| Fire in the Hole! |
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Teacher Guide for Fire
in the Hole! Title: Fire in the Hole! / by Mary Cronk Farrell. Publisher: Clarion Books, c2004.
Honors and Awards: 2005 Western Writers of America SPUR Award 2005 Banks Street College Best Book 2005 Notable Social Studies Trade Book 2006 New York Public Library Best Books for the Teenage Reviews: VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) "A compelling historical novel...both gripping and poignant...fast paced and peopled with vivid, believable characters." Kirkus Review (October 1, 2004) With his mother dead, his father imprisoned, and rent due, 14-year-old Mick must take responsibility for his family. But does this mean giving up his dream of college and becoming a newspaperman? Is he betraying his unionist father by taking a job in the mines as a non-union worker? Set in Idaho during the 1899 Coeur d'Alene mine disputes, when radicals blew up the ore-concentrating mill and Federal troops responded with mass arrests, Farrell's debut follows Mick as he works the mine, engineers a rescue of his father, and finds his own path in life. Fictional newspaper articles by Mick's mentor Mr. Delaney and a good author's note contribute historical and legal context for this story of family, dreams, and an important segment of American history. (Fiction. 10-14) Booklist (Fall 2004) Gr. 5-8. "Based on actual events, Farrell's first novel fairly brims with details and mining history. Farrell's characters and their motivations ring true, and the ending leaves hope that things will improve not only for Mick but for everyone. A good choice for historical fiction buffs and readers studying the mining industry and labor unions." Kay Weisman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Understanding Time and Place: Mick's story unfolds during a tumultuous decade of labor strife across the nation. Throughout the western states clashes between miners and mining company owners flared into violence. In Pennsylvania federal troops were called in to quell strikes by iron, tin and steel workers. Employees of the Pullman Palace Car company which manufactured railroad cars were also put down by US soldiers. [Background on labor unions provided on page 6] The setting for Fire in the Hole! is a valley cut through the northern Idaho panhandle by the North and South forks of Coeur d'Alene River and its tributaries. In 1899 this valley was known as the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. Mines large and small extracted lead and silver from the river valley and mountainsides. The towns and mining camps of the region were populated mainly by single white men and some families. These men were tough and independent, their character more like the base rock from which they wrestled the ore than the fine silver that resulted from their labor. They saw themselves as taming the wild, taking raw nature and building something larger and more lasting than themselves. Native people also lived in the region. This had been the homeland of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe for many thousands of years, but the Tribe had been forced onto a reservation to the south and west of the Silver Valley 20-years earlier. The Coeur d'Alenes had subsisted on this land of prairies, verdant forests and abundant fish and wildlife for uncounted generations. Analyzing Character and Plot:
Discussion questions:
Activities across the Curriculum: Resources: Online: http://homepages.uhwo.hawaii.edu/~clear/Timeline-US.html Comprehensive timeline of events in US labor history http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/30663.html A very good timeline of Labor History Timeline for 1806-1986 http://www.lutins.org/labor.html An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History Nice timeline compiled by Allen Lutins http://www.laborheritage.org/ The Labor Heritage Foundation works to strengthen the labor movement through the use of music and the arts. Books: "Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor" by Russell Freedman (Clarion books, 1998) "Rosie in New York City: Gotcha by Carol Matas (Aladdin Paperbacks, 2003) "Farmworker's Friend: The Story of Cesar Chavez" by David R. Collins (Trailblazer Biographies, 1996) "Mother Jones: Labor Leader) by Steve Erwin, Charles, III Barnett, and Leslie F. Orear (Graphic Biographies, 2006 Dear America: "Dreams in the Golden Country" by Kathryn Lasky (Scholastic 2003) Curriculum Activities: Art:
A few of the many, many songs are: "Don't Go Down in the Mine, Dad," "Ludlow Massacre," "Sixteen Tons," "No Christmas in Kentucky"
Social Studies:
--Make a timeline including a dozen important events in the history of the American Labor Movement. --Choose one particular turning point in the US labor movement and write an essay on what happened and what difference that made. --Choose a labor leader and give a persuasive speech either refuting his or her views, or telling why this person was an inspiring leader.
Language Arts:
Math/Economics:
Science:
Background on Labor Unions: Did you know that many of the workers in America's first factories, mines and farm fields were children ages eight to fourteen? They often worked seven days a week and up to twelve hours a day. They had no vacations, sick days or medical benefits, and many never went to school. Restrictions against child labor and benefits for child and adult workers came about slowly and with great struggle. Changes like the five-day work-week, the 8-hour day, vacation and sick pay grew out of the determination and sacrifice of working men and women who banded together to demand rights from the powerful corporations who employed them. Workers united to form labor unions. These unions also battled for social change, for instance: the right of every child to a public education. The roots of American trade unions reach back to the early days of American history. Primitive unions, or guilds, of carpenters, leather workers, cabinet makers and cobblers formed here and there in cities along the Atlantic seaboard of colonial America. They played a significant role in the struggle for independence. For example, carpenters disguised as Mohawk Indians participated in the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Philadelphia's Carpenters' Hall was the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the First Continental Congress in 1774. Philadelphia carpenters were also responsible for the first strike in the US in 1791. They walked off the job demanding a uniform workday from 6am to 6pm. The effort failed. Forty years later in July of 1835 child workers in the silk mills in Paterson, NJ, stopped work demanding an 11 hour day/6 day work-week. In 1806 the union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers (leather workers) quit work demanding higher wages. Authorities convicted the leaders of criminal conspiracy and the union was bankrupted. This set the precedent by which the United States government would take sides with company owners and fight union workers for years to come. As the 19th century rolled on, cotton mills, weaving factories, steel mills, coal mines, railroads and many other industries boomed across the land. But few workers shared in the prosperity and power of the company owners. The labor movement developed as people united to bargain for their needs and rights. As a group they had more bargaining power than individuals. Union members walked a long, difficult and sometimes deadly road before they gained recognition by employers and were able to make lasting changes. The strike, when workers walk off the job, is the unions' best weapon. When employers refuse to listen to workers' concerns, workers can all agree to stop working. Then the company has several choices. Management could decide to give in to union demands. Or it could shut down. Pausing production causes lost revenue, but workers would be without income and might eventually agree to go back to work. A third option would be for the company to bring in non-union workers to replace the strikers. These workers, called scabs by strikers and strikebreakers by the company, agree to the current wages and conditions without complaining, so operations continue as usual. When new workers are brought in strikers often picket the company, jeer at scabs and try to block their way onto the jobsite. Companies might hire guards to protect the incoming workers. Throughout the long years of the labor movement confrontations between strikers and company guards sometimes grew violent. The government then called in soldiers, almost always on the side of industry. Strikes could erupt into small wars, called labor wars, with people on both sides injured and killed. In several such incidents children were killed. Little by little the unions made progress for workers. For instance, in Atlanta, Georgia, 1881, three thousand Black women laundry workers pulled off one of the largest and most effective strikes in the history of the south. In 1906 the International Typographical Union successfully struck for an 8-hour day. Strikes continued to erupt in violence causing death and injury through the early1900's. It was during the Great Depression beginning in 1929 that many American's attitudes toward unions began to change. People had seen business owners and industry managers as the nation's leaders and union members as dangerous radicals. But when businesses throughout the country failed and millions of people had no jobs, Americans began to favor unions. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ushered in new laws supporting labor, though these new protections would not last 20-years. During the World War II labor shortage, however, workers gained fringe benefits such as hospital insurance, paid vacations and holidays and retirement pensions. The late 1940's would be the height of union strength as roughly 36-percent of all laborers (excluding agricultural workers) belonged to unions. In the 1960's and 70's two new groups organized for the first time. President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order giving federal employees the right to collective bargaining, though not to strike. Also Cesar E. Chavez established what is now the United Farm Workers of America. The UFWA won important gains for migrant workers and others farm laborers. Chavez is best known for his leadership, along with Dolores Huerta, of the successful five-year nonviolent boycott against California grape growers, which protested poor working conditions and the use of pesticides harmful to farm workers. Though unions gained many of the benefits taken for granted today, organized labor is not as powerful as it once was. Less than 13-percent of American workers are union members. Critics argue unions are too powerful and in some instances corrupt. Workplace rights continue to be a controversial issue with Americans today. |
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