At the beginning of the century, Pittsburgh was the center of one of the nation's most powerful industries: iron and steel. It was also the site of an unprecedented effort to study the effects of industry on one American city. The Pittsburgh Survey (1909-1914) brought together statisticians, social workers, engineers, lawyers, physicians, economists, labor investigators, city planners, and photographers. They documented Pittsburgh's degraded environment, corrupt civic institutions, and exploited labor force and made a compelling case - in four books and two collections of articles - for reforming corporate capitolism.In its literary history and visual power, breadth, and depth, the Pittsburgh Survey remains an undisputed classis of social science research. Like the Lynds' Middletown studies of the 1920s, the Survey captured the nation's attention, and Pittsburgh came to symbolize the problems and way of life of industrial America as a whole.A landmark volume in its own right, this book of thirteen essays examines the accuracy and impact of the Pittsburgh Survey, both on social science as a discipline and on Pittsburgh itself. It also places the Survey firmly in the context of the social reform movement of the early twentieth century.

During the Great Migration, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became a mecca for African Americans seeking better job opportunities, wages, and living conditions. The city's thriving economy and vibrant social and cultural scenes inspired dreams of prosperity and a new start, but this urban haven was not free of discrimination and despair. In the face of injustice, activists formed the Urban League of Pittsburgh (ULP) in 1918 to combat prejudice and support the city's growing African American population. In this broad-ranging history, Joe William Trotter Jr. uses this noteworthy branch of the National Urban League to provide new insights into an organization that has often faced criticism for its social programs' deep class and gender limitations. Surveying issues including housing, healthcare, and occupational mobility, Trotter underscores how the ULP—often in concert with the Urban League's national headquarters—bridged social divisions to improve the lives of black citizens of every class. He also sheds new light on the branch's nonviolent direct-action campaigns and places these powerful grassroots operations within the context of the modern Black Freedom Movement. The impact of the National Urban League is a hotly debated topic in African American social and political history. Trotter's study provides valuable new insights that demonstrate how the organization has relieved massive suffering and racial inequality in US cities for more than a century.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Pittsburgh was leading the nation in glass production, and glass bottle plants in particular relied heavily on adolescent (and younger) males for their manufacturing process. These "glass house boys" worked both day and night, as plants ran around the clock to meet production demands and remain price competitive with their newly-automated rivals. Boys performed menial tasks, received low wages, and had little to say on their own behalf. By the turn of the century, most states had enacted laws banning children from working at night, and coupled with compulsory education requirements, had greatly reduced the use of children in industry. In western Pennsylvania, however, child labor was deeply entrenched, and Pennsylvania lawmakers lagged far behind the rest of the nation. In The Glass House Boys of Pittsburgh, James L. Flannery presents an original and compelling examination of legislative clashes over the singular issue of the glass house boys. He reveals the many societal, economic, and political factors at work that allowed for the perpetuation of child labor in this industry and region. Through extensive research in Pennsylvania state legislature archives, National Child Labor Committee reports, and union and industry journals, Flannery uncovers a complex web of collusion between union representatives, industrialists, and legislators that kept child labor reform at bay. Despite national pressure, a concerted effort by reformers, and changes to education laws, the slow defeat of the "glass house exception" in 1915 came about primarily because of technological advances in the glass bottle industry that limited the need for child labor.

Containing reports from Pennsylvania judicial districts and other leading decisions.