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Labor History

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

After the Concept of Peaceful Disobedience Was Established in America, It Traveled Around the World Before Taking Hold

“Force may subdue, but love gains”: The Quaker practice of conscientious objection evolved through Thoreau, Tolstoy and Gandhi before becoming the hallmark of the Civil Rights movement

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy Is Loaded With Good and Bad, but His Work to Even the Economic Playing Field Is Often Overlooked

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in ending WWI and strove to improve the plight of American workers. Today, his blind spots shroud most of his accomplishments

Two young boys at a Georgia cotton mill. Their slim arms and tiny hands were considered ideal for machine work.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When a Photographer Turned His Focus on Social Injustice, It Helped Usher in the First Child Labor Laws

Lewis Hine didn’t consider his job as taking pictures; it was “detective work.” Sometimes gaining access with ruse and subterfuge, he captured stark images that touched hearts and changed minds

Girls Watering Flowers (The Freia Frieze IV), Edvard Munch, 1922, will be on display at the Munch Museum beginning in May. 

Stained by Nicotine and Cocoa Powder, These Edvard Munch Paintings Hung in a Chocolate Factory Cafeteria for a Century. Now, They’re Going on Public Display for the First Time

Three decades after “The Scream,” the Norwegian artist painted scenes of daily life for the Freia chocolate factory. The artworks will be on display in his namesake museum in Oslo this spring

An aerial view of the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant, circa 1945

Walt Disney Visited a Ford Factory in 1948. What He Witnessed There Laid the Groundwork for What Would Become Disneyland

A new book argues that the film producer’s trip to the River Rouge plant in Michigan inspired him to embrace the power of automation when designing the first Disney theme park

Workers wave proudly from the windows of a plant closed by the sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, in 1937. 

Organized Labor Took a Huge Step Forward When GM Workers Sat Down in Unison in 1937

Instead of picketing, striking autoworkers in Flint, Michigan, tried a bold tactic that gummed up the works and forced the company to recognize their union

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Here Are 250 Places to Visit to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday. How Many Have You Been To?

Journey around the nation with this interactive map, divided by region or category, and discover American history in a way you’ve never seen before

Left to right, American models Joanna McCormick, Janet Randy, Betsy Pickering and Gretchen Harris pose for Charm amid traffic on Park Avenue. 

The First Magazines Written for Career Women Reveal a Portrait of Immense Creativity and Hope

Publications including “Mademoiselle,” “Glamour” and the long-forgotten “Charm” first emerged in the 1930s to satisfy an emergent force in the workplace

After a trolley conductor accused Alice Stebbins Wells of using her husband's police badge to avoid paying for public transit, the Los Angeles Police Department allowed her to wear a more feminine uniform of her own design, along with a special “Policewoman’s Badge No. 1.”

Women Who Shaped History

Armed With Just a Badge, Los Angeles’ First Policewoman Protected the City’s Most Vulnerable in the Early 20th Century

Appointed in 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells patrolled dance halls, skating rinks, penny arcades and movie theaters, keeping these public spaces free of vice and immorality

The crusading physician pictured circa 1915, just a few years after she began her game-changing research among industrial workers. 

How Alice Hamilton Waged a One-Woman Campaign to Get the Lead Out of Everything

At first a crusader for workplace safety, the trained physician railed against the use of the toxic and ubiquitous material

A 1937 photograph of Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary in American history

How the Nation’s First ‘Madam Secretary’ Fought to Save Jewish Refugees Fleeing From Nazi Germany

A new book spotlights Frances Perkins’ efforts to challenge the United States’ restrictive immigration policies as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor

“In postwar America, fast food was seen as a ladder to the middle class,” says journalist and author Adam Chandler. “If you were part of a familiar chain, banks were willing to lend you money, and people would come to your establishment right away because you were a proven entity.”

The Roots of U.S. Work Culture—and Why the American Dream Is So Difficult to Achieve Today

A new book examines the evolution of the American workplace, interrogating the idea that hard work is enough to ensure success

The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge was an immense project with an immense cost.

On This Day in History

The Golden Gate Bridge Was a Dream That Turned Into a Depression-Era Nightmare for the 11 Men Who Died During Its Construction

The building of the iconic “industry orange” landmark began on this day in 1933

An illustration of Molly Maguires on their way to the gallows in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Untold Stories of American History

Eight Secret Societies You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

Many of these selective clubs peaked in popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries

Flowers on the memorial for the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire during its dedication on October 11

New Memorial Honors Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A total of 146 workers died in the 1911 disaster, which galvanized the fight for workers’ rights

Firefighters, still dressed in their smoke- and soot-stained bunker gear, take a breather after a harrowing day of battling a particularly stubborn brush fire.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

15 Scenes of Americans at Work

These highlights from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest commemorate Labor Day

Lewis Wickes Hine's 1909 photograph of a young spinner in a Georgia cotton mill

History of Now

The Photographer Who Forced the U.S. to Confront Its Child Labor Problem

Lewis Hine’s early 20th-century “photo stories” sparked meaningful legislative reform

Mina’s goal was to keep the home—and women—central in modern society. Building on the home economists who came before her, she sought to define women’s work as work rather than a vague, idealized calling.

Women Who Shaped History

Mina Miller Edison Was Much More Than the Wife of the ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’

The second wife of Thomas Edison, she viewed domestic labor as a science, calling herself a “home executive”

A poster, boldly declaring "Sí Se Puede. It Can Be Done" and held in the Smithsonian collections, offers a look back to how farm laborers won the right to join and form unions.

Why ‘Sí, Se Puede’ Was the Winning Motto for the United Farm Workers

Their nationwide boycott helped farmworkers win the right to join and form unions

J. Edgar Hoover (second from left) stands behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the president signs a bill in 1934.

How World War II Helped Forge the Modern FBI

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover consolidated immense power—and created the beginnings of the surveillance state

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