Threads Across Time
Read the history sideways
The chapters tell the story in order. Threads cut across them. Choose a question and follow it from the colonial hearth to the present, era by era.
Labor & Organizing
Who did the work, and what did it take for them to be heard?
38 stories
Before 1600PresentSlavery & Race
How did race shape who grew the fiber, who ran the mills, and who was kept out?
12 stories
Before 1600PresentWomen at Work
Why was the textile industry so often built on the labor of women and girls?
26 stories
Before 1600PresentImmigration
How did the mills remake who Americans were?
11 stories
Before 1600PresentChildhood
What did it mean to grow up in a mill?
7 stories
Before 1600PresentMachines & Materials
Did new technology free workers or bind them more tightly?
26 stories
Before 1600PresentHealth & Safety
What did it cost in lives before workplaces were made safe?
11 stories
Before 1600PresentLaw & Policy
How did government decide whose side to take?
29 stories
Before 1600PresentGlobal Trade
Where does your shirt come from, and who decides?
21 stories
Before 1600PresentLand & Environment
What did the industry take from the land and water?
6 stories
Before 1600Present