This article describes occupations in the mining, oil, and gas extraction industry. The first section covers the industry's employment and outlook. The second section highlights some common occupations. The third section discusses pros and cons of the work. The fourth section describes how to start a career in mining or oil and gas. And the fifth…

We introduce an exercise designed to make Marx's theory of alienated labor accessible to students in a Sociology of Work class. Through a role-playing activity where students create and sell goods under conditions of both alienated and nonalienated labor, students actually experience the different material and social consequences of these…

In this article, the author talks about labored learning under the auspices of the "outing program" of Sherman Institute, an Indian boarding school in Riverside, California. The outing system functioned as a vital part of a larger federal Indian boarding school system that sought, in the words of historian Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, to…

Set during the Cold War and space race, this historical role-play focuses on Wernher von Braun's involvement in and culpability for the use of slave laborers to produce V-2 rockets for Nazi Germany. Students will grapple with two central questions. Should von Braun have been allowed to emigrate to the United States given his affiliation with the…

From 1909 to 1910, the public performance of soap-box oratory began to effect dramatic changes in the composition of migrant workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Municipal authorities in Spokane attempted to curb the formation of a union of hobo orators by outlawing public speech-making within the city fire limits. The ensuing confrontation…

This is a story about industrial art. It is certainly not a story about smart studios and fashionable galleries, subtle techniques and aesthetic beauty. This is a story of sheet rock, nails, and low-grade lumber in the hands of unskilled teenage laborers. While this story boasts of no future museum pieces, it tells a heartwarming story of rare…

This article is adapted from "Chew Heong v. United States: Chinese Exclusion and the Federal Courts", written by Lucy Salyer, associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, for inclusion in the Federal Judicial Center's project, "Federal Trials and Great Debates in United States History." In 1882, Congress…

Fair trade is typically understood as an alternative market system that aims to right historically inequitable terms of trade between the geopolitical North and South and foster more direct producer/consumer linkages. We suggest that a more expansive application of the term "fair trade" to encompass agro-food initiatives within the North and South…

Children working in agriculture have always been a part of the rural culture and work ethos of the United States, especially on the Great Plains. Many teenagers still detassel corn or walk the beans in the summer months to earn spending money or money for college. But what about the children who work as migrant laborers in commercialized…

The Statue of Freedom stands at the very top of the dome of the Capitol, where Congress meets in Washington, D.C. The dome, with its statue, is a symbol recognized all over the world. Thomas Crawford, an American sculptor, created the Statue of Freedom in clay in a studio in Rome, Italy. A plaster model was cast in five major sections and shipped…

An astounding construction feat of Chinese Americans was the work done on the western section of the transcontinental railroad. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new line took place in Sacramento in 1863, but up until 1865, less than 50 miles of running track had been laid, and this was over relatively level land. The construction superintendent…

An important revival in art education seeks to provide adolescents with art projects that are culturally and politically relevant to their lives. Stimulated in part by both a postmodernist attitude and the attention to visual culture, such projects address content that is meaningful to students' families, their futures, and their society. These…

The issue of child labor continues to challenge thinking on the nature of work, play, schooling and apprenticeship. New wisdom from some contemporary academic writing places children closer to the center of our understanding of consumption, production and reproduction, and at the heart of inequities generated by globalization. Child labor comes in…

In 1994, students from Broad Meadows Middle School met Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old Pakistani activist who had been sold into bonded labor at age 4 and escaped at age 10. They were moved to take action, and started a letter-writing campaign protesting child labor. When they heard of Iqbal's death later that year, they decided to build a school in…

Our narrative focuses on the middle passage of the slave trade in the West Indies. Herein we describe why more men, women, and children were imported in the West Indies than other islands. Specifically, our aim was to address how slaves in the middle passage of the triangular slave trade were treated, how they sustained themselves, and how they…