Labor History in 2:00

June 26 Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893.  That was the day that Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe and Michael Swab who were imprisoned for their alleged role in the Haymarket bombing of 1886.  

June 25 Haymarket Martyrs Monument

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893.  That was the day that Haymarket Martyrs Monument was dedicated at what is now Forest Home Cemetery, just west of Chicago.  The Haymarket Martyrs were eight men convicted of throwing a bomb at a workers rally in Chicago during the 1886 fight for the eight-hour day.  

June 24 Cutting Corners Costs Lives

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971.  At 12:51 am Battalion 12 Chief Leo Najarian of Los Angeles heard that there had been a tunnel explosion. That February a 6.5 earthquake had killed 65 people in the area.  Now it seemed tragedy had struck again.  Just the night before Chief Najarian had been called out to the same address. 

 

June 23 The Attack on Labor

On this day in Labor History the year was 1947.  That was the day that many labor historians mark as the beginning of a long decline of the US labor movement.  The United States Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act.  The bill was named after Republican Senator Robert A. Taft from Ohio. 

 

June 22 The Cuyahoga River Burns

On this day in Labor History the year was 1969.  That was the day that the Cuyahoga River, which winds its way through Cleveland, Ohio caught on fire. Cleveland was once the sixth largest city in the nation. During the early twentieth century the city had a booming steel industry. 

June 21 The Day of the Rope

On this day in Labor History the year was 1877.  That was the day that ten Irish miners were hung in Pennsylvania. They were part of a group of twenty who had been sentenced to death for allegedly being part of the Molly Maguires, a group of alleged radical Irish miners. Miners were on strike in the Shuykill County anthracite coal region.  

June 20 The 1943 Race Riot

On this day in Labor History the year was 1943. That was the day that would go down in the history books as the 1943 Detroit Race Riot. The violence started on Belle Isle, a large island park in the Detroit River. Both white and black Detroiters were visiting the park on that hot sunny summer Sunday afternoon.  

June 19 Freedom

On this day in Labor History the year was 1865.  That was the day that 2,000 Union soldiers marched into Galveston, Texas.  They carried with them the news that those enslaved were now free.  The Confederate General, Robert E. Lee had actually surrendered more than two months earlier.  

June 18 Women Teachers Leading by Example

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that the Saint Paul Federation of Women Teachers Local 28 received their charter from the American Federation of Teachers. The next February, the Minnesota Women’s Union was joined by the Saint Paul Federation of Men Teachers Local 42.  

June 17 A Horrible Tragedy on the Job

On this day in Labor History the year was 1972. That was the day that nine fire fighters gave their lives is Boston, Massachusetts. The tragedy occurred at the historic Hotel Vendome. Built 100 years earlier, the hotel stood in Boston’s Back Bay, one of the most historic neighborhoods in the city.