Episodes
Monday Apr 20, 2020
April 20 - The Bravest of Conductors
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Monday Apr 20, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1853. That was the day that Harriet Tubman led her first trip on the underground railroad, the clandestine network that helped enslaved people escape slavery and move north to freedom. One of the most remembered ‘conductors’ on the railroad, Tubman had herself escaped slavery in eastern Maryland.
Sunday Apr 19, 2020
April 19 - The Bombing of Oklahoma City
Sunday Apr 19, 2020
Sunday Apr 19, 2020
This marks the day one of the most horrendous acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. History occurred in Oklahoma City.
A truck bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 people.
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
April 18 - Labor’s First Lawyer
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1857. That was the day that Clarence Darrow was born in Kinsman, Ohio. Darrow was perhaps the original U.S. labor lawyer. Known to be a friend to underdogs, Darrow once supposedly said, “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”
Friday Apr 17, 2020
April 17 - Corporate Criminals Know No Borders
Friday Apr 17, 2020
Friday Apr 17, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That a day of tragedy for workers in the goldfields of Siberia. Gold miners by the Lena River in Southeast Siberia worked under brutal conditions. The Lena Gold Mining Joint Stock Company ran the mining operation. The lucrative gold fields lined the pockets of shareholders, including Russian aristocracy and British industrialists.
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
April 16 - Another Day in the Class War
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 2000. That was the beginning of a two-day rally in Washington D.C to protest the gathering of world leaders for the World Bank and The International Monetary Fund or what is known as the A-16 summit. The event was a continuation of the massive protest that disrupted the World Trade Organization’s meeting the year before in Seattle, Washington.
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
April 15 - From the Classroom to the Streets
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was day that the American Federation of Teachers was founded at a meeting at the City Club in downtown Chicago. Three Chicago teachers groups helped to organize the meeting. They were convinced that in order to improve working conditions for teachers they would need to formally join the labor movement.
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
April 14 - Agricultural Workers Risk Everything to Organize
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that 114 agricultural laborers in California’s Imperial Valley paid a harsh price for joining together to try to improve their working conditions. The Great Depression was worsening the already difficult conditions faced by California farm laborers.
Monday Apr 13, 2020
April 13 - Laborers Join Together
Monday Apr 13, 2020
Monday Apr 13, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. That was the year the day that twenty-five delegates from seventeen cities gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss forming a union for laborers. General laborers, who often performed some of the most back-breaking work on projects like digging canals or surfacing streets, were often blocked from joining craft unions as full members.
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
April 12 - Historic Walkout at Toledo Auto-Lite
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That was the day that workers at the Toledo Auto-Lite factory decided to go out on strike. The company made electric starters for the auto giants in nearby Detroit. The punishing effects of the Great Depression had hit the auto industry hard.
Saturday Apr 11, 2020
April 11 - Terrorists Try to Silence Workers
Saturday Apr 11, 2020
Saturday Apr 11, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That was the day that labor organizer Frank Norman disappeared from the Lakeland, Florida area and was never heard from again. It is believed he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Norman was organizing citrus workers in the northern part of the state.