Labor History in 2:00

September 3 - The Day the Pictures Spoke

On this day in Labor History the year was 1928. 300 musicians working in Chicago went on strike against 250 movie theaters. They were protesting their impending replacement by talking pictures. This was part of a nationwide wave of protest by the American Federation of Musicians. 

September 2 - Division in the Mines

On this day in Labor History the year was 1885.White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming planned to wipe out the town’s entire Chinese community. Chinese immigrants came to the United States looking for work, first in the California gold mines, then as laborers on the Transcontinental Railroad. 

September 1 - The First Overnight Sleeping Car Ride

On this day in Labor History the year was 1859. That was the day the first Pullman sleeping car made an overnight trip. The first Pullman sleeper was a renovated day coach. That first trip was made on the Chicago and Alton Railroad between Bloomington, Illinois and Chicago.  

August 31 - Why We March

On this day in Labor History the year was 1991. Three thousand five hundred buses rolled into Washington, D.C. 

They were loaded with protesters, there to participate in Solidarity Day.

August 30 - The Battle of Blair Mountain

On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. That was the day that one of most pitched battles in US labor history, the “Battle of Blair Mountain” began in West Virginia.  Coal fueled the engines of industry, keeping the trains moving and the steel mills humming.

August 29 - The Lusty Lady Organizes

On this day in Labor History the year was 1996.  That was the day that workers at the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco made their final push to make their case for the right to join a union. They made history by winning the union vote fifty-seven to fifteen.

August 28 - Marching Towards a Dream

On this day in Labor History the year was 1963.  That was the day of one of the most iconic stands for justice and equality in United States history.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” to a quarter-million people in Washington D.C.  

August 27 - Truman Seizes the Railroads

On this day in Labor History the year was 1950.  At 4 pm that day the US Army completed its take-over of the country’s railroads. 

They were acting on the orders of President Truman.  

August 26 - Fannie Sellins Martyred

On this day in Labor History the year was 1919.  That was the day that Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski were murdered while standing up for workers’ rights.  Fannie was born in New Orleans, and then married a garment worker in St. Louis.  

August 25 - The Georges Fight Back

On this day in Labor History the year was 1925.  500 African American sleeping car porters gathered at the Elks Hall at 129^th Street in Harlem.  The meeting was called by A. Philip Randolph.