Labor History in 2:00

July 13 - Founding of the Niagara Movement

On this day in Labor History the year was 1905. That was the day that revolutionary black scholar W.E.B. DuBois helped found the Niagara Movement.  It was named for the “mighty current” of change the group hoped to bring about.  The initial organizing meeting was held near Niagara Falls, New York. 

July 12 - The Bisbee Deportation

On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day that miners in Bisbee, Arizona were rounded up, taken by train and left in the desert on the New Mexico/Arizona border.  

July 11 - A Mining Boom

On this day in Labor History the year was 1892.  Striking silver miners in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho blew up the Frisco Mill.  The miners were upset because the company had hired Pinkerton guards to infiltrate the mine.  

July 10 - Disaster in the Mines

On this day in Labor History the year was 1902.  A powerful gas and dust explosion occurred in the Rolling Mill Mine in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Johnstown was rich in coal resources.  The coal industry in Cambria County gradually grew thanks to the rise of the industry in the region.

July 9 - Jacqueline Vaughn Leads the CTU

On this day in Labor History the year was1984.  Jacqueline Vaughn became President of the Chicago Teachers’ Union. Jacqueline started out as a teacher and became a member of the collective bargaining team in 1968.  She was elected Vice President of the CTU in 1972 and then became the first black woman to head up the third largest teacher’s union in the nation. 

July 8 - Mother Bloor

On this day in Labor History the year was 1862. Ella Reeves “Mother” Bloor was born in Staten Island, New York. 

She was a labor activist who investigated child labor in glass factories and mines.  

July 7 - Founding of the IWW

On this day in Labor History the year was 1905. It was the tenth day of the convention in Chicago, Illinois, where William (“Big Bill”) Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners, and Daniel De Leon and Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist Party founded the Industrial Workers of the World.

July 6 - Battle at Homestead

On this day in Labor History the year was 1892. At 3 AM an alarm sounded in the town of Homestead, Pennsylvania. The steelworkers who lived in the town were on strike. Andrew Carnegie was the owner of the mill, located just outside of Pittsburgh.  

July 5 - Who is Freedom For?

The great orator and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, was invited to speak at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York.  The speech he gave that day would go down as one of his most powerful. 

July 4 - Freedom to Join a Union

Do you consider the right to join and form a union of your choosing a fundamental human right?  The United Nations does!  And on this day in Labor History the year was 1950.  On that day the United Nations formally put into force the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.