Social Sciences


M-Thu: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Fri: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Overview of Social Sciences
The Social Science Department help students understand human behavior, societal structures, and cultural dynamics, fostering critical thinking and a deeper appreciation of the world.
This department offers courses in anthropology, education, geography, history, political science, psychology, sociology, and women and gender studies.
Craig Brown Wall of Leadership
Craig Brown moved from St. Louis to Muskegon in 1992 to teach psychology at Muskegon Community College. He soon became an untiring voice in the quest for justice, understanding, and communication at the college and in the community. After Craig’s death in 2007, to honor and continue his work, the Social Science Department decided to develop a “Leadership Wall” as a learning tool for passersby. The Wall features persons of varied backgrounds who have advanced the cause of leadership, justice, and freedom in our country and around the world.
The Craig Brown Leadership Wall is in the corridor between Rooms 242 and 244 of the Main Building. On March 23, 2011, MCC held a formal public dedication featuring student artist, Aryan Johnson’s portrait of Craig Brown.
The Wall currently features posters of Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, Rachel Carson, Isabel Allende, Mahatma Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Sherman Alexie, Mother Teresa, Sojourner Truth, and Cesar Chavez.
Suggestions or donations for the Leadership Wall are welcome, but they need to be submitted for approval to the Leadershp Wall Committee of the Social Sciences Department. For more information, please call 231-777-0380.
The Moments in Labor History Wall is a series of pictures and narratives that explain 48 significant episodes in U.S. labor history. Donated by the Muskegon United Labor Participation Committee, the Labor Moments wall represents an important memorial to past achievements and to tragic events in the American workers’ struggle for justice and equality.
The Labor Moments wall is also an important teaching tool for classes in the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts. Students, teachers, instructors and members of the public may freely examine the wall and read about the struggle for the 8-hour day, the founding of the first union for women in the textile industry, the founding of the American Federation of Labor, the Ludlow Massacre of miners and their families, the passage of the Wagner Act, and the breaking of the Air Traffic Controllers strike in 1981.
As MCC History Instructor George Maniates notes, “Someone died and someone bled so that you can enjoy a lunch break.”
Administered in the Social Sciences Department, Moments in Labor History will be a permanent and evolving part of enriching and enlightening educational opportunities at Muskegon Community College.
Sociologist Nicholas Budimir would be happy to give a guided talk on the wall and answer any questions. This is part of MCC’s lasting commitment to preserving the labor legacy of the region. For more information please contact: Nicholas Budimir, (231) 777-0620 or at nicholas.budimir@muskegoncc.edu
Moments in Labor History Wall Plaques | |
Year | Subject |
— | Work Day |
1741 | First Work Stoppage |
1790 | First Water Powered Mill |
1794 | Unions Are Born |
1828 | First Strike by Women |
1842 | First Child Labor Law |
1852 | The Oldest Surviving Trade Union in the US |
1863 | Working Women Union |
1868 | The 8 Hour Day |
1869 | Important Early Union |
1869 | Colored National Labor Union |
1877 | America’s First Nationwide Strike |
1877 | The Great Railroad Strike |
1882 | Labor Day Parades |
1886 | Haymarket |
1886 | The Bay View Massacre |
1886 | AF of L Founded |
1892 | Frisco Mill Dynamited |
1898 | The Virden Massacre |
1900 | Ladies Garment Workers |
1903 | The Children’s Crusade |
1905 | Wooblies |
1906 | Pioneer Sit-Down Strike |
1912 | The Grey Bow Riot |
1914 | ‘Ludlow’ Massacre |
1914 | $5 a Day |
1916 | Everett Massacre |
1919 | Boston Police Strike |
1922 | The Great Railroad Strike |
1927 | Columbine Mine Massacre |
1927 | LHWCA Passed |
1932 | Ford Hunger March |
1934 | The Great Uprising of 34 |
1934 | Battle of Toledo |
1935 | Wagner Act |
1936 | Flint Sit-Down Strike |
1936 | Anti-Strike Breaker Act |
1937 | Battle of The Overpass |
1937 | Memorial Day Massacre |
1938 | $0.25 an hour Minimum Wage |
1955 | AFL and CIO Merge |
1959 | US Steel on Strike |
1963 | Equal Pay for Equal |
1967 | Age Discrimination |
1970 | First Post Office Strike |
1975 | 1,000 Mile March |
1981 | Air Traffic Controller Strike |