CSU-Pueblo professor edits collection on Rockefeller/Ludlow
Release Date: January 08, 2015
PUEBLO - A Colorado State University-Pueblo history professor has compiled a book that explores the impact of the welfare capitalist programs of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Ludlow Massacre on the development of the American workforce, primarily using materials from the Steelworks Center for the West archives.
CSU-Pueblo Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of Chicano Studies Fawn Amber Montoya recently had her book, Making an American Workforce: The Rockefellers and the Legacy of Ludlow, printed by University Press of Colorado. The book is an edited collection from CSU-Pueblo's 2009 Academic Symposium held as part of LaborFest activities. Montoya served as the 2013 Bessemer Historical Society/Colorado Fuel and Iron Archives scholar in residence. The archives served as the source for a significant portion of the book's research.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the policies of the early years of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, Making an American Workforce explores John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s welfare capitalist programs and their effects on the company's diverse workforce. The book provides greater insight into the repercussions of the Industrial Representation Plan and the Ludlow Massacre, revealing the long-term consequences of Colorado Fuel and Iron Company policies on the American worker, the state of Colorado, and the creation of corporate culture.
Focusing on the workers themselves, men, women, and children representative of a variety of immigrant and ethnic groups,contributors trace the emergence of the Employee Representation Plan, the work of the company's Sociology Department, and CF&I's interactions with the YMCA in the early 20th century. They examine CF&I's early commitment to Americanize its immigrant employees and shape worker behavior, the development of policies that constructed the workforce it envisioned while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the strike that eventually led to the Ludlow Massacre, and the impact of the massacre on the employees, the company, and beyond. The book is available for purchase at El Pueblo History Museum and the Steelworks Center for the West.
Montoya earned a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2007. She is co-chair of the Ludlow Centennial Commemoration Commission and recently was appointed to the board of directors of History Colorado. She is actively involved in the Chicano Movement project through the CSU-Pueblo University Archives and served as co-chair of the Chicana Caucus for the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies from 2012-2014. She received the 2014 CSU-Pueblo Faculty Excellence Award for Mentoring and Advising and the 2011 Faculty Excellence Award for Service.
Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.
