History

Wdym the "real history" takes place after 1893? Half a million workers, nearly ten percent of the US population at the time, went on strike in 1886 demanding the eight hour workday. Some estimates say the Knights of Labor alone counted 20% of blue collar workers as their members. The late nineteenth century labor movement is only rivaled by the peak of the twentieth century labor movement. There's a substantial history of industrial struggle and worker organizing dating back centuries in the US. It's not as well documented or state sanctioned as twentieth century union activity, but it most certainly happened.

If you wanted to write an interesting paper, exploring why people think labor history started in the twentieth century and the effects of that would be interesting but maybe too broad. There are plenty of individual events, people, struggles, and perspectives in pre-1893 labor history you could focus on though.