The Real Story Behind America's Big Shot Businesses #4

The past few weeks we have studied and analyzed how the topic Labor vs. Business: Rise of Corporate America fits into the theme "People, Places, and Power". Over the past few days each group created a presentation, and video essay give the rest of the class an understanding of how the topic relates to the theme. After the presentation a survey monkey was given as an interactive activity to test and make sure the class understood the topic in relation to the theme.

Native Americans and the West:
American settlers kicked Native Americans out of their homeland and forced them to go to reservations which were hundreds of miles away. The reservations often had brackish water along with poor farming conditions. The settlers tried to force the Natives into taking part of their culture.

Immigration: Asia
It was very difficult for Asians to be allowed into America. They had a stay in packed barracks on Angel Island while they awaited citizenship and allowance into the country. Acts were passed which limited the power Asians could have in America along with restricting them from taking away jobs from Americans. Once in the country they were often declined from going to white schools. Asians sometimes would get around the laws passed by saying they have family already in the country.

Immigration: Europe
Many Europeans moved to America in hope to live the American dream and escape famine, violence, discrimination, and religious intolerance going on in Europe. To proceed into America they faced physicals and interrogation which kept many Europeans from entering. Once in America the Europeans faced poor working conditions, poor living conditions, very low social standings, and culture shock.

Imperialism: Europe and Africa
The larger powers in Europe took control and asserting power over smaller countries in Africa and forced the Africans into labor against their will. The Europeans found that Africa had an abundance of desired resources like rubber, ivory, and palm oil which were located and transported back to Europe. The only thing that was cared about was the economic gains there were from the resources rather than the well being of Africans.

Imperialism: America
In the 1800's America sought to control weaker countries in Central and South America to control the countries economics, politics, and culture. The American economy was in a good state after winning the Spanish American war. America felt above other countries and showed that by trying to control them and take over more things.

The Real Story Behind America's Big Shot Businesses #3

Recently in class we worked together in groups to create a video presentation, a videolicious which is a narrated slideshow, and a survey monkey.  Doing this portion of the project in groups helped me expand my knowledge on the topic Labor vs. Big Business: Rise of Corporate America and its connection the the theme "People, Places, and Power".  As a whole my group collaborated on a list of key words which we thought fit and described the topic the best. To come up with the best list we all had arguable points on why we believed a key term should be included. This conversation between the group led to a overall greater understanding because we organized the words into each part of the theme.  By doing this we could more thoroughly understand how the topic relates to the theme. Once we had a list of key terms we analyzed the enduring understandings. Each member in the group said their three enduring understandings and described how they came up with it so each member of the group could understand more clearly how the understanding fits. Once each member of the group went through their enduring understandings we came up with a final list of three that each was specific to people, places, or power.  This helped me understand the topic in relation to the theme even more than analyzing the key words did because of the specific examples each enduring understanding had. 

Creating the video essay was relatively easy for my group throughout the few days we working on this portion of the project. My group easily agreed on ten pictures we were going to include in the video essay. Once my group had the pictures chosen we started to write the script. While writing the script we organized it in a logical order so it made sense. Then we kept the captions for each photo somewhat short so the information could be easily absorbed by the audience. I thought the process of making the video essay went well, but the part that I didn't think went to well was the app itself. The videolicious app was difficult to use at times.  For example if you made a mistake while recording the caption you had to redo the entire recording. Overall the video essay went well with the exception of the mechanics of the app. 

The Real Story Behind America's Big Shot Businesses #2

This is an update as an addition to the first blog post relating to the topic, Labor Vs. Big Business: Rise of Corporate America. Since the first post we did an interactive activity which helped us more thoroughly understand this topic. In the interactive activity there was a Venn diagram which we dragged the ten sources to compare and contrast between the three perspectives.  After completing and reading about the ten sources I was able to add additional important terms and remove terms that weren't as important.  With the additional knowledge I gained I was able to add another enduring understanding along with adding to the enduring understandings in post one.  

Key Terms

John d Rockefeller- formed the Stanford oil company in 1870 and donated to charities and institution that he believed would help humanity.

Andrew Carnegie-  In 1889 he established the Carnegie steel company. Carnegie preached a gospel of wealth in his books and speeches. Carnegie's donated more than 80 percent of his fortune went to education.

Social Darwinism- extended Darwin's natural selection to society and economic success, argued society and government should not interfere with business

Oligopoly- a market structure such as this which is dominated by only a few, large profitable firms, 

Monopoly- complete control of a product or service 

Cartel- a loose association of business that make the same product 

Vertical consolidation- gaining control of of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a products development 

Horizontal consolidation- involves bringing together many firms in the same business. 

Trust- The board of trustees, which Rockefeller controlled, managed the companies as a single unit. 

Sherman Antitrust Act- Outlawed any combination of companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce. This act proved ineffective against trusts for nearly 15 years. 

Sweatshop- a shop where employees worked long hours at low wages and under poor working conditions. 

Socialism- an economic and political philosophy that favors public instead private control of the means of production.   

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877- series of wage cuts for railroad workers that lead to violent strikes

Industrial Union-  Organized workers from all crafts in a given industry.

Scab- A negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers.

Anarchists- Radicals who oppose all government

Haymarket Riot- At the May 4 event, a bomb was thrown into a police formation killing an officer, following that a riot included gunfire between police and protesters.

Homestead Strike- 1892 strike at Carnegie plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania because Henry Frick tried to cut workers' wages at Carnegie Steel

Henry Frick- Tried to cut workers wages at Carnegie Steel while Carnegie was away. This lead to a strike.

George Pullman- Inventor of the Pullman sleeping train cart.

Pullman Strike- Strike at the plant in Pullman. This strike was set off because after the Panic of 1893 Pullman laid off workers laid off workers and cut wages 25 percent while keeping the rent and food prices the same in the town. 

Anarchist- Someone who promotes self-government and is anti government

Enduring Understandings:

People with power cared more about economic gains rather than their workers:

• "Conditions in the town took a turn for the worse after the Panic of 1893. Pullman laid off workers and cut wages by 25 percent. Meanwhile, he kept rent and food prices in his town at the same levels." (The Great Strikes, 482)
• "children often left school at the age of 12 or 13 to work. Girls sometimes took factory jobs so that their brothers could stay in school. If a mother could not make money working at home, she might take a factory job, leaving her children with relatives or neighbors. If an adult became ill, died, or could not find or keep a job, children as young as 6 or 7 had to bring in cash." (Industrialization and Workers, 476)
• “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 Pittsburgh Post, 30 June 1892)

Groups of people got together to fight back unfair changes by big business:

• "Under the leadership of former machinist Terence Powderly, the Knights pursued broad social reforms. These included equal pay for equal work, the eight-hour workday, and an end to child labor." (Industrialization and Workers, 478) 
• "In May 1894, a delegation of workers went to him to protest. In response Pullman fired three of the workers, an act that led the local union to go on strike." (The Great Strikes, 482)

• "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."  In the Homestead Strike, workers wanted to gain as many workers as possible to help strike so their strike is effective. ("The Homestead Strike")

• "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." The workers are putting the people in power in their place to show them that the workers will do strive to regain their deserved rights. ("The Homestead Strike")

 The above pictures are from the Homestead Strike

People need money to make money:

• Edison's boss awarded him 40,000 dollars as a bonus while working for New York company which led  Edison to leave his job to become an inventor and helped make electric energy using a sealed glass bulb light with a bamboo fiber filament. (America: Pathways to the Present, Chapter 13)
• Congress passed a bill which granted Samuel Morse money to continue to work on the telegraph since he was running out. (America: Pathways to the Present, Chapter 13)

I am a steel worker, and am taking part of the Homestead Strike. My fellow workers and I have been "locked out" of the Carnegie Plant on the night of our one year contract expiration. Myself along with 3,800 men are out of employment. ("The Pittsburgh Post, 30 June 1892") This "lock out" is the beginning of the strike. Many other workers along with me are joining the strike to help fight for better wages and hours.  I am treated absolutely terribly and I would like that have that changed as well, as a result of this strike.  Many workers are injured or dead because of the Governor sending in the National Guard. This is getting out of control, I just want to be treated fairly and have rights.

The Real Story Behind America's Big Shot Businesses #1

We have started the "People, Places, and Power" project. The topic Labor vs. Big Business, is what is being examined in these series of blog posts. In these posts there will be relations to how this topic relates to the theme, "People, Places, and Power".   In this theme people relates to all the workers that make up the company making it function properly. They come together as a group or union to protest and make changes happen. Places relates where a a person lives or where certain event is located. Places impacts how a certain area reacts to changes. Power relates to the people who are in control. People with power have the resources and connections they need to make anything they want possible. Power can influence what people do and the choices they make. In this particular post, it is to define key words and terms along with developed enduring understandings. 

Edwin L. Drake- sent by Pennsylvania Rock Oil company to drill for oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Drake drilled using a steam powered engine, when he hit oil it became a major industry.

The telegraph- idea of sending messages over wires

Alexander Graham Bell- He patented the talking telegraph. Bell and a group of partners set a up the American telephone and telegraph company to build long distance telephone lines 

Transcontinental railroad- a railway extending coast to coast 

Bessemer process- The process that made it easier and cheaper to remove impurities in steel and made mass production possible

John d Rockefeller- formed the Stanford oil company in 1870 and donated to charities and institution that he believed would help humanity.

Andrew Carnegie-  In 1889 he established the Carnegie steel company. Carnegie preached a gospel of wealth in his books and speeches. Carnegie's donated more than 80 percent of his fortune went to education.

Social Darwinism- extended Darwin's natural selection to society and economic success, argued society and government should not interfere with business

Oligopoly- a market structure such as this which is dominated by only a few, large profitable firms, 

Monopoly- complete control of a product or service 

Cartel- a loose association of business that make the same product 

Vertical consolidation- gaining control of of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a products development 

Horizontal consolidation- involves bringing together many firms in the same business. 

Trust- The board of trustees, which Rockefeller controlled, managed the companies as a single unit. 

Sherman Antitrust Act- Outlawed any combination of companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce. This act proved ineffective against trusts for nearly 15 years. 

Sweatshop- a shop where employees worked long hours at low wages and under poor working conditions. 

Socialism- an economic and political philosophy that favors public instead private control of the means of production.   

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877- series of wage cuts for railroad workers that lead to violent strikes

Industrial Union-  Organized workers from all crafts in a given industry.

Scab- A negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers.

Anarchists- Radicals who oppose all government

Haymarket Riot- At the May 4 event, a bomb was thrown into a police formation killing an officer, following that a riot included gunfire between police and protesters.

Homestead Strike- 1892 strike at Carnegie plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania because Henry Frick tried to cut workers' wages at Carnegie Steel

Pullman Strike- Strike at the plant in Pullman. This strike was set off because after the Panic of 1893 Pullman laid off workers laid off workers and cut wages 25 percent while keeping the rent and food prices the same in the town. 

Enduring Understandings:

People with power cared more about economic gains rather than their workers:

• "Conditions in the town took a turn for the worse after the Panic of 1893. Pullman laid off workers and cut wages by 25 percent. Meanwhile, he kept rent and food prices in his town at the same levels." (The Great Strikes, 482)
• "children often left school at the age of 12 or 13 to work. Girls sometimes took factory jobs so that their brothers could stay in school. If a mother could not make money working at home, she might take a factory job, leaving her children with relatives or neighbors. If an adult became ill, died, or could not find or keep a job, children as young as 6 or 7 had to bring in cash." (Industrialization and Workers, 476)

Groups of people got together to fight back unfair changes by big business:

• "Under the leadership of former machinist Terence Powderly, the Knights pursued broad social reforms. These included equal pay for equal work, the eight-hour workday, and an end to child labor." (Industrialization and Workers, 478) 
• "In May 1894, a delegation of workers went to him to protest. In response Pullman fired three of the workers, an act that led the local union to go on strike." (The Great Strikes, 482)

Thus far the theme "People, Places, and Power" fits the topic "Labor vs. Big Business: Rise of Corporate America" very well. This topic mainly focuses on Rockefeller and Carnegie, two extremely rich business men, and lower class citizens and the struggles they go through in order to survive. Rockefeller and Carnegie would use their power to achieve more power so others could not be as powerful or move up from the lower class. With rich men like these, they just wanted to become more rich and powerful which caused poor conditions for laborers. This led to worker's unions and strikes. This theme fits the topic very well.