Homestead Steel Role Play
American Labor History: The Homestead Steel Strike
June 29, 1892 to November 21, 1892
Was the outcome of the Homestead Steel Strike just and fair?
In the last quarter of the 19th century, workers tried to help control the process of industrialization. Workers’ lives changed dramatically but many of the changes did not benefit them, and only profited the business owners. Their new jobs often led workers to organize into labor unions, go on strike, and in some cases, give up their lives for what they thought was right.
In this role-play you will look at one particular strike, the Homestead Steel Strike in 1892. Your job is to
1. Find out what happened in the strike by reading various sources. Take notes from each source and keep them in your notebook.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NljbZAGk0w&feature=autoplay&list=PLB3827C16AFA01AE2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1 15 minutes
http://homepage.mac.com/barbarap2/home/laborcrises/homestead.htm
Timeline -focus on 1880-1896 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/timeline/f_timeline.html
2. You and a partner take on an assigned role and look at the strike from this particular person’s point of view. Research the role your person played in the strike and what their role represents. You will split the oral part of the project to include:
• What happened in the strike from your point of view and what your role was
• how your role relates to the benefits of industrialization and improved standard of living
• How much say workers/capitalists should have in the new industrial order
• Whether industrialization strengthens democracy; which people at the table best represent the spirit of the United States? Support your position with evidence in relationship to democracy, freedom, and equality.
• establish an “attitude” or tone in your contributions based on your position in this strike and by what your side gained or lost
Sources:
Demarest, Jr., David P. “The River Ran Red:” Homestead 1892.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992.
Meltzer, Milton. Bread and Roses: The Struggle of American Labor, 1865-1915. New York: Random House, 1967, 134-147.
American Experience: PBS website on Andrew Carnegie
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html.
The Strike: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_horror.html
Oates, William C., “The Homestead Strike. I. A Congressional View” The North American Review Volume 0155 Issue 430 (September 1892 [pp. 355-376] Journals: North American Review (1815 – 1900) .
Wolff, Leon, “Battle at Homestead,” American Heritage, April 1965, Volume 16, Issue 3,
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1965/3/1965_3_64.shtml.
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/carnegie/strike.html
Primary Document packet.
Roles:
1. Andrew Carnegie (the owner): what is the state of your industry? Why do you feel you have to cut wages? What do you think about unions? Why the lock-out? Are you happy with the way Frick handled the strike? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_letters.html Carnegie and Frick letters http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_letters.html CHRISTIAN/TEDDY AND BRENDAN
2. Henry Clay Frick (in charge at Homestead): What is your work experience and why did Carnegie hire you? Why did you build the wall? Why did you bring in the Pinkertons? Why did you hire scabs? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_letters.html VICKY AND ALAINA
3. William Weihe (say “way”) (President of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers Union): Who is in your union? What was your contract in 1889? What skill do you have? What should be your rights as workers? http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1965/3/1965_3_64.shtml BECKY AND CHARLOTTE/ANGELICA AND MICHELLE
4. John Gerke (unskilled worker who goes on strike): why did you go on strike? how much are you paid? (136-138) CHLOE AND LEAH/KYLE AND DENNIS
5. John Holway (Pinkerton Guard): What happened? Do you feel the Pinkertons did all they could do? Did you believe in what the Pinkerton’s were doing? (81) http://books.google.com/books?id=tMjCtnwAZxsC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=John+Holway+Pinkerton&source=bl&ots=d1obCVEIpp&sig=FcA2-HeiTkir-gfKxEeaX2wR28Y&hl=en&ei=-t_lTJXJJcKC8gaYzeihDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=John%20Holway%20Pinkerton&f=false JUAN AND JAKE/KATIE ANDCHRIS
6. William Kelly (technological wizard, and inventor of the Bessemer Process): What technological changes have Frick and Carnegie brought to Homestead that made them think they could break the union? What role does technology play in the strike?(19-21) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kelly_%28inventor%29 NICK LUKE/CAROLINE AND SIENNA
7. Mrs. Finch (leader of the women’s auxiliary, fights Pinkertons): why did you fight the Pinkertons? What is life like for you living in a steel town? What is your success in organizing women?(76) LINH AND AMANDA/KATIE AND EMILY
8. “Joe Smith” (African American unskilled worker): Why did you cross the picket line?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_horror.html COLIN AND JOHN/ CHRIS AND MIKE
9. Alexander Berkman (anarchist who attempted to kill Frick): Why did you try to kill Frick? What does an anarchist believe? Why do you think the attempted assassination would help the workers’ cause? What happened to you? http://www.battleofhomesteadfoundation.org/battle.php MARK, MIKE/MILO AND COLLEEN
10. Pennsylvania Governor Pattison (orders troops out on June 10): Did you support the strike? Why or why not? What role did the state government play in the strike? http://www.battleofhomesteadfoundation.org/battle.php, http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1965/3/1965_3_64.shtml JUSTIN TESS/SAM AND ELMEDIN http://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-homestead
11. President Benjamin Harrison (up for re-election): Who do you support in this strike? What do you do to try to get it resolved? JAKE DAVID/ELLIS AND CALLAN
12. Hugh O’Donnell: local union leader who wants peace http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1965/3/1965_3_64.shtml CARA AND JEREMIAH/SARAH AND TESSA
_http://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-homestead____________________________________________________
Role Card: Homestead Steel Strike
Your name: Your Job:
Ethnic/racial background:
How much money you made:
Your working conditions:
Your role in the strike:
Person on the list you would most likely ally with and why:
Person on the list you would be most opposed to and why:
Is Industrialization improving peoples’ lives in the United States?
How much say should workers have in the new industrial order?
Does industrialization make a stronger democracy?
Did this strike lead to justice for you in your role?
Sources you used:
More Sources:
Sing ho, for we know you, Carnegie;
God help us and save us, we know you too well;
You’re crushing our wives and you’re starving our babies;
In our homes you have driven the shadow of hell.
Then bow, bow down to Carnegie,
Ye men who are slaves to his veriest whim;
If he lowers your wages cheer, vassals, then cheer. Ye
Are nothing but chattels and slaves under him.
- 2nd verse, “A Man Named Carnegie,” anonymous, California, 7 July 1892
“At 12 o’clock last night every department of the immense Carnegie steel works at Homestead was shut down, throwing about 3,800 men out of employment…It has been the custom of the Carnegies, and all other mills, to discharge their men on the night of the expiration of the yearly contract. The men had declared positively that they would strike at the date of the expiration of the yearly contract. This term of expiration was to occur either at 6 o’clock this morning, or at 6 o’clock this evening, just as the authorities decided. At midnight, the firm cleverly forestalled the men, and flatly declared a shut-down. Instead of being a strike then at the great steel works, the action of the firm has made it a lock-out.”
– The Pittsburgh Post, 30 June 1892
“Governor Pattison, being convinced that Sheriff McCleary is unable to restore order at Homestead, has ordered out the entire National Guard -8,500 men-all the available military force of the state, to Homestead for service. It is understood that the Governor’s purpose in calling out the entire National Guard is to make sure that there will be no demonstration on the part of the locked-out men. He thinks that men will quietly submit before such an overwhelming force, while they might resist if one regiment was sent there.”
–New York Herald, 11 July 1892
Andrew Carnegie
Head of the Carnegie Steel Works, Andrew Carnegie was called the ‘Richest Man in the World.’ Born to a poor family in Scotland, Carnegie emigrated to the U.S., working in a textile mill and a telegraph office before moving up through the ranks at the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie built his steel empire through vertical integration–owning and controlling all parts of the steel production process, from coal mines all the way to sale of the final product. ‘Watch the bottom line’ was one of his business rules, and he kept a firm hand on the costs not only of raw materials, but of labor. He did allow unionization, but during the Homestead strike of 1892, Carnegie and his second-in-command, Henry Frick, hired a private army to put down a strike by the Amalgamated Iron, Steel and Tin Workers (the largest union within the American Federation of Labor), which pressed for higher wages and an eight-hour day. Many Americans who were anti-union nonetheless condemned Carnegie for taking matters into his own hands, rather than seeking government aid in resolving the crisis.
Though ruthless in keeping wages down, Carnegie viewed himself as a fair man and stressed ‘honesty, truthfulness, and fair-dealing’ in business relations. In his famous essay ‘The Gospel of Wealth’ (1900), he condemned millionaires who kept their money, arguing that private wealth should be treated as a public trust. Carnegie urged that the federal and state governments levy extremely high inheritance taxes to prevent the growth of ‘family empires.’ He gave millions to endow libraries around the country, as well as Carnegie-Mellon University and other educational institutions. Critics observed that he did not show the same charity to his workforce. Carnegie responded–according to the widely held theory of ‘social darwinism’–that direct charitable ‘handouts’ would interfere with humans’ competition for survival and impede the progress of the race.
In 1901 Carnegie sold his operations to J. P. Morgan for $480 million, making a personal profit of $225 million. Carnegie’s mills, which by that time produced one-third of America’s steel output and more steel than all of England, became part of Morgan’s United States Steel, popularly known as the ‘steel trust.’
The Musical Saga of Homestead
Workers sang during strikes not only to state their beliefs and goals, but because singing helped bind workers together. The Homestead strike of 1892 even had its own Homestead Strike Songster, and the story of the strike can be traced in the lyrics of the following four songs. “The Homestead Strike” explained that Carnegie’s efforts to “lower our wages”were the basic cause of the strike. “The Fort That Frick Built” described Homestead manager Henry Frick’s transformation of the mill on the eve of the strike into a fortress with barbed-wire fences. The death of nine strikers was chronicled in “Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men.” And “Song of a Strike,” written by George Swetnam, retrospectively commemorated the Homestead strikers’ courage in defending their homes and their jobs against the overwhelming might of the Carnegie Steel Company and their hired “bum detectives.”
“The Homestead Strike”
Now, boys, we are out on strike, you can help us if you like,
But you need not till I tell you what it’s about.
They want to lower our wages, we think it is not right;
So for union’s cause I want you all to shout.
We will sing the union’s praise while our voices we can raise,
With noble Mr. Garland at our head,
Hugh O’Donnell’s good, that’s true, we give him all the praise;
We can’t go wrong when by such men we’re led.
The struggle may be long, there’s no one yet can say,
But we’ll take it as it comes for a little while;
We will fight both night and day, for we’re bound to win the day,
And down this great steel king in grandest style.
Now let us all stand firm and take things very cool,
Then, you bet, we’re sure to win this little strike;
But if men don’t mind and start and act a fool,
That’s sure to cause no end of care and strife.
My advice to you is this, let us work with a cool head,
And try and do the best thing in our power;
We’ll have the good will of all, which will bring us back our bread,
And drive the demon Hunger from our door.
Let us unite with heart and hand and spread the news through this broad land,
We’ll not give in until the company yield,
And fight with might and main and travel hand in hand
To win this strike or die upon the field.
“The Fort that Frick Built”
Twixt Homestead and Munhall
If you’ll believe my word at all
Where once a steel works noisy roar
A thousand blessings did pour
There stands today with great pretense
Enclosed within a white washed fence
A wondrous change of great import
The mills transformed into a fort.
“Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men”
‘Twas in a Pennsylvania town not very long ago
Men struck against reduction of their pay
Their millionaire employer with philanthropic show
Had closed the works till starved they would obey
They fought for home and right to live where they had toiled so long
But ere the sun had set some were laid low
There’re hearts now sadly grieving by that sad and bitter wrong
God help them for it was a cruel blow.
CHORUS:
God help them tonight in their hour of affliction
Praying for him whom they’ll ne’er see again
Hear the orphans tell their sad story
“Father was killed by the Pinkerton men.”
Ye prating politicians, who boast protection creed,
Go to Homestead and stop the orphans’ cry.
Protection for the rich man ye pander to his greed,
His workmen they are cattle and may die.
The freedom of the city in Scotland far away
‘Tis presented to the millionaire suave,
But here in Free America with protection in full sway,
His workmen get the freedom of the grave.
(CHORUS)
“Song of a Strike”
We are asking one another as we pass the time of day,
Why workingmen resort to arms to get their proper pay.
And why our labor unions they must not be recognized,
Whilst the actions of a syndicate must not be criticized.
Now the troubles down at Homestead were brought about this way,
When a grasping corporation had the audacity to say:
“You must all renounce your union and forswear your liberty
And we will give you a chance to live and die in slavery.”
Now this sturdy band of workingmen started out at the break of day,
Determination in their faces which plainly meant to say:
“No one can come and take our homes for which we have toiled so long,
No one can come and take our places–no, here’s where we belong!”
When a lot of bum detectives come without authority,
Like thieves at night when decent men were sleeping peacefully–
Can you wonder why all honest hearts with indignation burn,
And why the slimy worm that treads the earth when trod upon will turn?
When they locked out men at Homestead so they were face to face
With a lot of bum detectives and they knew it was their place
To protect their homes and families, and this was neatly done,
And the public will reward them for the victories they won.
Source: “The Homestead Strike”: The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243;“The Fort that Frick Built”: Printed card (1892), AFL Archives, Washington, D.C. Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243; “Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men”: Sigmund Spaeth, Weep Some More, My Lady (Garden City, N.Y.: 1927), 235-236. Reprinted in Phillip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 244; “Song of a Strike”: George Swetnam, “Song of a Strike,” (1892). Reprinted in Linda Schneider, “The Citizen Striker: Workers’ ideology in the Homestead Strike of 1892,” Labor History 23 (Winter 1982): 60.
