Unit Two1 920s Industrial Nation: Workers and Products on the Move(subtheme: struggle for racial equality)

Each Unit ContainsTo the TeacherInstructions for Use

Image CardsSix primary sources, and questions forvisual analysis

Clues Sheet Secondary-source information, historicalbackground content connecting imagesto National History Standards

Mapping the Big IdeaA map to further historic investigation

Taking a Deeper Look Additional primary-source documentsfor deeper investigation

What about Your Neighborhood? A worksheet to connect national history to local experience; additionalresearch sources

Suggested Grade Level

Elementary, Middle, Senior High

Elementary, Middle, Senior High

Elementary, Middle

Middle, Senior High

Elementary, Middle

Historical Thinking Skills Used

Visual, analytical, and interpretive skills

Interpreting and evaluating data,building chronological thinking,developing problem-solving skills

Map-reading skills: acquire, report,process information from a spatialperspective. Synthesis and deductivereasoning skills

Historical analysis, interpretation,evaluation, analyzing cause/effectrelationships, understanding multiplepoints of view, performing originalresearch, debating, persuasive writing

Research skills: obtain historical data,analyze and make decisions, identifyissues and problems in the past,connect the past to the present

Smithsonian NKenneth E. Behring Center

ational Museum of American History

Unit Two1920s Industrial Nation:Workers and Products on the Move

To the Teacher

Major ThemeUnited States's dependence on railroad commerce

SubthemeStruggle for racial equality

Preparation Notes:Make 4 copies of the Clues sheet and the Mapping

the Big Idea sheet.

Activity Two: Mapping the Big Idea Grade Level: 5-8

Divide the class into 4 groups. Give each group a copy of

the Clues sheet and the Mapping the Big Idea sheet.

Each group should review the map then synthesize the

information by answering the questions. (20 minutes) National History Standards: ERA 7 1890–1930 Emergence of Modern America1A industrial capitalism and the railroads3A/B/C social tensions, impact of Jim Crow laws, early civil rights movement, great migration

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Mapping the Big Idea

Draw this 1920 journey on the map.

1. Making the fabric Texas produced over 25 percent of the nation’s cotton crop. In Waco,Texas,cotton was loaded

onto the Missouri Pacific Railroad to New Orleans, Louisiana.The cotton would be transferred to the Southern

Railway and could be hauled to a mill in Salisbury, North Carolina.The cotton was made into thread, then woven

and printed. Trace the journey of the cotton from Waco through New Orleans to Salisbury.

2. Selling the fabric A salesman from Salisbury traveled on the railroad looking for textile factories that wanted to

purchase Salisbury’s milled cotton. He made stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Newark. He slept on the train’s

sleeping car to save time. Trace the journey of the traveling salesman from Salisbury to these three cities.

3. From fabric to dresses In Philadelphia, he made a sale! The salesman happily sent a telegram instructing the

company to ship crates of fabric on a freight train from Salisbury to Philadelphia. Does the crate need to change

train lines?

4. Dresses sold to company Finished dresses were purchased by Sears, Roebuck and Co.The dresses were sent

by rail to a warehouse for storage. Trace the journey of the finished dresses from Philadelphia to the central

warehouse in Chicago.

5. Buying a dress by mail order A woman from Salisbury, North Carolina, could have seen the dress in a

Sears catalog and ordered it. Trace its journey from the Chicago warehouse to Salisbury station, North Carolina.

Before trains, how would this multistate commerce take place? How did trains impact the industrial age and the

migration of people? Compare the journey of this piece of clothing to the global journey in Unit Five.

Memphis

Newark

Chicago

Atlanta

Louisville

Knoxville

Birmingham

Jacksonville

New Orleans

St. Louis

Omaha

Lincoln

Kansas CityCincinnati

PuebloRichmond

Salisbury

Mobile

Philadelphia

DE

MD

OK

KS

NE

CO

KY

PA

VAWV

OHIN

IL

NC

TN

SC

AL

MS

AR

MO

IA

NJ

GA

Washington DC

Waco

Lorned

Little Rock

Helena

LA

TX

Cape Charles

Selma

Baltimore

New York City

NY

Southern Railway

Pennsylvania Railroad

Missouri Pacific Lines

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Clues Sheet

In the 1920s, American industry surged forward, employing tens of millions of the immigrants and rural Americans

who flocked to the cities to find work. Railroads crisscrossed the country, delivering manufactured products,

passengers, mail, and food. A railway station now served as its town’s main gateway to the productive nation.

At the same time, oceangoing steamers delivered American goods to the world.

Transportation has long been involved in the struggle for racial equality in America. In 1896, the Supreme Court’s

Plessy v.Ferguson decision declared racial segregation legal, which led to the growth of “Jim Crow”laws. For the

next half-century, the doctrine of “separate but equal”was the law of the land. Railroads employed African

Americans even as they discriminated against them when they traveled.

The Pullman Company staffed its famous sleeping cars with black men and women. In fact, it employed more

African Americans than any other single company in the country. Pullman porters were one of the first African

American groups to form their own union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), in 1925. It was led by

A. Philip Randolph. Many BSCP members were later active in civil rights movements in the 1940s and 1950s. For

example, Pullman porter E. D. Nixon, a local NAACP official, helped plan the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott

of 1955–56.

2-1 Locomotive 1401 (Smithsonian Institution #84-11402, photographby Dane Penland)This steam locomotive, built in 1926, traveled the Southern Railway, which

connected New Orleans to Washington, D.C.The 1401 could haul 14 cars at

80 miles per hour. It was a workhorse for pulling passenger trains.The

locomotive comprises two parts, an engine and a tender for carrying fuel

and water for the boiler. Locomotive wheels were large in order to pull the

heavy weight of the other cars at high speed.The engineer ran the

locomotive and the fireman managed the boiler.Together they made sure

the locomotive had the power to keep the train at the proper speed.

2-2 Conductor and engineer, 1929 (NMAH Transportation Collections)The conductor is the “captain”of the train. He supervises the other train

crew and is responsible for the safety of the passengers.The conductor

determines when a train can depart a station.The engineer is responsible

for following all the signal and speed restrictions along the route and

knowing every hill, twist, and curve along the route.The conductor and

the engineer need to synchronize their watches so they stay on schedule

and avoid collisions.

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2-3 Pullman dining car, 1920s (NMAH Transportation Collections)The Pullman Company was the largest single employer of African American

men in the United States. Pullman porters created a sense of luxury for

travelers, as they made beds, shined shoes, and provided personal services.

It was hard work, 400 hours a month compared to today’s norm of 160

hours. Pullman porters were respected members of their communities,

and because they traveled, they often provided information about work

opportunities through newspaper job listings and knowing the living

conditions in other states.This type of information was used by black

families to guide them in their migrations north.

2-4 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog page, 1927 (NMAH Archives Center) Sears, Roebuck was one of two big Chicago companies that used the

railway mail service to deliver its products across America.The catalogs

included every imaginable item, bringing both fashions and manufactured

goods—from pitchforks to automobiles—to people across the country.

Merchandise was stored in regionally located warehouses and then rushed

to the customer by train.

2-5 The great migration north, 1920s (Courtesy of American SocialHistory Project, New York)This family moved from the South to find work in Chicago. If African

Americans migrated by train, they had to suffer through “Jim Crow”

conditions, sitting in a segregated passenger car that was the closest

one to the locomotive.The ride was smoky and unpleasant.The Pullman

porters were renowned for creating a sense of luxury for white train

passengers, but such services were not available for the hundreds of

thousands of black people who migrated from the South to the North.

2-6 Freightmen moving large boxes, 1920s (Courtesy of North CarolinaDivision of Archives and History)Eighty percent of all intercity freight went by rail, and thousands of

packages were sent every day by railway express.This railroad freight

terminal was a distribution center for items leaving the region, such as

cotton, lumber, and woven textiles, and for items arriving, such as coal,

industrial parts, and clothing. A foreman often had to oversee the

unloading of these boxes and make sure they were delivered to the

correct customer.