Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the day that labor leader Eugene V. Debs was arrested for supporting the strike of Pullman Palace Car Company workers.  In May, the workers who made the popular train sleeping cars had walked off the job.  George Pullman had slashed workers’ wages, but had kept the rents in his company town steady.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918.  That was the day that went down in U.S. history as the Great Train Wreck.  The wreck occurred at Dutchman’s Curve, in Nashville, Tennessee. During World War I, the train industry was bustling across nation. Trains carried troops, as well workers to factories to support the war effort. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1966. That was the day that the International Association of Machinists went out on strike. The day before “The Machinist” newsletter published out of Washington D.C., declared “Strike Set on Five Airlines.” During the first-half of the 1960s the airline industry had invested in new equipment and jet technology. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1998.  That was the first day of a 48-hour general strike in Puerto Rico.  The strike was called in support of telephone workers, who had walked off the job three weeks before.  The workers were protesting government plans to sell off the publicly owned telephone service to GTE, a private company based out of Connecticut.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911.  That was the day that the song “The Preacher and the Slave” first appeared in the Little Red Song Book.  The Little Red Song Book was a compilation of labor songs, published by the Industrial Workers of the World union.  The booklet was pocket-sized so labor activists could carry it with them wherever they would go.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1888.  That was the day that the spark was lit that touched off what came to be known as the “Match Girls Strike” in East London.  The Match Girls were workers at the Bryant and May Match factory.  Matches were in high demand. The workers struggled under horrible conditions. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1966.  That was the day that the Freedom of Information Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.  The act required government agencies to respond to citizen requests for information.  John Moss, a Democratic Congressman from California fought for the passage act for more than a decade.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1835. That was the day that textile workers walked off the job at twenty mills in Paterson, New Jersey. But this was not a strike like we might picture one today, with burly men walking a picket line, or women chanting as they carry their picket signs. In Paterson, most of the strikers were children, ages 10 to 18. Many were young girls.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1822. That was day that Denmark Vesey was hung for his role in allegedly plotting a slave rebellion in South Carolina. Vesey had been born into slavery in St. Thomas in the Caribbean. From there he was brought to Charleston. He won the lottery and was able to purchase his freedom at the age of 32. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1922. That was the day that railroad workers across the United States walked off the job.  During World War I, the railroads had been nationalized by President Woodrow Wilson. Seen as a vital cog of the war machine, the railroads were to be kept running no matter what.  Because they were essential to the war effort, this gave railroad workers leverage

On this day in Labor History the year was 1885. That was the day that streetcar workers went out on strike.  The West Division Street Railway Company had reduced the number of trips it made each day.  The workers asked for a wage increase to make up for the loss in earnings. In response, management fired fifteen union leaders.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day that American folklorist Archie Green was born in Winnipeg, Canada. His father was a Ukrainian refugee, who had fought in the 1905 Russian revolution. As a young boy his family moved to Los Angeles. There he enjoyed listening to cowboy songs on the radio.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day that the U.S. Congress passed the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act. The bill had been proposed by the Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins. The act was part of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal effort to combat the ravages of the Great Depression.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1880. That was the day that Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Two years later she lost both her sight and hearing due to illness. With the help of a teacher by the name of Anne Sullivan, Helen learned how to communicate again.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893.  That was the day that Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe and Michael Schwab, who were imprisoned for their alleged role in the Haymarket bombing of 1886.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893.  That was the day that Haymarket Martyrs Monument was dedicated at what is now Forest Home Cemetery, just west of Chicago.  The Haymarket Martyrs were eight men convicted of throwing a bomb at a workers rally in Chicago during the 1886 fight for the eight-hour day.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971.  At 12:51 am Battalion 12 Chief Leo Najarian of Los Angeles heard that there had been a tunnel explosion. That February a 6.5 earthquake had killed 65 people in the area.  Now it seemed tragedy had struck again.  Just the night before Chief Najarian had been called out to the same address. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1947.  That was the day that many labor historians mark as the beginning of a long decline of the US labor movement.  The United States Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act.  The bill was named after Republican Senator Robert A. Taft from Ohio.   

On this day in Labor History the year was 1969.  That was the day that the Cuyahoga River, which winds its way through Cleveland, Ohio caught on fire. Cleveland was once the sixth largest city in the nation. During the early twentieth century the city had a booming steel industry. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1877.  That was the day that ten Irish miners were hung in Pennsylvania. They were part of a group of twenty who had been sentenced to death for allegedly being part of the Molly Maguires, a group of alleged radical Irish miners. Miners were on strike in the Schuylkill County anthracite coal region.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1943. That was the day that would go down in the history books as the 1943 Detroit Race Riot. The violence started on Belle Isle, a large island park in the Detroit River. Both white and black Detroiters were visiting the park on that hot sunny summer Sunday afternoon.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1865.  That was the day that 2,000 Union soldiers marched into Galveston, Texas.  They carried with them the news that those enslaved were now free.  The Confederate General, Robert E. Lee had actually surrendered more than two months earlier.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that the Saint Paul Federation of Women Teachers Local 28 received their charter from the American Federation of Teachers. The next February, the Minnesota Women’s Union was joined by the Saint Paul Federation of Men Teachers Local 42.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1972. That was the day that nine fire fighters gave their lives is Boston, Massachusetts. The tragedy occurred at the historic Hotel Vendome. Built 100 years earlier, the hotel stood in Boston’s Back Bay, one of the most historic neighborhoods in the city.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1836. That was the day that the London Working Men’s Association was founded.  Skilled craftsman started the organization. William Lovett a Cabinet Maker and a publisher by the name of Henry Hetherington were two of the original founders.