When the Pullman Company slashed factory workers' wages and announced widespread layoffs, thousands of railroad workers went on strike in the spring of 1894 and refused to run trains, including Pullman cars. The strike divided the nation. In this lesson, students source, contextualize, and corroborate competing historical accounts in order to understand what caused the strike.
[New version of lesson added on 5/13/2025.]
Image: Photo of National Guard in Pullman during railroad strike taken in 1894. From the Wikimedia Commons.
