High School & Up
High School & Up Curricula
Find a new video and curriculum on the history of May Day, a new climate crisis primer, CFT’s landmark labor history series Golden Lands, Working Hands, union primers and a beautiful California labor history map for your classroom wall.
Labor Cards
Curriculum Flash Cards
NEW! The Labor Cards deck puts labor history into your students’ hands! The cards boast 30 drawings by artist Jos Sances and short bios of famous labor figures all in a friendly trading card format. From Lucy Parsons to Dolores Huerta, from Haywood to King and Bridges and everyone in between. A great way to introduce the labor movement and teach kids about labor’s campaigns for workplace rights and social justice for all.
Grades: 6–12
Language: English
Format: 30 cards, 2.5 in x 3.5 in each
Free download: 31 pages
Labor Cards - English
Print set cost: $5
We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day
Video
NEW! Half-hour documentary video looks at how May Day became the workers’ holiday all over the world except in the United States, despite the fact that the events that inspired the holiday occurred here. Using historical images, contemporary illustrations, and animation, We Mean to Make Things Over is an educational and entertaining tour of a long-suppressed story from American working class history. For more information and background on the video, go to the We Mean To Make Things Over website. To screen the video for free, click on the streaming link below.
Below you will find readings and other materials to support classroom and union hall screenings:
- Intro to audience for May Day video
- May Day goals and questions
- May Day bibliography
- Citywide general strikes in American history
- Haymarket trial simulation
- May Day vs. Labor Day
STREAM VIDEO
Why Are Unions Important?
Pamphlet
Unions are organizations of workers who join together so they will have greater influence in determining their wages, hours, and other working conditions. This pamphlet sums in short order how how unions work and why they are important.
Grades: High school and up
Language: English
Free download: 4 pages
Why Are Unions Important?
A Very Brief Outline of American Labor History for Beginners
Booklet
What drove American workers to form unions? What did unions win for workers? While it is impossible to do a comprehensive job of addressing American labor history in a brief presentation, it is possible to do a gloss that might help you get a sense of the big picture. This booklet does just that.
Grades: High school and up
Language: English
Free download: 12 pages
A Very Brief Outline of American Labor History for Beginners
Work, Money and Power: Unions in the 21st Century
Booklet
Revised edition of the classic “Union 101″ pamphlet explaining what unions are and do, including an overview of labor history and compelling evidence for the continuing importance of unions in workers’ lives.
Grades: High school and up
Languages: English, Chinese, Spanish
Free downloads: 27 pages each
Work, Money and Power - English
Download Spanish and Chinese language versions from
the UC
Berkeley Labor Center.
Print booklet: You may order printed booklets in
English from the UC
Berkeley Labor Center. For 1 to 50 copies the cost is $1.50
each; 51 or more copies cost $1.25 each.
Pages: 28
For more info: Phone the Labor Center at
510-643-7089.
Golden Lands, Working Hands
Landmark CFT video series introduces the labor movement
This powerful ten-part video series brings the hidden history of working people to light. Golden Lands, Working Hands documents the events and issues central to California labor history, from the Gold Rush through the present. The award-winning series has been seen on public television and in museum exhibits, in high school and college classrooms and in union halls.
Grades: High school and up
Language: English
Cost: $20 for two DVDs
Talking Heads: The San Diego Free Speech Fight
Lesson Plan and DVD
In 1912 downtown San Diego streets became off-limits to unionists wishing to exercise free speech rights. Through municipal ordinance and vigilante violence, “order” was maintained, but at a high cost. Inspiration for founding the ACLU, the San Diego Free Speech Fight was a mostly forgotten event — until now. Includes a 28-minute video on DVD.
Grades: High school and up
Language: English
Cost of lesson plan plus
DVD: $10
Safe Jobs for Youth
Online Resource
Most teens don’t know their rights and protections on the job, or how they can work together to make change in the workplace. Teaching curricula, fact sheets about labor laws for youth and parents, and resources are available from the Young Worker Health and Safety website. Youth can get involved in leadership academies, the teen “safe workplace” poster contest, and our annual Safe Jobs for Youth Month campaign in May. Coordinated by UC Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program.
Grades: High school and up
Website: youngworkers.org
For more info: Phone the
UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program
at 510-643-2424