1. How did labor unions and African Americans intersect during the era? What role did black people play in strikes? Points to co
nsider:Although the Knights of Labor allowed black membership, by the 1890s the organization had lost influence to the American Federation of Labor. Founded in 1886, the AFL was ostensibly open to all skilled workers, but most of its local craft unions barred women and black tradesmen. In contrast, the United Mine Workers (UMW), formed in 1890, encouraged black coal miners to join the union rather than serve as strikebreakers. By 1900 approximately 20,000 of the 91,000 members of the UMW were black men. The Industrial Workers of the World, a revolutionary labor organization founded in 1905, brought black laborers and white laborers together. In 1869 a Baltimore ship caulker, Isaac Myers, organized the National Colored Labor Union, which lasted for seven years. Black stevedores periodically went on strike in Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans. The Longshoremen’s Protective Union in Charleston won several strikes in the 1870s. In Nashville in 1871 black dockyard workers went on strike, demanding 20 cents an hour. 2. What was the educational debate between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois? Points to consider:Booker T. Washington encouraged black people to work within the system and learn a trade to join the working class; Du Bois believed education should advance black people intellectually.
