The Homestead Steel Strike and the Growth of America as an Industrial Power

FAIN: BH-293708-23

University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA 15260-6133)
Kathryn Miller Haines (Project Director: February 2023 to present)
Suzi Bloom (Co Project Director: September 2023 to present)

Two week-long workshops for cohorts of 36 K-12 teachers in July 2024 on the impact of the 1892 Homestead steel strike. 

The “Battle of Homestead” is the most famous event in U.S. labor history. While the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike only lasted four months, it created a lasting impact on how the nation viewed the relationship between labor and management and cemented the reputation of two of America’s great Industrialists—Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Workshops will provide a framework for participants to immerse themselves in the battle from both sides by examining primary sources, listening to lectures by leading historians and scholars, and visiting historic sites, including Homestead Works Pump House, the Bost Building, which served as headquarters for Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the Carrie Furnace, which produced iron for Homestead Works from 1907-1978, and Clayton, the lavish home occupied by the Frick family during the strike. Participants will also learn pedagogical techniques for integrating primary sources into their own classrooms [edited by staff].