• The challenges diverse people encountered in the late 19th century American society (e.g., the role of new laws and the federal judiciary in instituting racial inequality; arguments and methods by which various minority groups sought to acquire equal rights and opportunities; experiences of African American families who migrated from the South to New York City in the 1890s).
• How racial and ethnic events influenced America during the Progressive Era.
• The conditions affecting employment and labor in the late 19th century.

• Narrative, The Great Migration
• Dollar Calculator such as the following:

  • Federal Reserve's calculator at: http://minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/index.cfm
  • Economic History Services' "How Much is That Worth Today?" calculator at: http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/dollarq.php

• Prices or old newspaper or catalog advertisements from between 1916 and 1930, which can be found at the University of Chicago's Digital Library at: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ecuip/diglib/social/chi1919/aline/a3/a3dclst.html
• What Does it Cost worksheet

1. Poll students to determine if they know what the current minimum wage is. Ask students to multiply the minimum wage by 40 to determine what the minimum weekly wage for a 40-hour workweek is at the present time.
2. Then, ask students what the current government estimates the minimum income necessary for a family of four is to remain above the poverty level.
3. Tell students that the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that $43 was the minimum weekly wage for a family of five.
4. Ask students to read the segment "A New Industrial Landscape" of the narrative The Great Migration.

1. Explain to students that they will be researching historic prices for the year 1919 either in old newspapers and catalogs or at online web sites that also contain such information. They should record the information they retrieve under five categories: food, clothing, transportation, recreation, and housing. Typical objects they may wish to look for include a winter coat, a trolley or subway fare, a musical concert ticket, apartment rental prices or new house costs, and typical grocery items such as bread, milk, chicken, apples, or a chocolate bar.
2. After students have spent a period retrieving information, ask them to calculate how many hours a worker being paid, for example, 91 cents per hour, would have to work to purchase one item in each of the five categories for which they have retrieved prices. Please note the following:

   1. To calculate the number of hours necessary to purchase something, students should divide the price of the object by .91.
   2. Once divided, if the answer is less than 1.0, then the student should multiply this answer by 60 to calculate the number of minutes of work necessary to purchase the object.
   3. Once divided, if the answer is 47.0 or greater, students may divide the answer by 47 to calculate the number of weeks of work necessary to purchase the object.

What Does It Cost? Wages and Expenses in Historical Context Lesson

Historic Prices and Values for 1919

After you have completed your research by locating at least ten items in one category and have located information for all five categories, you will find out not just the price but also the value of these items. Value represents the number of hours an individual must work to earn a particular item.

You will be using, as your basis, the $43 workweek that lasted 47 hours. A worker earned 91 cents per hour. Select one item from each category above and calculate the value (the number of hours of work necessary to purchase the item).

1. To calculate the number of hours of work necessary to purchase something, divide the price of the object by .91.
2. Once divided, if the answer is less than 1.0, multiply this answer by 60 to calculate the number of minutes of work necessary to purchase the object.
3. Once divided, if the answer is 47.0 or greater, you may divide the answer by 47 to calculate the number of weeks of work necessary to purchase the object.

1. Ask students to write a paragraph evaluating whether, based on their study of prices and wages, they agree or disagree with the Bureau of Labor Statistics that, in 1919, a family of five could survive on a single weekly wage of $43.

2. Evaluate students' work on a five-point scale (which may be weighted) or five-letter grade rubric as follows:

• The Schomburg Center has numerous images of African Americans in urban settings in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Visit the online exhibit, Harlem 1900-1940: An African-American Community, accessible at: http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/index.html. The exhibition includes a timeline, teacher materials, and a resource list.
• "The Current Value of Old Money" is a page with links to help students calculate values of money from ancient times to the present. It can be located at: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html.
• The National Bureau of Economic Research maintains an online database with average hourly, weekly, and annual wages for different sectors of the U.S. and world economies from the mid 1800s on. The "dat" column provides information linked to dates at: http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/contents/chapter08.html.
• The Michigan Historical Society Museum website includes Depression-era prices and wages at: http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00.html.

• Economics: History and economics teachers may wish to collaborate to expand this unit. Students may be asked to collect prices from a second period, 1930 during the Great Depression, to compare what happened to wages and prices between 1919 and 1930. They should evaluate what historic economic events may account for any differences they note.
• Mathematics: Students may wish to collect prices for items in each of the five categories out of a current newspaper from their community and, using the minimum wage as a basis, calculate how many hours they would need to work at a minimum wage job to earn selected items in each of the five categories.