Task

Travel back in time to the middle of the nineteenth century (1830's-1860's) to see how the industrialization of Lowell affected the daily lives of both the mill owners and the workers. Determine how the influence of the mill industry affected political and social change during this era of industrialization.

During your journey back to this time you will examine and analyze documents to help you create the following:

• A letter written in your role as a mill owner to a business owner living elsewhere, describing life in Lowell and why it is an up and coming city or a letter in your role as a mill worker to a family member “back home” about your “new” life in Lowell.

• A skit written and performed by your group presenting the mill owners' perspectives or the workers' perspectives of how the mills affected their lives personally and politically.

• A pictorial time line designed to show how the mills changed the political structure of Lowell from your perspective as a mill owner.

• A journal entry written in the role of an Irish immigrant who came to Lowell, describing the opportunities and impediments created by the building of the mills.