Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1869. That was the day that labor leader William Sylvis died. Sylvis was born in Armaugh, Pennsylvania. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1775.  That was the day that the United States Post Office was created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin.  Franklin was a member of the Second Continental Congress.  Among many distinctions Ben Franklin was the nation’s first Postmaster General. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1832.  That was the day of the first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history. It took place near Quincy, Massachusetts. Four people were thrown off a vacant car on the Granite Railway.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1877.  Workers organized the first general strike in American history.  The strike was an outgrowth of the railroad strike which you may know, if you are a regular listener of Labor History in 2:00, that started ten days earlier in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1892.  That was the day that Lithuanian-born anarchist, Alexander Berkman attempted to shoot steel magnate Andrew Carnegie’s second-in-command, Henry Clay Frick.  Berkman wanted to avenge the Homestead Steel massacre in which nine workers were killed. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1887.  That was the day brewery workers in San Francisco declared victory after breweries owners gave in to their demands. The demands were as follows:  free beer, a closed shop, freedom to live outside the breweries, a 10-hour work day, a six-day week, and a board of arbitration. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1931.  And Chicago public school teachers went home without a paycheck. The school system was broke.  Property owners out of work due to the Great Depression could not pay their property taxes, which were used to fund the public schools. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1899.  That was the day New York City newsboys went on strike.  A newspaper article noted:  “The Newsboys’ Union has decided to tie up the World and the Journal.They have struck for better rates on the evening editions of these papers, and their demands have been refused. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1848. That was the day the convention on woman’s rights began in Seneca Falls, New York.  The organizers of this convention brought together some of the leading woman’s activists of the day, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1914.  That was the day IWW songwriter, Joe Hill, was sentenced to be executed in Utah. 

He was convicted of murder although the charges were likely trumped up.  Hill grew up in Sweden.