Besides, there are more important things to talk about, are there not? Attempting to fit all of American history into a year-long class is a challenge for even the best educator. If we are going to omit various portions of American history, the struggles of the laboring classes might very well be the first stories sacrificed. Anecdotally that is this author's experience, the experience of many with whom I have talked, and apparently the experience some of the readers of this column identify with as well.
The most troubling part of the lack American social and labor history in American education today is the avoidance of some of the most important issues that confront any society - issues concerning class. To discuss the central component to American life, freedom, in the absence of the social history context is to encourage students not to think, to believe that the definition of freedom is universally accepted and has no semblance of relativity whatsoever. And a course in American history almost always, by definition, focuses on true American ideals like those enumerated in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. But in the context of American economic and social life, what do those values really mean? One cannot begin to answer that question unless a thorough examination of American labor history is included as part of the inquiry.
So welcome to Labor and Freedom 101. The following five questions are designed to put American freedom into more than just the mainstream context. They involve crucial issues that have been a part of American history from the very beginning, many of which Americans take for granted today. Following each question are little pieces of insight into how they fit into America's labor and social past, challenging the reader to go beyond the surface and use this history to create, alter, or solidify her or his opinions on such matters.
There is one stipulation to answering these questions. Thomas Jefferson wrote that certain rights are inalienable, that they cannot be given nor taken away, that they are natural. In other words, it matters not what time period one is born into, such right still and always will exist. And it is this definition of a right, of freedom, that all questions are based upon. Keep this in mind when thinking about these issues. Let us begin!
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