To answer this question correctly, students must identify the event depicted in a historical photograph and clearly explain why the event is historically significant. For the first question, successful students will identify this as a scene from the Homestead Strike in 1892. For Question 2, successful students might elaborate on one or more of the following:
- The violence of the strike garnered national attention and ultimately eroded public support for organized labor.
- Membership in the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, which represented the workers at Homestead, fell precipitously in the years after the strike, leaving steel workers across the country in a less powerful position to negotiate wages and working conditions. Wages at Homestead declined 20% over the next 15 years, and work shifts increased from 8 hours to 12.
- The failure of Amalgamated at Homestead was representative of a broader decline in the power of organized labor at the end of the 19th century and the successes of increasingly powerful corporations to undermine labor unions.
- The Pennsylvania Governor’s decision to use the National Guard to intervene in the strike at the company’s request was a major blow to the labor movement and represented the tendencies of government entities to side with company owners over workers’ organizations at the time.
Level: Proficient
Question 1
Student clearly and specifically identifies the event depicted in the photograph.
Question 2
Student clearly and specifically explains why the event is historically significant.
Level: Emergent
Question 1
Student provides correct information related to the event but does not clearly identify the event.
Question 2
Student correctly elaborates on the event but does not clearly explain why the event is historically significant.
Level: Basic
Question 1
Student does not correctly identify the event.
Question 2
Student does not provide a correct or relevant explanation for why the event is historically significant.
