A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
You have probably heard about the Red Scare, when thousands of people lost their jobs in the 1950s for allegedly harboring Communist sympathies. But have you ever heard of the “Lavender Scare” that happened during those same years?
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
In 1848 gold was discovered at John Sutter’s Mill in California. As word spread, fortune seekers from all across the United States and across the world flocked to California in what came to be known as the Gold Rush.
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Monday Apr 25, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 1969.
The Governor of South Carolina sent 1,000 state troopers and National Guardsmen to Charleston.
They were sent there to deal with striking hospital workers who wanted union recognition
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 2013.
That was the day of the deadliest workplace disaster in garment industry history.
More than 1,100 workers lost their lives when a factory complex building collapsed in Bangladesh.
Saturday Apr 23, 2022
Saturday Apr 23, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. That was the day that Ida Mae Stull passed away.
She is widely considered to be the first woman coal miner in United States history.
Friday Apr 22, 2022
Friday Apr 22, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 2011.
That was the day the labor movement lost one of its most poignant voices.
Hazel Dickens was born in Mercer County, West Virginia in 1935. It was coal country.
Thursday Apr 21, 2022
Thursday Apr 21, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. The nation was in the grip of deep depression.
Unemployment soared. Workers wages and hours were cut dramatically in virtually every industry.
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
On this day in Labor History the year was 1914 the bloody anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre.
11,000 miners had gone on strike against the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, owned by one of the wealthiest men in the world, John D. Rockefeller.
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
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.
Monday Apr 18, 2022
Monday Apr 18, 2022
You have more than likely heard of Rosa Parks, and how she heroically sat down on a bus to help end segregation in Montgomery, Alabama. But did you know discrimination often barred black bus drivers, even in northern cities?