American Experience : Chicago: City of the Century - The Revolution Has Begun (2003)

Genres - Historical Film  |   Sub-Genres - Social History, Politics & Government, Biography  |   Run Time - 90 min.  |   Countries - United States  |  
  • AllMovie Rating
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Share on

Synopsis by Andrea LeVasseur

"The Revolution Has Begun" is part two of American Experience: Chicago - City of the Century, based on the book by Don Miller. David Ogden Stiers narrates. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, the city began to rebuild. Marshall Fields opens his dream department store on State Street and Cyrus McCormick rebuilds his reaper plant. But the big industry becomes cattle dealing, led by butcher Gustavus Swift. Immigrants from Eastern Europe flock to the city to work as meatpackers. The immigrants bring socialism with them, helping to jump-start the American labor movement. In 1886, a labor activist rally becomes violent in Chicago's Haymarket Square. Workers on strike from the reaper factory are killed by police during a riot, leading to a bombing. This program was originally broadcast on PBS in January of 2003.

Characteristics

Keywords

big-city, roots [origins], chronicle, determination, hardships, ingenuity, capitalism, department-store, factory-worker, immigration, industrialist, labor [work], labor-issues, railroad