Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. That was the day that coal miners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania walked out of the mines. It became known as the “Slovak strike” because seventy percent of the strikers were Slovakian immigrants. Unrest was mounting among the workers in the non-unionized coal fields. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1924. That was the day that tragedy struck at the Utah Fuel Company Mine in Castle Gate, Utah.  The mine stood about 90 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Coal mining began at Castle Gate in 1888.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day a house fire claimed the life of a true champion for working people. Lucy Gonzales Parsons was born in Texas.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1857. That was the day the Supreme Court handed down one of its most infamous decisions. It was known as the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott had been born into slavery.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1770. That was the day of the Boston Massacre, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. But did you know that the massacre happened in part because of a dispute over jobs?  In 1767 the British had passed the Townshend Revenue Act. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1914. That was the day that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Seaman’s Act into law. The act was in part a response to the tragic sinking of the Titanic.The International Seamen’s Union was demanding changes to the work conditions at sea.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that William Green, long-time president of the American Federation was born in Coshocton, Ohio. Green’s family were English and Welsh immigrant coal miners.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1807. That was the day that President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation outlawing the trans-Atlantic slave trade from bringing enslaved Africans to the United States. At the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, the authors had decided to revisit the question of slavery after two decades.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1900. That was the day that the members of the Granite Cutters National Union walked out on strike.

Their demands were improved wages and the eight hour day.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that Sue Cowan Williams filed a lawsuit for equal pay for black school teachers in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eighty-six black teachers worked in the city’s segregated school system. They were all members of the Little Rock Class Room Teachers Association.