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Threats to a Scab
Goal: Students will understand the extremely emotional and sometimes dangerous nature of the 1957 Appleton Wire Works strike.
Objectives:
1) Students will analyze a threatening letter written to a scab who crossed the picket line of the 1957 AWW strike.
2) Students will judge the believability of the author’s remarks/statements.
3) Students will try to infer the meaning of the term “union shop” and will check their inference using a dictionary, encyclopedia, or history textbook.
4) Students will list three threatening statements made by the letter’s author.
5) Students will summarize the author’s description of the strikers.
6) Students will describe what their own reactions might be to receiving such a letter.
7) Students will speculate about Harold Schwartz’s reasons for becoming a scab.
Read the letter to Mr. Harold Schwartz dated Feb. 10/Feb. 11, 1957. This letter was written to Mr. Schwartz, a “scab” worker (a worker who crossed the picket line to take the job of someone on strike) during the 1957 Appleton Wire Works strike. Read the letter once to gain a general understanding and a second time for details. In the letter, the author uses the racist term “Jap” to refer to Japanese people. Though it is offensive, we have kept the term in to preserve the tone and authenticity of the letter.
1) What is the general tone of the letter?
2) What do we know about the letter’s author? Do you believe everything the author tells us about him or herself? Why or why not?
3) What do you think the term “union shop” means? Check your answer using a dictionary, encyclopedia, or history textbook.
4) List three threatening statements made by the letter’s author.
5) How does the author describe the strikers?
6) If you received this letter, how would it make you feel? What would you do?
7) What reasons do you think Harold Schwartz might have had for accepting a job as a “scab”?
Threat letter sent to Mr. Harold Schwartz, who crossed the picket line, February 11, 1957.
