Unit Two1 920s Industrial Nation: Workers and Products on the Move(subtheme: struggle for racial equality)
Each Unit ContainsTo the TeacherInstructions for Use
Image CardsSix primary sources, and questions forvisual analysis
Clues Sheet Secondary-source information, historicalbackground content connecting imagesto National History Standards
Mapping the Big IdeaA map to further historic investigation
Taking a Deeper Look Additional primary-source documentsfor deeper investigation
What about Your Neighborhood? A worksheet to connect national history to local experience; additionalresearch sources
Suggested Grade Level
Elementary, Middle, Senior High
Elementary, Middle, Senior High
Elementary, Middle
Middle, Senior High
Elementary, Middle
Historical Thinking Skills Used
Visual, analytical, and interpretive skills
Interpreting and evaluating data,building chronological thinking,developing problem-solving skills
Map-reading skills: acquire, report,process information from a spatialperspective. Synthesis and deductivereasoning skills
Historical analysis, interpretation,evaluation, analyzing cause/effectrelationships, understanding multiplepoints of view, performing originalresearch, debating, persuasive writing
Research skills: obtain historical data,analyze and make decisions, identifyissues and problems in the past,connect the past to the present
Smithsonian NKenneth E. Behring Center
ational Museum of American History
Unit Two1920s Industrial Nation:Workers and Products on the Move
To the Teacher
Major ThemeUnited States's dependence on railroad commerce
SubthemeStruggle for racial equality
Preparation Notes:Make 4 copies of the Clues sheet and the Mapping
the Big Idea sheet.
Activity Two: Mapping the Big Idea Grade Level: 5-8
Divide the class into 4 groups. Give each group a copy of
the Clues sheet and the Mapping the Big Idea sheet.
Each group should review the map then synthesize the
information by answering the questions. (20 minutes) National History Standards: ERA 7 1890–1930 Emergence of Modern America1A industrial capitalism and the railroads3A/B/C social tensions, impact of Jim Crow laws, early civil rights movement, great migration
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Mapping the Big Idea
Draw this 1920 journey on the map.
1. Making the fabric Texas produced over 25 percent of the nation’s cotton crop. In Waco,Texas,cotton was loaded
onto the Missouri Pacific Railroad to New Orleans, Louisiana.The cotton would be transferred to the Southern
Railway and could be hauled to a mill in Salisbury, North Carolina.The cotton was made into thread, then woven
and printed. Trace the journey of the cotton from Waco through New Orleans to Salisbury.
2. Selling the fabric A salesman from Salisbury traveled on the railroad looking for textile factories that wanted to
purchase Salisbury’s milled cotton. He made stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Newark. He slept on the train’s
sleeping car to save time. Trace the journey of the traveling salesman from Salisbury to these three cities.
3. From fabric to dresses In Philadelphia, he made a sale! The salesman happily sent a telegram instructing the
company to ship crates of fabric on a freight train from Salisbury to Philadelphia. Does the crate need to change
train lines?
4. Dresses sold to company Finished dresses were purchased by Sears, Roebuck and Co.The dresses were sent
by rail to a warehouse for storage. Trace the journey of the finished dresses from Philadelphia to the central
warehouse in Chicago.
5. Buying a dress by mail order A woman from Salisbury, North Carolina, could have seen the dress in a
Sears catalog and ordered it. Trace its journey from the Chicago warehouse to Salisbury station, North Carolina.
Before trains, how would this multistate commerce take place? How did trains impact the industrial age and the
migration of people? Compare the journey of this piece of clothing to the global journey in Unit Five.
Memphis
Newark
Chicago
Atlanta
Louisville
Knoxville
Birmingham
Jacksonville
New Orleans
St. Louis
Omaha
Lincoln
Kansas CityCincinnati
PuebloRichmond
Salisbury
Mobile
Philadelphia
DE
MD
OK
KS
NE
CO
KY
PA
VAWV
OHIN
IL
NC
TN
SC
AL
MS
AR
MO
IA
NJ
GA
Washington DC
Waco
Lorned
Little Rock
Helena
LA
TX
Cape Charles
Selma
Baltimore
New York City
NY
Southern Railway
Pennsylvania Railroad
Missouri Pacific Lines
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Clues Sheet
In the 1920s, American industry surged forward, employing tens of millions of the immigrants and rural Americans
who flocked to the cities to find work. Railroads crisscrossed the country, delivering manufactured products,
passengers, mail, and food. A railway station now served as its town’s main gateway to the productive nation.
At the same time, oceangoing steamers delivered American goods to the world.
Transportation has long been involved in the struggle for racial equality in America. In 1896, the Supreme Court’s
Plessy v.Ferguson decision declared racial segregation legal, which led to the growth of “Jim Crow”laws. For the
next half-century, the doctrine of “separate but equal”was the law of the land. Railroads employed African
Americans even as they discriminated against them when they traveled.
The Pullman Company staffed its famous sleeping cars with black men and women. In fact, it employed more
African Americans than any other single company in the country. Pullman porters were one of the first African
American groups to form their own union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), in 1925. It was led by
A. Philip Randolph. Many BSCP members were later active in civil rights movements in the 1940s and 1950s. For
example, Pullman porter E. D. Nixon, a local NAACP official, helped plan the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott
of 1955–56.
2-1 Locomotive 1401 (Smithsonian Institution #84-11402, photographby Dane Penland)This steam locomotive, built in 1926, traveled the Southern Railway, which
connected New Orleans to Washington, D.C.The 1401 could haul 14 cars at
80 miles per hour. It was a workhorse for pulling passenger trains.The
locomotive comprises two parts, an engine and a tender for carrying fuel
and water for the boiler. Locomotive wheels were large in order to pull the
heavy weight of the other cars at high speed.The engineer ran the
locomotive and the fireman managed the boiler.Together they made sure
the locomotive had the power to keep the train at the proper speed.
2-2 Conductor and engineer, 1929 (NMAH Transportation Collections)The conductor is the “captain”of the train. He supervises the other train
crew and is responsible for the safety of the passengers.The conductor
determines when a train can depart a station.The engineer is responsible
for following all the signal and speed restrictions along the route and
knowing every hill, twist, and curve along the route.The conductor and
the engineer need to synchronize their watches so they stay on schedule
and avoid collisions.
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2-3 Pullman dining car, 1920s (NMAH Transportation Collections)The Pullman Company was the largest single employer of African American
men in the United States. Pullman porters created a sense of luxury for
travelers, as they made beds, shined shoes, and provided personal services.
It was hard work, 400 hours a month compared to today’s norm of 160
hours. Pullman porters were respected members of their communities,
and because they traveled, they often provided information about work
opportunities through newspaper job listings and knowing the living
conditions in other states.This type of information was used by black
families to guide them in their migrations north.
2-4 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog page, 1927 (NMAH Archives Center) Sears, Roebuck was one of two big Chicago companies that used the
railway mail service to deliver its products across America.The catalogs
included every imaginable item, bringing both fashions and manufactured
goods—from pitchforks to automobiles—to people across the country.
Merchandise was stored in regionally located warehouses and then rushed
to the customer by train.
2-5 The great migration north, 1920s (Courtesy of American SocialHistory Project, New York)This family moved from the South to find work in Chicago. If African
Americans migrated by train, they had to suffer through “Jim Crow”
conditions, sitting in a segregated passenger car that was the closest
one to the locomotive.The ride was smoky and unpleasant.The Pullman
porters were renowned for creating a sense of luxury for white train
passengers, but such services were not available for the hundreds of
thousands of black people who migrated from the South to the North.
2-6 Freightmen moving large boxes, 1920s (Courtesy of North CarolinaDivision of Archives and History)Eighty percent of all intercity freight went by rail, and thousands of
packages were sent every day by railway express.This railroad freight
terminal was a distribution center for items leaving the region, such as
cotton, lumber, and woven textiles, and for items arriving, such as coal,
industrial parts, and clothing. A foreman often had to oversee the
unloading of these boxes and make sure they were delivered to the
correct customer.