A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1947.
The day dawned unseasonably cool in Texas City, TX, a port city forty miles south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico.
Monday Apr 15, 2019
Monday Apr 15, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1947.
It was opening day of a truly new baseball season.
Sunday Apr 14, 2019
Sunday Apr 14, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1939. This was the day readers were first introduced to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.
Saturday Apr 13, 2019
Saturday Apr 13, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. Labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs was sent to prison for speaking out against World War I.
Friday Apr 12, 2019
Friday Apr 12, 2019
There are some songs that stand at the core of the labor movement. Year after year these songs ring out on picket lines, at labor rallies, and in union halls around the world. These Songs inspire and build solidarity between workers.
Thursday Apr 11, 2019
Thursday Apr 11, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1941.
For years auto workers had participated in a series of sit down strikes and walk outs. They had won union recognition from almost every major auto maker.
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that Dolores Huerta was born in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico.
Monday Apr 08, 2019
Monday Apr 08, 2019
The fight for an eight hour work day was one of the most difficult and important efforts of the US labor movement.
Slogans such as “Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will!” became the rallying cry of working people.
Sunday Apr 07, 2019
Sunday Apr 07, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. At 6:30 in the morning an explosion shook the Banner Mine, owned by the Pratt Consolidated Coal Company. Banner was located near what would later become Birmingham, Alabama.
Sunday Apr 07, 2019
Sunday Apr 07, 2019
Their slogan was “Justice for Janitors!” Their chant was “Si se puede!” “Yes we can!”
Their image was a red and black poster of a mop raised high in a clenched fist. 3,000 members of SEIU Local 1877 marched in the streets of downtown Los Angeles.