Research Paper on:
The Role of Women and Minorities in the Labor Movement

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the labor force. It was white men who first struggled for an organized union, and it has been white men who have directed the course which the labor movement has  taken. However, throughout the history of unions there have been women and minorities who have played a powerful part in gaining access for all people into the labor force, not  just white men. Bearing that in mind the following paper first presents an examination of the role of women in the work force and then discusses minorities through an examination  of A. Philip Randolph and The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The History: Women "When Alexander Hamilton wrote his Report on Manufacturers in 1791, seeking ways to develop industry  in the United States, he identified women and children as a source of cheap labor. Later, in the 1820s, the textile mills of New England, most notably those in Lowell,  Massachusetts, hired young women from the surrounding farms as workers, viewing them as more tractable than men and more willing to earn less, since presumably they would stop working once  they married" (Mofford). This actively put women in the workforce, but it did not protect their rights nor ensure their environments. In addition, the women in the workforce now  threatened the position of men, "especially as new machines permitted less skilled operatives to perform tasks formerly assigned to craftsmen. Thus, it is not surprising that as men attempted to  unionize in order to combat declining pay and status, their leaders often ignored female workers" (Mofford). However, it also comes as no surprise that women wanted to be a part  of this labor movement. "As early as the 1820s, female workers in Lowell engaged in turnouts or work stoppages when employers sought to cut workers paychecks. In 1844, women from