We found 1315 items that match your search
Jourdon Anderson Responds to his Former Enslaver (1865)
After the Civil War, many former enslavers in the South were desperate to not lose laborers and attempted to maintain control over formerly enslaved people. One such former enslaver, P.H. Anderson, contacted a formerly enslaved man named Jourdon [...]
Demands for Legislation Against Industrial Pollution of Rivers (1875)
In this newspaper article, the Richmond Dispatch advocates for legal protections against the dumping of industrial waste in Virginia's waterways. Throughout North America, manufacturers located on river banks used fast moving water as a source of [...]
Warren County Protests against PCB dumping
Item_3062
Construction of Freeway Displaces Black Detroiters (1959)
After World War II, local, state, and federal governments invested in building new highways, civic developments, housing, and other infrastructure. These urban renewal projects claimed to “revitalize” and “modernize” American cities by [...]
An Indentured Servant Asks Parents for Help (1623)
Indentured servitude was a system of labor in which a person had to work for four to seven years without pay in exchange for passage to the “New World.” Employers in Virginia (often planters) were expected to supply servants' housing, food, and [...]
An Indentured Servant Writes Home (1756)
In the eighteenth-century Chesapeake region, female indentured servants faced particular vulnerabilities. Indentured servitude was a system of labor in which a person had to work for four to seven years without pay in exchange for passage to the [...]
A Domestic Servant Sues for her Son (1735)
Indentured servitude was common in Spanish colonized areas of North America. Indentured servitude was a system of labor in which a person had to work for four to seven years without pay in exchange for passage to the “New World.” Employers were [...]
African American Exodusters En Route to Kansas (1879)
Tens of thousands of African Americans escaped the harsh economic difficulties and racist systems of the Reconstruction South between the late 1870s and early 1880s. Referencing the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, these migrants called [...]
A Mill Worker Testifies about Unemployment (1883)
On October 18, 1883, mill worker Thomas O’Donnell testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Education and Labor about the hardships of unemployment and working-class issues. O'Donnell had immigrated from England in the 1870s. At the time of [...]
Lenora M. Barry Describes Women's Working Conditions in New Jersey (1887)
Lenora M. Barry was the national women’s organizer for the Knights of Labor in the late nineteenth century. The Knights of Labor aimed to improve the lives and health of laborers by encouraging them to organize unions and other groups to fight for [...]