The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Black-and-white illustration of the railroad strike from the August 11, 1887 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
Image from the August 11, 1877 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.

Instructional Materials
for Teachers and Students of Labor History
in New York and the United States of America

These materials, which use newspaper accounts from The Albany Argus (1877) and the Buffalo Morning Express (1892), were originally developed and prepared by the Friends of the New York Newspaper Project in 2001.

Table of Contents

  1. Notes for Educators: About this packet
  2. Correlation with NYS Curricula and Learning Standards
  3. Historical Background of the Great Strike of 1877
  4. Additional Resources for Teachers and Students

  5. Printable Version:

    1. Activities (209 KB)- A 29-page PDF file of all the background materials and the seven student activities (items 1-5 and 7-8).
    2. Documents (3.5 MB)- A 33-page PDF file of the images and transcriptions of all 15 newspaper articles (item 6).
    Student Activities
    (An Index of Student Activities and Required Materials precedes this section; select documents for Student Activities from the Document Transcriptions Section)
  6. Documents Select documents correlating with Student Activities from this section.
  7. About the New York Newspaper Project
  8. About the Author

These materials are dedicated to the memory of
Debra Bernhardt, "a historian for the unsung."

These instructional materials were made possible
by a grant from the New York State Legislature
thanks to the efforts of Assemblyman John J. McEneny.

This instructional packet was originally created in 2001; it was first made available online in August 2007.

Last Updated: January 11, 2012