Allan Pinkerton, famous for breaking strikes, was born in 1819.

Allan Pinkerton, born in Scotland, moved to the United States when he was in his early twenties and opened a barrel-making shop outside Chicago. After a career change to law enforcement in Chicago, Pinkerton opened the first private detective agency whose “All-Seeing Eye” logo inspired the term “private eye.” During his career as a detective, Pinkerton was enlisted to serve President Lincoln, first as a protector and later to form a “secret service” that could obtain military information during the Civil War. Pinkerton expressed a dislike of unions during the early 1880s, because he thought they were bad for workers, and his agency took on work helping company owners break strikes by hiring outside laborers whom the agency would protect from violence by the striking workers. It was after his death in 1884, however, that guards and detectives from his agency, by then known as “the Pinkertons,” were involved in two strike-breaking incidents that turned violently deadly. Because of its support of anti-union efforts, the Pinkerton Agency lost what early on had been a solid reputation for ethics and determination—a reputation that would remain tarnished for many years. Still, the agency never went out of business, eventually incorporating and becoming one of the leading security agencies in the world.

EDSITEment
In The Industrial Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories (6–8), students explore labor issues during the Industrial Revolution. Students research working conditions in the Age of Industrialization and examine worker responses to these conditions. They then read arguments for and against modern sweatshops and write a position paper on modern-day sweatshops.

EconEdLink
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a turning point for labor and led to many of the worker health and safety protections that we have in the United States today. Labor unions gained many new workers who wanted someone to fight for their health and safety, among other rights. In Worker Safety - The Triangle Fire Legacy (6–12), students learn about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and compare and contrast details of the Triangle Fire with a more recent incident concerning workplace safety.