US History

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

Labor History

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Homestead Strike of 1892.

A photograph of Henry Frick’s office at Carnegie Steel Works, Homestead, Pennsylvania, July 25, 1892.

A photograph of men approaching a pay car on payday at the Carnegie Steel Works, Homestead, Pennsylvania, 1907.

A photograph of men feeding open-hearth furnaces at Carnegie Steel Works, Homestead, Pennsylvania, 1907.

In order to fuel the furnaces or “make bottom,” workers shovel dolomite and magnesite into the flames. The heat and power of these furnaces were a vital part of steel production, but they were dangerous for workers.

A postcard illustrating the Carnegie blast furnaces along the Monongahela River, Homestead, Pennsylvania, 1908-1909.

An excerpt from AAISW President William Weihe’s Congressional investigation testimony about pay scale changes at Homestead, 1892.

In 1892, Congress initiated an “investigation of the employment of Pinkerton detectives in connection with the labor troubles at Homestead, Pennsylvania.” This excerpt is part of Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers President William Weihe’s testimony from that investigation. Sliding scale wages meant wages that changed according to the price of steel. Often a minimum value was set in order to offer workers some protection from price fluctuations.

A photograph of strikers on a hill overlooking Carnegie Steel Works in Homestead during the lockout, 1892.

After they were locked out of Carnegie Steel Works by Frick on June 30, 1892, strikers knew that Frick was recruiting scab workers to restart production as well as recruiting armed forces, possibly, to protect the scabs. Strikers therefore watched carefully the area of Homestead near the Monongahela River, a key route for outsiders trying to reach the mill.

An excerpt from a contemporary history describing Frick’s engagement of the Pinkertons and their history of violence, 1893.

An excerpt from Henry Frick’s testimony during the Congressional investigation into Pinkerton detectives at Homestead, 1892.

In 1892, Congress initiated an “investigation of the employment of Pinkerton detectives in connection with the labor troubles at Homestead, Pennsylvania.” This excerpt is part of Henry Frick’s testimony from that investigation.

A Pinkerton detective agent badge.

This badge is a replica of the badges worn by members of the Pinkerton Detective Agency during the second half of the nineteenth century. The top of the badge bears the “all-seeing eye” with Pinkerton’s motto, “We Never Sleep,” below. The center of the badge reads “Pinkerton National Detective Agent” above “New York” in a cartouche. The Pinkerton Agency was established by Allen Pinkerton in 1850 and became famous for protecting President Lincoln during the Civil War.

An excerpt from a contemporary history describing the violent interaction between strikers and Pinkerton detectives, 1893.

An illustration from *Harper’s Weekly*, July 6, 1892, showing the burning of the barges that had brought Pinkerton detectives.

The barges were a site of violent engagement between Pinkerton detectives and Homestead strikers. Despite multiple attempts to burn the barges while the Pinkertons were on them, the barges were not successfully burned by strikers and Homestead townspeople until after the surrender and disembarkation of Pinkerton agents.

An illustration from *Harper’s Weekly*, July 6, 1892, showing a Homestead mob “assailing Pinkerton men on their way to the temporary prison.”

After an extended conflict, Pinkerton detectives and strikers negotiated terms of a peace in which the detectives would surrender in return for their guaranteed safety. However, as the Pinkertons came onshore from their barges, they were beaten by Homestead men, women, and children who were standing nearby. This treatment would become the most discussed and condemned event of the strike.

A political cartoon by Clifford Berryman about the pervasive threat of strikes during the post-World War II era, May 16, 1946.

This political cartoon by Clifford Berryman originally appeared in the *Washington Evening Star*. In 1946, there were approximately five thousand labor strikes that involved nearly 4.6 million workers. Several strikes affected important industries such as steel, transportation, and coal.


A photograph of a Safeway lockout of Teamsters employees in Los Angeles, California, 1964.

Signs carried say “Protest unfair labor practice; lockout of Teamsters by Safeway.” The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union that represents diverse professions.

Questions

1. Examine the [photograph of Henry Frick’s office](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/799). How does this compare to the working spaces for steelworkers depicted in other sources? What does this tell us about the role class played in the Homestead Strike?
2. Use the [photograph of men approaching a pay car](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/800), the [photograph of men feeding furnaces](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/801), and the [postcard illustrating the Carnegie blast furnaces](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/802) to describe working conditions at Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike era. What dangers and challenges did steelworkers face? How did these shape their desire to organize as a labor union?
3. Based on the [excerpt from William Weihe’s testimony](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/803), describe the specific labor dispute between Frick, as a representative of the Carnegie Steel Company, and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers?
4. Using evidence in the [excerpt describing Frick’s engagement of the Pinkertons](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/805), the [excerpt from Henry Frick’s testimony](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/806), the [badge](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/807), and the [excerpt describing violent interaction between strikers and detectives](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/808), describe how the Pinkertons presented themselves as an official law enforcement group. What were the problems with this from legal, social, and labor-organizing standpoints?
5. Consider the [photograph of strikers on a hill](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/804), the [excerpt describing violent interaction between strikers and detectives](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/808), the [illustration showing the burning of the barges](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/809), and the [illustration showing a Homestead mob](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/810). How was the violence of the Homestead Strike narrated by media of this era? What is the perspective of these writers and artists on the conflict at Homestead?
6. How do the [political cartoon](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/811) and the [photograph of a Safeway lockout](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-homestead-strike/sources/812) help us to understand the legacy of the Homestead Strike for labor organizing? 

Activity

Ask students to work in investigative reporting pairs to conduct a July 7 interview between a reporter and a witness at Homestead. Witnesses may be either strikers, Homestead townspeople, or Pinkerton detectives. The pair should decide on a particular witness for the project together. The student playing the role of the reporter should then craft a list of questions designed to determine the interviewee’s understanding of what happened at Homestead, what they saw, how they were involved, and what conclusions they drew about the incident. The student playing the role of the witness should craft a personality present at Homestead and respond to questions. Students can first script the interview in an outline format and then create an audio recording of the interview. Sources in this set can be used as evidence of events and the excerpts from testimony can offer inspiration for the structure and focus of the interviews themselves.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Homestead Strike

Resources

1. [The Homestead Strike of 1892](https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/homestead.html), Chronicling America, the Library of Congress. 
2. [The Homestead Strike](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html), American Experience, PBS. 
3. [The Homestead Strike of 1892](http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu/lessons/view_lesson.php?id=17), The History Project, University of California Davis. 

Overview

In the summer of 1892, at the Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a dispute between a labor union and the Carnegie Steel Company led to violent conflict. Henry Frick, Carnegie’s chief executive officer and a staunch opponent of unions, offered the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AAISW) a new contract with substantial pay reductions over an extended term. When the union refused the contract, attempted to negotiate, and then threatened to strike, Frick refused to back down. He constructed a fence around the steel mill at Homestead, shut down operations, and laid off hundreds of workers, leading to an official lockout by June 30. Workers became aware that Frick was recruiting scabs, or non-union workers, to replace them, and they overtook the mill several days after the lockout. To protect the scab workers and regain control of the property, Frick engaged the services of the Pinkerton Detective Agency—a private security agency notorious for violent conflicts with labor unions. 

On July 6, 1892, Pinkerton agents arrived in Homestead on barges along the Monongahela River. Strikers resisted their advance and violence quickly escalated. To prevent the Pinkertons from entering the mill, strikers fired shots—killing one agent and wounding five others. The Pinkertons then opened fire on strikers, killing or wounding more than thirty men. Strikers retaliated by attacking the Pinkertons on their barges in a thirteen-hour battle. Finally, the union agreed to let Pinkerton agents surrender in exchange for their guaranteed safety, although once the Pinkertons came ashore, they were attacked by angry Homestead townspeople. Strikers then set the barges on fire.

By July 10, the sheriff of Homestead succeeded in getting the Pennsylvania governor to send an armed militia to Homestead to quell the violence. In the months that followed, the union continued the strike, but Frick successfully reopened the mill with scab workers. Union leaders faced legal charges for the violence of July 6, and by November, they were running out of money and supplies to keep the strike going. Most union workers never regained their jobs at Homestead and the Homestead works remained free of union organization—along with all of the Carnegie companies' steel mills. Although the Homestead Strike failed as a bargaining tactic for the union, it gained national attention for the cause of labor organizing, sparked public outrage with industry giants and their use of force, and set precedent in US labor history for decades to come. This primary source set uses illustrations, documents, and photographs to tell the story of the Homestead Strike.

English

The Homestead Strike

homestead-strike_09_01e0e9ecfb2168cfe16c2456f18755ff.jpg

Courtesy of National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center via Smithsonian Institution.

“Badge, ‘Pinkerton National Detective Agent, New York,’” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/01e0e9ecfb2168cfe16c2456f18755ff.

A Pinkerton detective agent badge.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 9 of 14 in the Primary Source Set The Homestead Strike