The assignment is that you write a short biography of a person who lived and worked in the United States between 1900 and 1940, explaining how and why the message of the person’s life that you have selected provides testimony witnessing the injustices confronting workers of his or her or their historical period.

You may not select a famous leader but must describe a person who was a worker in a particular occupation, industry or social movement that gave meaning to work and workers’ destiny in the Twentieth Century.

Answering this question means looking beyond what a person has said or not said about their life. The challenge is to examine the message that you discern in actions, decisions, what the person experienced and/or what the person suffered and/or tried to change.

must include the following:

Statement of the Message of the subject’s Life & Reason Why You Chose the person.

Movements or Persons that Influenced your Subject.

Labor Issue(s) that affected your subject.

Events that the subject witnessed.

Decisions or actions or ideas that best express the subject’s Message.

Conclusion stating why your subject is relevant today.

At least three different sources grounding your subject in the history of their time. 

Works Cited.

Primary Sources: Relevant texts produced (e.g. journal, letters or speeches) by or influential in the life of your subject; or, relevant objects (clothing, possessions like books, tools or medical records) as well as statements, technologies that existed at the time when your subject lived.

Secondary Sources: Full-length books such as biographies, films and other works of art such as portraits and sculpture, as well as research articles analyzing the twentieth-century person whom you have chosen as your subject. Secondary sources are usually created after the period in which your subject lived and intend to explain or assess historical significance.