The+Haymarket+Affair

=__A. Historical Identification__= The Haymarket Affair occurred in Chicago, Illinois in 1886 when workers from McCormick Reapers Works were on strike for an eight hour day. At the strike several workers were killed and wounded when police fired into the crowd. The following evening socialist labor leaders organized the workers at Haymarket Square where an unknown assailant threw a bomb at the police. Chaos erupted and several police and workingmen lay dead after the incident.

=__﻿B. Best Website__= [|Chicago Historical Society]

This is the official Chicago History Museum website. It contains everything someone would want to know about the Haymarket Affair from the background, chronology, nature of the historical evidence, and a digital collection with primary sources and photographs. I felt this was the best website because it is easy to navigate and understand.

=__﻿C. Primary Source Online__= [|Chicago Historical Society]

This link is also from the Chicago Histroy Museum website. As I described above this website contains multiple primary sources, but the sources I think are most effective is a broadside (a piece of literature that could be typed and printed quickly for distribution) and a police report written by John Bonfield. The broadside was used by the socialist labor leaders to unite the workers on the second night of the Haymarket Affair. While John Bonfield was one of the officers in charge at Haymarket Square. Both of these sources would give students a better understanding of the different perspectives each side had.

=__﻿D. Benchmark Connection__= The historical skill I would focus on for this topic is using multiple sources to understand the perspective of workers and policmen involved in the Haymarket Affair. Rationale: If students read documents from the perspectives of workers and policemen at Haymarket Square they will gain a better understanding of why things escalated to such a high level. Why were workers so angry? Why were the police so quick to use violence against the workers? Activity: I will share with students the socialist labor leaders' broadside they used to gain support for the second strike at Haymarket Square, and I will share the police report written by John Bonfield who was one of the officers in charge at the scene. When students finish reading these primary sources they will have to compare them and explain how each side was prepared for violent action.