Great Depression Lecture Series: Labor Movement

During the Great Depression, American workers, saddled with increasingly depressed wages and harsh working conditions, demanded adequate pay and safe workplaces. To bring companies and government agencies to the bargaining table, workers leaned on collective action as a means to secure victories. In both town and country, they formed unions and initiated strikes to gain concessions. These actions, however, were often met with contention and, in some cases, led to violence.

In this lecture, we will examine the union campaigns that swept the nation during the Great Depression and how New Deal administrators responded. More specifically, we will highlight how Northwest Ohio came to embody the united dismay felt by both urban and rural workers in their fight for unionization.

Free and open to the public.