13.1 – Warmup and Introduction

Aydin Durgunoglu; Erin Cary; John Trerotola

13.1 – Warmup and Introduction

What do you already know about industrialization and labor?

Thinking Ahead:

Below is a picture of a child working in a factory in the early 1900s. What do you think about this photo? How do you feel about it? Answer the questions that follow.

Portrait of a young girl in a cotton mill. — **[Credit]**

Questions:

Are you surprised that this worker is a child? What do you think about children working at a young age?
In today’s world, have you seen situations or jobs where young people are working?
What are acceptable working conditions for a young person?

Big Questions

In this chapter, we explore the history of labor, or work, throughout the world and in the United States. Be ready to review vocabulary words that are related to this topic, discuss your experiences and what you learned about work conditions.

After completing Module 13, you will be able to answer the following questions:

Question #1: How have working conditions changed over time?

Question #2: What does “sustainable” mean for companies and workers?

Before we begin, let’s look at our Historical Timeline:

Historical timeline of the Americas. Lists important historical events from the Pre-1400s to the 2000s. A yellow arrow indicates that the Industrial Revolution begins (1807) is an important date in this module.