movement of 1919." A forgotten moment in labor history, it was a fascinating intersection of culture, gender, and class, examining the untidy boundary between "economic" and "social" life. Some local trade-unionists co-opted a catchy slogan, "No Beer, No Work," with the intent of fomenting a national general strike, attempting to save the saloon, galvanize class consciousness, and lead workers into a labor party. The strike more than failed; it never occurred. However, teasing out the relationships between the primary documents excited me like nothing I had ever done before. Though I continued to work at the Federal Reserve the following year, I knew the historian's methods, and not the economist's, were what I wanted to pursue in my graduate work.
This year I received a Fulbright Scholarship to research working-class history at the University of Toronto. Presently, my research centers on the rise of Canadian nationalism in Toronto within U.S.-dominated unions after WWII. I examine how anti-Communist discourses restricted and/or enabled nationalist movements within the union hierarchy, and how that affected transnational power relations and local economic/political action. My abstract is under consideration for a conference on transnationalism, Crossing Borders, to take place in February at the University of Toronto. I also plan to present a paper, based on my senior thesis, on working-class resistance to Prohibition at the "New Frontiers in Graduate History" conference at York University in March.
Scheiber, H., H. Vatter, and H. Underwood Faulkner. American Economic History. New York : Harper &
... and movements, pertaining to the rise of the working class, led to an excessive analysis of the evidence within the pages of Chants Democratic. At times Wilentz’s scrutiny of the trade unions and many other pretentious accounts of the Jacksonian era led the author’s prose to become silted to the reader. In lieu to the disarray of evidence, provided by Wilentz to give application to his arguments on the rise of the labor class; the primary thesis became lost. This leads Chants Democratic to be a great hindrance for the basic student, yet is an excellent source for someone engaged in researching the rise of a working class in American history.
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
After World War I ,the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America like stuffy. The dizzying rise of the social market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, Potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy-families with old wealth-scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919,which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand of bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.
In the chapter “The Other Civil War,” Zinn contended that while the working class attempted to reform the labor system, the government suppressed tensions and turned class anger toward other outlets. Zinn described the poor working and living conditions of industrial laborers to prove the need for labor reform. Overcrowding in cities, long work days, widespread disease, and other factors led workers to seek improvements. He presented numerous examples of strikes, rebellions, and riots to prove that class anger sometimes surfaced despite efforts to repress resistance. While he maintained that these reform attempts failed due to government intervention, many of these actions did result in some gains for the working class. The Anti-Rent Movement in the Hudson Valley began when tenant farmers refused to pay rent and fought a guerilla war with local police. They wanted to end patroonship, a feu...
Tolvanen, A. (1992). The rise of Native Self-determination and the crisis of the Canadian Political Regime. Culture, Volume XII (No. 1), 63-77.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
The term autopsy also referred to as “Post-mortem examination”, “necropsy”, “obduction” and “ autopsia cadaverum” originates from the Latin language and denotes to “open, cut/dissect”. Another origin is from two Greek terms “aut” (self) and “opsie” (to see, to conduct a personal inspection) hence, autopsy refers to the opening/dissection of a cadaver to see for oneself, through observation, the cause of death or the nature of disease contrary to what has been reported by another party. Autopsy practice has been in existence since over 3000 years ago. It was however, not until the Renaissance in Europe that autopsy became standard practice (1,2). The link between clinical syndromes and postmortem findings is credited to the Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave (3).
Thompson, John Herd, and Mark Paul Richard. "Canadian History in North American Context." In Canadian studies in the new millennium. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37-64.
Although, the growth of business was booming and consumption was extremely high during the 1920’s employers failed to equally distribute the benefits to its industrial workers who got the short end of the stick and did not see any profit from productivity. Since there was no law at the time established on how many hours a person was to work and get paid, employers would overwork and underpay the laborers. This became a major problem because it brought about high unemployment rates, which for laborers, the shortage of jobs meant strong competition among each other for finding and keeping a job, and low wages, which brought down consumption.
Zieger, R. (2007). For jobs and freedom: Race and Labor in America since 1865. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.
The word “Autopsy” means ‘to see with one’s own eyes,’ (2) and is a procedure that has been performed since the time of (LOOK UP IN NOTES). Not every death that occurs is subjected to an autopsy – this would be time consuming and expensive. Yet the situations that require such a procedure are different for every state. In fact, there is no federal standard when it comes to autopsy requirements or procedures – a surprising fact, considering the sheer number of years the human race has been practicing the procedure.
Legal marriage is the right of all Americans regardless of their sexual orientation. Gay marriage is certainly a hot button issue. It invokes an emotional dialogue filled with passion, rage, hate and fear. However, at the base of it all, are two people who are in a committed relationship living normal and productive lives and contributing to society in a positive manner. This issue is being debated in every state of the union, and will eventually go to the Supreme Court.
The poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen portrays the horrors of World War I with the horrific imagery and the startling use of words he uses. He describes his experience of a gas attack where he lost a member of his squadron and the lasting impact it had on him. He describes how terrible the conditions were for the soldiers and just how bad it was. By doing this he is trying to help stop other soldiers from experiencing what happened in a shortage of time.
The term autopsy also referred to as “Post-mortem examination”, “necropsy”, “obduction” and “ autopsia cadaverum” originates from the Latin language and denotes to “open, cut/dissect”. Another origin is from two Greek terms “aut” (self) and “opsie” (to see, to conduct a personal inspection) hence, autopsy refers to the opening/dissection of a cadaver to see for oneself, through observation, the cause of death or the nature of disease contrary to what has been reported by another party. Autopsy practice has been in existence since over 3000 years ago. It was however, not until the Renaissance in Europe that autopsy became standard practice (1,2). The link between clinical syndromes and postmortem findings is credited to the Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave (3).