company towns — Bunk History

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Decline and Fall of the Spinach Kings: On the Wilting of a Family Dynasty

A history of wealth, enterprise, and family dysfunction.

by John Seabrook via Literary Hub on June 11, 2025

Elon Musk celebrating with both hands in the air.

Elon Musk’s Utopian Town Will Disappoint — Like Most Company Towns

America’s utopian communities have traditionally promoted egalitarianism and alternatives to capitalism. Company towns do the opposite.

by Victoria W. Wolcott via Made By History on March 27, 2023

A Visit to the Secret Town in Tennessee That Gave Birth to the Atomic Bomb

A journalist seeks to capture the "spirit" of Oak Ridge.

by Louis Falstein via The New Republic on November 12, 1945

The 1.25-million-square-foot USC Village residential complex in Los Angeles.

The Rise of the UniverCity

Historian Davarian Baldwin explains how universities have come to wield the kind of power that were once hallmarks of ruthless employers in company towns.

by Davarian L. Baldwin, Meagan Day via Jacobin on September 2, 2021

Front-page photo of James E. Shepperson from the Black newspaper, the Seattle Republican, on Oct. 26, 1900.

How Wyoming’s Black Coal Miners Shaped Their Own History

Many early Wyoming coal towns had thriving Black communities.

by Brigida R. Blasi via High Country News on January 28, 2021

How (or How Not) to Build a Labor Movement

Looking at the Pullman Strike and the political forces it stirred.

by Jake Pitre via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 22, 2018

Armed miners at the military headquarters of the United Mine Workers, in Trinidad, Colorado, the month of the Ludlow massacre.

There Was Blood

The Ludlow massacre revisited.

by Caleb Crain via The New Yorker on January 12, 2009

“Words Have Power” exhibit displayed at Fort Pulaski National Monument.

Why I Haven’t Embraced the Terms “Forced Labor Camp” and “Enslaved Labor Camp” in My Work on Slavery

“Forced labor” conflates different forms of labor throughout history and minimizes the uniquely brutal conditions of chattel slavery.

by Nick Sacco via Exploring the Past on June 2, 2023

Visualization showing the largest cities in the US, from the Statistical Atlas of the Eleventh Census, 1790-1890

Growing New England's Cities

What can a visualization of population growth in cities and towns in the Northeast tell us about different moments in the region's economic geography?

by Garrett Dash Nelson via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center on March 17, 2023

What Made the Battle of Blair Mountain the Largest Labor Uprising in American History

Its legacy lives on today in the struggles faced by modern miners seeking workers' rights.

by Abby Lee Hood via Smithsonian on August 25, 2021

Garment workers selling newspapers

Feminist Trade Unionists Have Long Fought for Universal Health Care

As far back as WWI, militant unions like the International Ladies’ Garment Workers radicalized the campaign for health care and came within an inch of victory.

by Maya Adereth via Jacobin on January 28, 2021

Painting depicting Jamestown Fort under construction.

Learning from Jamestown

The violent catastrophe of the Virginia colonists is the best founding parable of American history.

by Brianna Rennix via Current Affairs on March 15, 2019

Roller Skating Socials and a Black Rosie the Riveter

Uncovering black newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries can open up new possibilities for teaching African American history.

by Rebecca Onion via Slate on March 8, 2016

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