The Pullman Strike Chicago 1894

2 Pullman Palace Car Company Railway car company owned by George Pullman Over 6,000 workers Workers lived in “company town” Rent was 25% higher than other areas Interior of a Pullman Sleeper Car

3 Reasons for the Strike Historical Context: Depression of 1893 Pullman cut workers’ wages but didn’t cut rent for apartments On May 10, 1894, workers walked out of their factory

4 ARU Supports Pullman Workers American Railway Union was a national union of railway workers Eugene Debs, ARU leader, decided to support Pullman strikers Across the nation, railway workers refused to run trains that had Pullman cars attached to them The country was paralyzed

5 Eugene Debs Eugene V. Debs, the rail union president at the time of the strike, later campaigned as the American Socialist presidential candidate

6 President Grover Cleveland sends in troops

7 Violence Erupts Presence of federal troops set off riots Rioters burned buildings Troops killed 4 people and wounded 20

8 End of Strike By August the strike fell apart 1000 union workers were fired New workers had to sign contracts promising not to join a union Debs was arrested and jailed for 6 months

9 The Pullman strike divided the nation. In Chicago, there were newspapers that supported the workers and newspapers that supported the Pullman Car Company. Today we’re going to use close reading to figure out which newspapers supported whom.

10 Instructions! Move into groups. Within each group divide into pairs. Each pair will get 2 documents-either A and B or C and D. Each pair must complete the Graphic Organizer for your documents and answer the question: Which paper supported the workers and which supported Pullman? You should be prepared to explain how you arrived at your conclusion. Once you and your partner have read your two documents and filled out your graphic organizer, share your results with the your other pair in your group of four.

11 Move into Groups!!! Broncos Groups!!