Labor History in 2:00

June 28 - An Important Step for Labor

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day that the U.S. Congress passed the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act. The bill had been proposed by the Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins. The act was part of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal effort to combat the ravages of the Great Depression.  

June 27 - Helen Keller, Labor Activist, is Born

On this day in Labor History the year was 1880. That was the day that Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Two years later she lost both her sight and hearing due to illness. With the help of a teacher by the name of Anne Sullivan, Helen learned how to communicate again.  

June 26 - Gov. Altgeld Pardons Surviving Haymarket Prisoners

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 Schwab, who were imprisoned for their alleged role in the Haymarket bombing of 1886.  

June 25 - The 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 -Molly Maguires Hanged in Pennsylvania

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 Schuylkill County anthracite coal region.  

June 20 - The 1943 Detroit Anti-Black 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 - Juneteenth

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.