America's workers have been singing, reciting, performing, telling stories, writing, and publishing for more than three centuries. Ranging from early colonial times to the present, American Working-Class Literature presents more than 300 literary texts that exemplify this tradition. Itdemonstrates how American working people live, labor, struggle, express themselves, and give meaning to their experiences both inside and outside of the workplace. The only book of its kind, this groundbreaking anthology includes work not only by the industrial proletariat but also by slaves andunskilled workers, by those who work unpaid at home, and by workers in contemporary service industries. As diverse in race, gender, culture, and region as America's working class itself, the selections represent a wide range of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, memoir, oratory, journalism, letters, oral history, and songs. Works by little-known or anonymous authors are included alongside texts from such acclaimed writers as Frederick Douglass, Upton Sinclair, Tillie Olsen, Philip Levine, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Leslie Marmon Silko. A rich selection of contemporary writing includesMartin Espada's poem Alabanza about the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. American Working-Class Literature is organized chronologically into seven sections that highlight key historical and cultural developments in working-class life. The book is enhanced by an editors' introduction, section introductions, and individual head notes for each selection that providebiographical and historical context. A timeline of working-class history, rich illustrations, sidebars, reading lists, and abibliography of critical commentary are also included. This unique volume is ideal for courses in American literature, cultural and working-class studies, and laborhistory. A collection containing over 300 pieces of literature by, about, and in the interests of the working class in America. Organized in an historical fashion, with texts are grouped around key historical and cultural developments in working-class life, this volume records the literature of the working classes from the early laborers of the 1600. Preface xv Introduction xix I. Early American Labor: Hard, Bound, and Free 1600's-1810's 1(30) The Trappan'd Maiden: or, the Distressed Damsel (mid-1600's) 6(1) James Revel, The Poor, Unhappy Transported Felon (1680's) 7(6) Gottlieb Mittelberger, Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754 (1754) 13(3) Petition of a Grate Number of Blackes to Thomas Gage, May 25, 1774 16(1) Olaudah Equiano, [I Was in Another World: The Slave Ship] from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Kassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789) 16(7) Phillis Wheatley, To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for North America, Etc. (1773) 23(2) A Sea Song 25(1) Francis Hopkinson, The Raising: A New Song for Federal Mechanics by A.B. (1788) 26(1) John Mcllvaine, Address to the Journeymen Cordwainers L.B. of Philadelphia (1794) 27(1) Tecumseh's Speech to the Osages (Winter 1811-12) 28(3) II. New Kinds of Work, Old Practices 1820's 1850's 31(80) Sorrow Songs and Spirituals 33(3) Nobody knows de trouble I've seen 34(1) Steal away to Jesus 35(1) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 35(1) Many Thousand Gone 35 Bredden, don't git weary 36(1) W.E.B. DuBois, The Sorrow Songs (1903) 36(8) Maria W. Stewart, Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall, Boston, September 21, 1832 44(4) The Lowell Mill Girls 48(14) Josephine L. Baker, A Second Peep at Factory Life (1845) 49(3) Mary Paul, Letters to Her Father (1845-1848) 52(6) The Lowell Factory Girl 58(1) Harriet Hanson Robinson, Characteristics of the Early Factory Girls (1898) 59(3) Helena Minton, From The Same Cloth: For the Mill Girls, Lowell, Massachusetts, circa 1840 (1985) 62(1) Frederick Douglass, [In the Shipyards] (1845 and 1855) 62(10)