Labor History in 2:00

May 9 - Remembering Walter Reuther

On this day in Labor History the year was 1970.   On that day workers and the US labor movement lost a leading voice in a tragic plane crash. 

May 8 - Getting the Rails in Line

If you are a member of a union, how well do you know your union’s history? You might be surprised to find out how far back that history goes. Such is the case with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. 

May 7 - The Order of the Knights of St. Crispin

On this day in Labor History the year was 1867. That was the day that shoemakers founded the labor union the Knights of St. Crispin, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  St. Crispin is the patron saint of cobblers.

May 6 - Fighting for Justice on Tobacco Road

On this day in Labor History the year was 1937.  That was the year that 400 black women who worked as tobacco stemmers walked off the job at I.N. Vaughn and Company in Richmond, VA. 

May 5 - Founding of the Printers Voice

On this day in Labor History the year was 1852. It was the last day of a three-day convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Printers who worked for newspapers and other publications from fourteen cities had converged to decide if they wanted to form a union.  

May 4 - The Haymarket Incident

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. This was one of the most significant days in US labor history. 

A mass meeting of workers was called for that night in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.  

May 3 - Blood in the Streets for the Eight Hour Day

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. A little after three o’clock on that Monday, in Chicago, radical labor activist and newspaper man August Spies climbed onto a box car to give a speech about the fight for the eight hour day. 

May 2 - Student Protests Erupt in France

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day the administration shut down the Paris University at Naterre. Student protests at the school had begun weeks before around the ideas of a sexual revolution, or the right of young people to sleep together if they chose to without adult interference or moralizing. 

May 1 - May Day 1886

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. This was the day that began events in Chicago that would make May First the most important day on the calendar for the labor movement across the world.  

April 30 - Coxey’s Army Marches on the Nation’s Capitol

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. A group of 400-500 unemployed men marched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the US Capitol. In a buggy at the front of the march rode Jacob Coxey.