Film questions (teachers may select from this list)

1. What is a union?

2. What are some of the things that union members negotiate with their employers?

3. Have workers always had the right to join a union?

4. What was happening across the nation following the stock market crash in 1929?

5. What was the situation like in Minneapolis?

6. What was the Citizens Allliance and why did it exist?

7. What happened to workers’ wages in Minneapolis in the 1930s?

8. What was the goal of the 1933 National Recovery Act? What was the Act’s effect in Minneapolis?

9. Why did the workers in the coal yards and the coal drivers band together? What was their strategy for improving their wages and working conditions?

10. How did the striking workers relate to workers without jobs (the unemployed)? Was this approach successful?

11. In what other cities did workers go out on strike in 1934? What industries did they work in? What impact did the news of these strikes have on the workers in Minneapolis?

12. What was the new tactic used by the workers during the truckers’ strikes?

13. What was the role of farmers during the strikes?

14. What was the Women’s Auxillary and what was its role during the strikes?

15. What role did Governor Olson play in the strike? Did his actions change over time?

16. What was "The Organizer?"

17. What was the "Committee of 100?"

18. What was " Bloody Friday ?" What happened to the strikers on that day?

19. What happened to public opinion after "Bloody Friday?"

20. Why did Governor Olson order the National Guard into Minneapolis? What effect did this have on the strike?

21. What was the impact of President Roosevelt’s visit to Rochester, Minnesota?

22. How did the President use the relationship of the federal government to banks in Minneapolis?

23. What was the impact of the workers’ solidarity in the strike?

24. What happened across the country as a result of the Minneapolis truckers’ victory?

25. What law did Congress pass, in 1935, in response to the strikes of 1934? What was the impact of this law?
Minneapolis Truckers Make History

Classroom Activities and Resources