This Day in Labor History: A Digest
A digest of This Day in Labor History
July 6, 1892–The Homestead Strike
July 12, 1917–The Bisbee Deportation
July 14, 1877–The Great Railroad Strike
September 9, 1739–The Stono Rebellion
September 17, 1989–The Pittston Strike
October 26, 1676–Bacon’s Rebellion
November 5, 1916–The Everett Massacre
November 9, 1935–Creation of the CIO
November 11, 1919–The Centralia Massacre
November 22, 1909–Uprising of the 20,000
December 2, 1946–The Oakland General Strike
December 5, 1955–Merger of the AFL and CIO
December 28, 1869–Founding of the Knights of Labor
December 30, 1905–Murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
January 1, 1994–NAFTA
January 5, 1970–Murder of UMWA reformer Jock Yablonski
February 6, 1919–The Seattle General Strike
February 11, 1937–The Flint Sit-Down Strike ends.
February 24, 1912–Beating of the women and children at Lawrence
March 25, 1911–Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
April 4, 1968–Assassination of Martin Luther King during sanitation strike in Memphis
April 20, 1914–Ludlow Massacre
April 30, 1894–Coxey’s Army
May 4, 1886–Haymarket Riot
May 9, 1934–Longshoremen strike begins in San Francisco
May 16, 1934–Minneapolis Teamsters Strike
May 19, 1920–Matewan Massacre
May 30, 1937–Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago
June 6, 1943–Detroit Hate Strike
June 20, 1947–President Truman vetoes Taft-Hartley Act
June 26, 1894–Pullman Strike
July 3, 1835–Paterson Textile Strike of 1835
July 4, 1892–People’s Party Convention
July 11, 1892–Miners outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho blow up the Frisco Mill.
July 29, 1970–United Farm Workers force growers into the first union contract in the history of California agricultural labor.
August 3, 1981–Air Traffic Controllers go on strike in biggest disaster in organized labor’s history.
August 4, 1942–Creation of the Bracero Program.
August 21, 1831–Nat Turner’s Rebellion.
August 23, 1927–Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
August 25, 1925–Founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
September 2, 1885–Rock Springs Massacre
September 22, 1946–Tobacco workers win contract in North Carolina, starting CIO’s Operation Dixie campaign.
October 23, 1976–International Woodworkers of America Local 3-101 holds a monthly union meeting.
November 19, 1915–Joe Hill executed in Utah.
November 22, 1887–Thibodaux Massacre
December 6, 1865–Ratification of the 13th Amendment.
December 11, 1886–Creation of the Colored Farmers Alliance
January 17, 1962–President Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988, authorizing collective bargaining for public workers.
January 25, 1941–March on Washington Movement leads to end of official segregation in defense industry.
February 7, 1894–Cripple Creek gold miners strike.
February 8, 1887–Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Act.
February 13, 1865–Sons of Vulcan win nation’s first union contract.
March 4, 1998–Supreme Court rules in Oncale v. Sundonwer Offshore Services. Same-sex sexual harassment.
March 7, 1932–River Rouge march and repression.
March 23, 1974–Coalition of Trade Union Women holds first meeting.
April 8, 1952–Truman nationalizes steel industry.
April 28, 1971–OSHA begins
May 3, 1911–Wisconsin passes first workers compensation law
May 6, 1882–Chinese Exclusion Act.
May 10, 1993–Kader Toy Fire.
May 12, 1902–Anthracite coal miners strike in Pennsylvania begins, TR mediates.
I never comment on any of the “This Day In Labor History” posts because I virtually never have anything to say beyond some version of, “Why didn’t they teach me this in school?” I do read them all and appreciate them though. Thanks for doing this series.
What LoriK said!
“What LoriK said!”
x2
Yep.
They didn’t teach you that in school? I grew up in an upper-class Republican area and I had a clear sense that the labor battles of the past had involved brutal violence against workers. Maybe it’s a cohort thing (I was born in 1964)?
I think a permanent link to this digest (with new posts added as they come) could be a wonderful thing.
Seconded.
Thirded.
This has been a great series, and I echo LoriK’s appreciation. In what I hope will be seen as a friendly suggestion (because I hate critiques of historians that are basically “but you left out THIS THING THAT I STUDY!”), I would vote for adding a few of the key events in the history of *public* sector unions: the Boston police strike in September, 1919; the founding of AFSCME; the first public sector labor law; the firing of the PATCO workers, etc.
I don’t know as much about public sector unions as you do, though some of the things you suggest are on the short list. It would be a good goal to learn more about some of these events.
Happy to chat about them, if you want.
I also find these very informative, the right balance of detail and length.
This is absolutely one of the best series anywhere. It’s a real plus to LG&M (especially since Farley ran out of Battleships to blog) and the digest is very useful.
Wargaming.net is actually coming out with a World of Battleships MMO game next year, so that should provide some fodder for Farley to ponder(or rant) upon.
Yeah, I’d recommend PATCO and the Truman/Steel Workers’ Strike during the Korean War. I wonder if there was a “first” event in the history of offshoring labor that led other companies to follow suit.
Oh, and the Port Chicago “Mutiny”.
Both of these are on the short list.
Now get back to work on the Most Prominent Politicians series.
Damn you people and your demands.
I look forward to the new year, as the series has been great so far.
Since you want to have a more race based focus I suggest more coverage of Africa. Labor action played a role in bringing about Ghanaian independence in 1957. It played an even more important role in ending apartheid in South Africa. The series has been far too focused on the US so far. I thought leftists were supposed to be internationalists?
To second J. Otto Pohl, I would humbly suggest the IWW labor history calendar in order to add more internationally significant dates. This is wonderful, though.
I am sorry to see the Battle of the Overpass could make the list this year I think both Reuther and Ford offer a lot interesting things to think about when it comes to labor in America (a couple really cool images). I imagine Reuther’s hard line of communism will get his fingers smacked here, but he was also very forward on race. Ford for all his maneuvering and bizarre aspects also seems to embody a rejection of the race-to-the bottom ideals so common now with his five dollar work day.
Overpass is also on the shortlist.
Just delurking to say how much I, too, have enjoyed this series. I didn’t learn any of this in school either.
My students are learning it, though — I’ve been using the posts from This Day In Labor in several of my classes, including (this past semester) my American Epics class. I called it American Epics, but it was really Preaching the Revolution Through Novels and Film!
Wow, I’m glad I can be of help to anyone teaching!
Great series, and the list is especially helpful. I shared it on Facebook with a labor organizer, who sent me a happy note of appreciation.
What LoriK said. You, sir, rock.
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