Activity #5: Labor Strikes: Learning from The Ludlow Mine Massacre and the Flint Sit-down Strike Simulations
Time: 1-2 class periods
Materials: •An even number of computers so that small groups can work with •AgentSheets simulations. Initially, the computers should have the Protest Project Simulation and web page ready to run. Later in the activity, students will need to access and run the Kent State Shootings Simulation and web page.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
•identify factors that make protest marches more or less violent
•identify the roles of protesters, police, and "agitators" in protest marches
•identify and evaluate the actions of protesters and the National Guard in the protest march that lead to the shooting of four students in 1970 at Kent State University.
Procedure:
1. There are two parallel goals for this activity. To begin with, students need to have a basic understanding of the challenges facing labor organizers in U.S. history. This history can be provided by you or by most competent textbooks. Students should have a basic understanding of the tension between labor and management and how this tension has played itself out in organizing on the one hand and management resistance to efforts by labor to organize on the other.
2. Divide students into groups and have them gather around the computer stations. Direct them to open up the Ludlow Mine Massacre and Flint Sit-down Strike web pages ONLY. They should not open the simulations at this point. At the computers, students should spend time reading the portrayals of the events surrounding both of these important episodes in labor history.
3. When students have spent sufficient time reading the web pages and exploring the links that are provided, provide each group with poster paper and markers. Groups should draw a line dividing their poster paper in half and on each half they should create a clear, visual portrayal of the central events of each of these events in labor history. For example, the Flint Sit-down Strike side of the poster should probably include a portrayal of the choice to sit down in the factory, the attempts by law enforcement officials to end the occupation of the factory, the role of the women and others in supporting the strikers, etc. Likewise, the Ludlow Mine Massacre should illustrate the construction of the tent village, the escalation in weapons by the mine owners, the arrival of the state troops, and the eventual confrontation between strikers and troopers. Encourage careful portrayals, but not artistic ability. Each side of the posters should provide the viewer with a clear, basic history of the events that took place in Ludlow and Flint.
4. When posters are complete, compare them around the room and use them to make sure that the entire class shares a common understanding of the events at Ludlow and Flint and the basic issues that drove these two efforts at labor organizing. Make sure to discuss the relative success of each effort and what made one or the other more successful.
5. Now, have groups return to their computer stations and open the Ludlow Mine Massacre and Flint Sit-down Strike simulations. Make sure that students understand the descriptions of the Agents and how the simulations are designed to run. Allow time to run both of the simulations and to "play" with them by manipulating Agents, conditions, and behaviors.
6. Conduct a class discussion using these questions:
•How accurate and realistic are these simulations of the events you just studied? Be specific in describing the ways in which they are and are not realistic portrayals of the events at Ludlow and Flint.
•What content did you need to know in order to make sense of the simulations? Could you have done this process in reverse; i.e. what would it have been like to run the simulations before reading and learning about the history of these events in the web pages?
•To what extent could you manipulate the Agents and the simulations themselves? In what ways does this affect your engagement with the simulations? Your learning from them?
•Turning to labor history, what insights do you have about the means used to bring about improved working conditions as portrayed in each of these simulations? Are there clear "good guys" and "bad guys" in either of these events? What are issues for labor organizers today in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world?
7. Conclude the activity by asking students to imagine that they were working as editorial cartoonists in the eras of both the Ludlow mine massacre and Flint sit-down strike. Their editors want clear editorial cartoons for both of these events. Give students the option of either drawing two separate cartoons, one for each of the events or one cartoon that clearly connects the events at Ludlow with those at Flint. Cartoons should be on standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and, if necessary, have captions that help the reader interpret them.