Labor History in 2:00

May 7 - The Order of the Knights of St. Crispin

On this day in Labor History the year was 1867. That was the day that shoemakers founded the labor union the Knights of St. Crispin, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  St. Crispin is the patron saint of cobblers.

May 6 - Fighting for Justice on Tobacco Road

On this day in Labor History the year was 1937.  That was the year that 400 black women who worked as tobacco stemmers walked off the job at I.N. Vaughn and Company in Richmond, VA. 

May 5 - Founding of the Printers Voice

On this day in Labor History the year was 1852. It was the last day of a three-day convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Printers who worked for newspapers and other publications from fourteen cities had converged to decide if they wanted to form a union.  

May 4 - The Call for an Eight-Hour Day Met with Gunfire

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. This was one of the most significant days in US labor history. 

A mass meeting of workers was called for that night in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.

May 3 - Blood in the Streets for the Eight Hour Day.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. A little after three o’clock on that Monday, in Chicago, radical labor activist and newspaper man August Spies climbed onto a box car to give a speech about the fight for the eight hour day. 

May 2 - Student Protests Erupt in France

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day the administration shut down the Paris University at Naterre. Student protests at the school had begun weeks before around the ideas of a sexual revolution, or the right of young people to sleep together if they chose to without adult interference or moralizing.

May 1 - MayDay 1886

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. This was the day that began events in Chicago that would make May First the most important day on the calendar for the labor movement across the world.

April 30 -Coxey’s Army Marches On the Nation’s Capitol

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. A group of 400-500 unemployed men marched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the US Capitol. In a buggy at the front of the march rode Jacob Coxey.

April 29 - The Bristol Boycott of 1963

When you stand up for Civil Rights and Workers Rights you never know how far the struggle may travel. This was the case on this day in Labor History the year was 1963

April 28 - Workers Memorial Day

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was the day that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was founded. Since then OSHA rules have become a powerful tool for the protection of workers health and safety.