Labor History Commons^™

"The Biggest Outing Of The Year": Hops, Harvest, And The Making Of Oregon's Largest Annual Gathering, 1880-1930, Asher Bernick-Roehr

University Honors Theses

When the end of August came around, all kinds of people started rolling into the little town of Independence, Oregon. Some walked, some came by train, others by wagon, and still others by ferry, motorboat, and canoe. There were Armenians, Swedes, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Russians, Germans, and Indigenous peoples. There were those who were called fruit tramps, individuals and families who managed to bridge the vast distances across the West to harvest whichever crop needed hands. Entire families arrived, young and old, healthy and sick, with horses, mules, chickens and dogs in tow. Rich men came dressed as poor men …

Where's The Dim Sum? Art, Oral History, And The Chinese American Diaspora In Portland, Or, Rayli Dornan

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the history, transformation, and contemporary significance of Portland's Chinatown through an oral history framework, emphasizing the voices of Chinese American artists. Beginning with a comprehensive historical overview from the mid-nineteenth-century Gold Rush migrations and railroad labor to twentieth-century exclusion, dispossession under urban renewal, and the late-twentieth-century dispersal into suburbs, the thesis traces how structural racism and policy shaped both the physical landscape and communal life of Oregon's Chinese diaspora. Through in-depth interviews with local artists, this research aims to illuminate how individual experiences of identity, belonging, and creative expression navigate the tensions between heritage and adaptation.

Drawing …

The Pursuit Of Productivity: A Marxist Analysis Of How Frederick Winslow Taylor And Dr. W. Irving Clark Revolutionized The American Factory During The Early Twentieth Century, Stephen Hood

University Honors Theses

In 1911, two events occurred that laid the framework for a revolution in factory management; Frederick Winslow Taylor published his famous work The Principles of Scientific Management; and The Norton Emery Company hired W. Irving Clark to open a first-of-its-kind medical facility. Clark's work should be understood as an extension of the scientific management that Taylor championed during the turn of the twentieth century. The factory served as a laboratory for men like Clark and Taylor to create new methods for increasing productivity while attempting to overcome contradictions inherent to the capitalist mode of production. By utilizing the work …

“For The Right To Live”: Radical Activity In Portland’S Parks During The Great Depression, Eliana Bane

Anthós

During the Great Depression, Portland's working class joined in the national surge of radicalism to fight for economic relief and social justice. One of organized labor’s most effective strategies was to stage mass demonstrations in highly visible public spaces, such as Plaza Park adjacent City Hall in downtown. Rallying in city parks represented workers’ determination to exercise their free speech in spite of Red Scare suppression of leftist radicals. This essay explores the role of public parks in the history of the labor movement in Portland during the Depression, primarily focusing on Plaza Park since it was a hub for …

Back To Nature: Marie Antionette And The Cottagecore Fantasy, Rose Caughie

Anthós

This essay is an examination of the legacy of Marie Antionette's Chemise a la Reine. At the end of the 18th century, a portrait of the queen in this dress caused scandal and outrage. Despite, or perhaps because of this, the Chemise a la Reine became a staple in the wardrobe of the Western woman. Today, this style continues to be popular. This is particularly notable in the Cottagecore aesthetic movement. Much like Marie Antionette's use of this style, Cottagecore fashion carries deep ties to an escapist pastoral fantasy. However, more important is the continued legacy of Neoclassicism and the …

"There Is Great And Awful Immorality In This Place": Environment, Character, And Reform In South Wales, 1847-1919, Allison Kirkpatrick

University Honors Theses

In the second half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, sanitarians and reformers in Britain undertook a wide range of public health campaigns aimed at improving the conditions of the industrialized urban environment. Some turned their attention to south Wales, where the coal industry had spurred rapid urban growth and transformed the region into one of Britain's industrial centers. The negative effects of this transition were most acutely felt in working-class communities in the south Wales coalfield, where a near-complete lack of urban planning had left a legacy of overcrowding, nonexistent or inadequate drainage and sewage systems, …

Solidarity Divided: The Miike Strike Of 1960 And Fractures Within Japan's Labor Movement During The Cold War, John L. M. Dinh

University Honors Theses

One of the most famous episodes of labor seeking concessions from management in postwar Japan was the Miike strike of 1960 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture. The goal of the striking coal miners was to pressure management of the Mitsui Mining Company to rescind over a thousand notices that would force those affected into "voluntary retirement," most targeted union members who were hostile to management. However, there was a lack of unity among the strikers where the miners split between the "first union" and the "second union." The first union was hostile to management and opposed such rationalization measures entirely. The …

Abolitionism In The Danubian Principalities, Olivia H. Cull

Young Historians Conference

In the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, now a section of present-day Romania, evidence of Roma slavery dates back to the 13th century C.E. A vast majority of these slaves were of Roma ethnicity (commonly known by the pejorative term Gypsy); the principalities had enslaved the Roma for such an extended period of time that the Romanian word for “slave” (rob) and for “Gypsy” (rom) became interchangeable. Yet, in the mid 1800s, Wallachian and Moldavian society slowly but surely began to transition into a period of abolitionism. Why, after five hundred years of slavery, did the Wallachian and Moldavian …

Notable Women Of Portland, Tracy J. Prince, Zadie Schaffer

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

The story of Portland, Oregon, like much of history, has usually been told with a focus on male leaders. This book offers a reframing of Portland’s history--starting from 10,000 years of Native American women, to pioneer women, to women of the Progressive Era, WWI, WWII, post-war women, and chapters on Women in the Arts and Women in Politics. Many women made their mark and radically changed the Oregon frontier, including Native Americans Polly Johnson and Josette Nouette; pioneers Minerva Carter and Charlotte Terwilliger; doctors Marie Equi, Mary Priscilla Avery Sawtelle, and Bethina Owens-Adair; artists Eliza Barchus and Lily E. White; …

Centralia, Collective Memory, And The Tragedy Of 1919, Shawn T. Daley

Dissertations and Theses

The Centralia Tragedy of 1919 has been represented in numerous works over the course of the past 100 years. The vast majority of them concern the events of the day of the Tragedy, November 11, 1919, and whether a small group of Wobblies – members of a union group known as the International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) – opened fire on a group of parading American Legionnaires. This particular element, whether or not the Wobblies opened fire on the Legionnaires or the Legionnaires actually charged the hall where the Wobblies were staying, has generated significant concern in academic and …

The Forgotten Front: Gender, Labor, And Politics In Camas, Washington, And The Northwest Paper Industry, 1913-1918, Bradley Dale Richardson

Dissertations and Theses

Southwest Washington labor history has received little examination by scholars. Focusing mainly on Seattle, Everett, Centralia, and Spokane, historians view Southwest Washington, a traditionally conservative community, to be of little importance in the state's overall historical narrative. This thesis corrects that assumption and the omission of Southwest Washington. The failure of the unionization effort in Camas impacted organization in Pacific Northwest paper mills for nearly a decade. Although workers failed to sustain their union, the events in Camas between 1913 and 1918 present an excellent new laboratory and case study to explore the intersection of gender, labor, and politics. Despite …

The Floating Men: Portland And The Hobo Menace, 1890-1915, Marin Elizabeth Aurand

Dissertations and Theses

At the beginning of the twentieth century, transient laborers in Portland, Oregon faced marginalization and exploitation at the hands of the classes that relied on them for their own prosperity. Portland at this time was poised to flourish as a major population and industrial center of the American West. The industries that fueled the city's growth were dependent on cheap and mobile manual labor made available by the expansion of the nation's railroads. As the city prospered and grew, the elite of the city created and promoted an image of Portland as an Eden of material abundance where industriousness and …

Riveting Rosie's Riveting Struggles: Women Shipyard Workers In Wwii, Stephanie Lippincott

Young Historians Conference

The women workers of WWII are generally portrayed as strong, happy, independent women sporting colorful bandanas and cocky grins, yet this manicured Rosie-the-Riveter image is a far cry from capturing the experiences of the average woman laborer on the home front. An examination the Kaiser shipyards in Portland and Vancouver makes it evident that women workers faced a plethora of obstacles and stressors in the workplace, only to find themselves booted back into the position of housewife at the end of the war.

Mexico And Expropriation: The Case Of The German-American Coffee Company, Angela Winters

Anthós

There are many books that have dealt with agrarian issues in Mexico in general terms, five of which I have used for this paper. However, we lack knowledge of the practice of these critical issues, even to this day, and how they were enacted differed from state to state.

Portland's Goose Hollow, Tracy J. Prince

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of Portland’s oldest neighborhoods, Goose Hollow is steps from downtown and beloved for its quirky character, historic homes, spectacular views, and walkability. Over a century ago, the actual “hollow” was dramatically altered when the meandering Tanner Creek, in a deep gulch with several trestle bridge crossings, was diverted underground and infilled. The creek’s presence is still felt in the ravine carved through the Tualatin Mountains (spanned by the Vista Bridge) and in the neighborhood’s identity. This book provides definitive answers to how Goose Hollow got its name and how Tanner Creek Gulch was filled. Stories are also told of …

Voices Of Our Past: The Rank And File Movement In Social Work, 1931-1950, Richard William Hunter

Dissertations and Theses

During the period of the late 1920s through the late 1940s, a most remarkable event in the history of American social work emerged: the development of a vital radical trade union organizing effort known as the ''rank and file movement." Born within the growing economic crisis of the 1920s and maturing in the national economic collapse and social upheaval heralded by the Great Depression, the rank and file movement would attract the support and membership of thousands of professional social workers and uncredentialed relief workers in efforts to organize social service workers along the lines of industrial unionism. Within its …

Hispanic Migrant Labor In Oregon, 1940-1990, Colleen Marie Loprinzi

Dissertations and Theses

Hispanic Migrant Labor in Oregon, 1940-1990, describes the history and conditions of Hispanic farmworkers migrating from the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Latin America after the 1940s. This paper uncovers the history and contribution of a people easily forgotten, but essential to the well-being of the economy and the cultural diversity of Oregon. Though much has been lost in the comings and the goings of these people, bits and pieces have been recovered from old newspaper clippings, occasional documents recording the concerns and responses of the federal and state governments, rare articles tucked away in little known periodicals, and …

Utterly Visionary And Chimerical : A Federal Response To The Depression : An Examination Of Civilian Conservation Corps Construction On National Forest System Lands In The Pacific Northwest, Elizabeth Gail Throop

Dissertations and Theses

The principal purpose of this study was to discover what tangible evidence remains of the Civilian Conservation Corps construction projects undertaken on the National Forest System lands in the Pacific Northwest Region: to identify, locate, describe and evaluate these historic cultural resources and to ascribe some significance to them. It should be noted that all references to National Forests and to Ranger Districts are to current administrative jurisdictions, unless otherwise specified, for reasons of convenience.

The Union Bimetallic Party Of Oregon, 1896-1898, Ludger Mogge

Dissertations and Theses

On March 23 - 26, 1898, Populists, Democrats, and Silver Republicans of Oregon held their state conventions in Portland and agreed upon a common platform and a common state ticket for the elections of June 6, 1898. None of the available works on Oregon history explains that this fusion was the culmination of a two-year effort to unite the reform forces the state. This thesis tries to fill the gap. Because of the lack of secondary works on the subject, the thesis is based mainly on two sources: newspapers on microfilm, especially The Oregonian; and the unpublished correspondence of party …