Labor Day

Self-Paced Courses

Self-Paced Courses offer graduate-level online instruction in American history by eminent historians. Courses are available to watch or listen to on your own time and at your own pace. Teachers can also get certificates for CEU credits.

• Capitalism in American History led by Professor David B. Sicilia, University of Maryland
• Conflict and Reform: The United States, 1877–1920 led by Professor Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
• The Great Depression and the New Deal led by Professor Eric Rauchway, University of California, Davis
•  The History of American Protest led by Professor John Stauffer, Harvard University
• Making Modern America led by Margaret O’Mara, University of Washington

History U

History U courses are free, self-paced courses in American history for high school students. Courses are led by the nation’s top historians. Students receive a certificate of completion at the conclusion of the courses, which can be taken at the student’s own pace.

• Capitalism in American History led by Professor David B. Sicilia, University of Maryland
• Conflict and Reform: The United States, 1877–1920 led by Professor Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
• The Great Depression and the New Deal led by Professor Eric Rauchway, University of California, Davis
• The History of American Protest led by Professor John Stauffer, Harvard University
• Making Modern America led by Margaret O’Mara, University of Washington

History Now

History Now, the online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, features essays by the nation’s leading historians.

Essays

• “Labor Day: From Protest to Picnics” by Joshua B. Freeman (History Now 4, “American National Holidays,” Summer 2005)

Other Gilder Lehrman Essays

• “Populism and Agrarian Discontent” by Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
• “The Gilded Age” by T. Jackson Lears, Rutgers University
• “Historical Context: Post-World War I Labor Tensions” by Steven Mintz, University of Texas at Austin
• “The Progressive Era to the New Era, 1900–1929” by Daniel T. Rodgers, Princeton University
• “The Rise of Industrial America, 1877–1900, by Richard White, Stanford University
• “Mary Elizabeth Lease: Populist Reformer” by Kelly A. Woestman, Pittsburg State University

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs feature Hamilton cast members reading award-winning children’s books followed by a discussion of the history behind the story led by Keisha Rembert, a Gilder Lehrman master teacher.

• Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan (Author) and R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator); read by Sabrina Sloan

Spotlights on Primary Sources

Each Spotlight on a document from the Gilder Lehrman Collection provides explanatory text, a transcript, and an image of the featured document.

• The Haymarket Affair, 1886
• People’s Party campaign poster, 1892
• “Reelect Roosevelt—Friend of Labor,” 1936
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

Infographics

• Industrialization: American Labor
• Industrialization: Changing Living Standards
• Industrialization: The Growth of Industry

Lesson Plans

• Celebrating Labor Day
• George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century
• The Haymarket Riot

On This Day

• The Uprising of the 20,000: On This Day, November 23

Book Breaks

Book Breaks is a free weekly public program in which hosts interview scholars about their new books.

• No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era by Jacqueline Jones
• The Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon Chang
• Why the New Deal Matters by Eric Rauchway