Chicago Teachers Union’s May Day Curriculum Ideas

By Alan Singer 

May Day, May 1, is also celebrated as International Workers’ Day. The first May Day was organized by socialist and labor organizations in the United States in 1889 to honor workers who were killed or wounded in 1886 in what is known as the Haymarket Affair or the Haymarket Riot. Anarchists were blamed for an explosion at a mass rally calling for an eight-hour work day but most of the people were injured by police. International Workers’ Day is officially recognized in over 160 countries, but not in the United States. The Chicago Teachers Union is distributing this PreK-12th grade curriculum guide for teaching about May Day and struggles for social justice.

Primary Sources and other resources for Teaching May Day, International Workers Day

Activities and Curricula, historical fiction texts, resources on Lucy Parsons, primary sources, and more. Mainly upper-elementary and above levels. Includes information about the Haymarket affair, labor organizing more broadly, the 2006 May Day “day without an immigrant” mobilizations, and the 2025 may day mobilizations.

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Source: Daily Kos

Image source: Public Domain 

Alan Singer is the director of Secondary Education Social Studies Teaching Learning Technology at Hofstra University and the author of Class-Conscious Coal Miners. Blogs, tweets, essays, and interviews present his views and not those of the university.