Paper instructions:
short essay answer following questions
The readings from Mollie’s Job so far provide a “window” into the U.S. in the second half o the 20th Century. Several issues come into view:
(1) The role of race relations in determining the life prospects of people like Mollie James;
(2) The situation of small businessmen with an immigrant background, such as Archie Sergy; the world they faced and how they responded;
(3) The wide open growth of the economy in those year, creating opportunities for both would-be businessmen like Archie and workers like Mollie;
(4) The role of unions in those years: both the “seamy” side as shown by some elements of the Teamsters, and the better side as shown by the AFL-CIO, the IUE and the Textile Workers Union;
(5) The recurring theme of business-style “corruption,” whether it be in small business (Archie and associates), big business (GE and Westinghouse), or unions (Teamsters Local 560 and 945).
short essay answer following questions
The readings from Mollie’s Job so far provide a “window” into the U.S. in the second half o the 20th Century. Several issues come into view:
(1) The role of race relations in determining the life prospects of people like Mollie James;
(2) The situation of small businessmen with an immigrant background, such as Archie Sergy; the world they faced and how they responded;
(3) The wide open growth of the economy in those year, creating opportunities for both would-be businessmen like Archie and workers like Mollie;
(4) The role of unions in those years: both the “seamy” side as shown by some elements of the Teamsters, and the better side as shown by the AFL-CIO, the IUE and the Textile Workers Union;
(5) The recurring theme of business-style “corruption,” whether it be in small business (Archie and associates), big business (GE and Westinghouse), or unions (Teamsters Local 560 and 945).
Utilize these themes and the facts you learned from the book to analyze the U.S. in the second half of the 20th Century. What was right or wrong, good or bad, from the point of view of an industrial worker like Mollie in this time period? How could we assess the country at this time, and how does that compare with today?
