Labor History in 2:00

April 19 - Terrorists Bomb Oklahoma City

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 07:49:28 -0600

This marks the day one of the most horrendous acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. History occurred in Oklahoma City.

A truck bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 people.

April 18 - Labor’s First Lawyer

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:07:41 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1857. That was the day that Clarence Darrow was born in Kinsman, Ohio. Darrow was perhaps the original U.S. labor lawyer. Known to be a friend to underdogs, Darrow once supposedly said, “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”

April 17 - The 1912 Siberian Gold Mine Massacre

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:41:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That a day of tragedy for workers in the goldfields of Siberia. Gold miners by the Lena River in Southeast Siberia worked under brutal conditions. The Lena Gold Mining Joint Stock Company ran the mining operation. The lucrative gold fields lined the pockets of shareholders, including Russian aristocracy and British industrialists.

April 16 - Another Day in the Class War

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:23:20 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2000. That was the beginning of a two-day rally in Washington D.C to protest the gathering of world leaders for the World Bank and The International Monetary Fund or what is known as the A-16 summit. The event was a continuation of the massive protest that disrupted the World Trade Organization’s meeting the year before in Seattle, Washington.

April 15 - The American Federation of Teachers is Founded

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 05:39:47 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was day that the American Federation of Teachers was founded at a meeting at the City Club in downtown Chicago. Three Chicago teachers groups helped to organize the meeting. They were convinced that in order to improve working conditions for teachers they would need to formally join the labor movement.

April 14 - Agricultural Workers Risk Everything to Organize

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:23:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that 114 agricultural laborers in California’s Imperial Valley paid a harsh price for joining together to try to improve their working conditions. The Great Depression was worsening the already difficult conditions faced by California farm laborers.

April 13 - The Laborers Union is Founded

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 05:22:15 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. That was the year the day that twenty-five delegates from seventeen cities gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss forming a union for laborers. General laborers, who often performed some of the most back-breaking work on projects like digging canals or surfacing streets, were often blocked from joining craft unions as full members

April 12 - The Historic Walkout at Toledo Auto-Lite

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:12:38 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That was the day that workers at the Toledo Auto-Lite factory decided to go out on strike. The company made electric starters for the auto giants in nearby Detroit. The punishing effects of the Great Depression had hit the auto industry hard.

April 11 - Terrorists Try to Silence Workers

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 09:36:03 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That was the day that labor organizer Frank Norman disappeared from the Lakeland, Florida area and was never heard from again. It is believed he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Norman was organizing citrus workers in the northern part of the state.

April 10 - In the Streets Against Cruelty

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:18:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2006. That was the day of massive protests for immigrants’ rights in cities throughout the United States. Starting in March of 2006, there was a series of coordinated protests in response to a bill passed by the US House of Representatives. The bill would classify undocumented workers as felons, and proposed a wall along one-third of the US-Mexico border.

April 9 - Minneapolis Teachers Fight for all Public Sector Workers

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:15:33 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1970. That was the day that Minneapolis Teachers Union, Local 59, went out on strike. They took the vote to strike, despite the fact state law prohibited teachers from striking. But after months of negotiations that went nowhere, the teachers decided it was time to act. The main issue for the strike was wages.

April 8 - Truman Takes Over Steel

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:38:57 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1952. That was the day that President Truman issued Executive Order 10340, nationalizing the US Steel Industry. He hoped to stop a looming steel strike, while the country was embroiled in the Korean War.

April 7 - The Day the Line Went Dead

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:21:09 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1947. If you tried to make a telephone call that day, you might have been out luck. During that time, telephone calls were connected by operators. Ninety-five percent of the operators were women.

April 6 - Women Marching Off to Work

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 05:15:36 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day the that the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I. The war had been raging since 1914, but the US did not enter the conflict until 1917. Dubbed the “War to End All Wars,” the conflict transformed the work experience for many women.

April 5 - One Day Longer

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 08:32:13 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1989. That was the day that the United Mine Workers of America called a strike against the Pittston Coal Company. Negotiations with the miners who worked in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky had drug on for fourteen months

April 4 - A Day of Mourning

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:17:17 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was in Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers, who were out on strike fighting for better wages and working conditions.

April 3 - To the Mountaintop

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 07:37:43 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the night that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his now famous “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. He was speaking in support of striking sanitation workers who were members of AFSCME Local 1733.

April 2 - The First Woman in Congress

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 05:25:16 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day that Montana Republican Jeanette Rankin was sworn in as the first ever woman elected to the US Congress. Her mother was a school teacher and her father was a rancher. On her victory, Representative Rankin said, “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last.”

April 1 - Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:17:49 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1963. That was the day that the New York Times ran the headline “New York Happy as Papers Return.” The longest and largest newspaper strike in the city had ended. During the early 1960s changes in typesetting technology were transforming how newspapers were made.

March 31 - The Cowboy Strike

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 06:25:25 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1883. That was the day that cowboys went on strike. The cowboys worked in the Texas panhandle. Increasingly, the ranch land in the region was coming under large corporate ownership.

March 30 - The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:35:11 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that ground was broken on what would become one of the worst workplace disasters in U.S. history. At least 476, and possibly more than 700 men died from a disease called silicosis. The project was called the Hawks Nest Tunnel.

March 29 - The Union of Wall Street

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 08:43:17 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1948. That was the day that the labor movement came literally to the doorstep of Wall Street. The United Financial Employees Union went out on strike. The union was started in 1941 by Merritt David Keefe, a page who worked on the stock exchange trading floor.

March 28 - Overcoming Division

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:25:20 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1977. That was the day that members of AFSCME Local 1644 began their unsuccessful strike in Atlanta, Georgia. The union was made up of 1,300 mostly black sanitation workers. The city of Atlanta had elected its first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1973.

March 27 - Overriding the NLRB

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 05:24:47 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2002. That was the day that the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Hoffman Plastic Compound, Inc. versus the National Labor Relations Board. This case had profound importance for undocumented workers in the United States.

March 26 - Gompers Embraces Anti-Immigrant Legislation

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:10:43 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1910. That was the day that Congress expanded the Immigration Act passed three years earlier.

The new language prohibited “criminals, paupers, anarchists and diseased persons” from entering the nation.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, some nine million immigrants arrived on the shores of the United States.

March 25 - Tragic, Devastating and Preventable

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:18:26 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. It was one the most tragic days in US labor history. 146, mostly Jewish and Italian, women died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City. The death toll was so high because exits were locked or blocked, and basic safety precautions were not taken in the sweatshop.

March 24 - Dorothy Height is Born

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 05:18:42 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the birthday of Dorothy Height, a Civil Rights leader and a champion for black women domestic workers. Domestic workers had largely been left out of the labor protections passed as part of the New Deal.

March 23 - Wobblies on Trial

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 05:31:36 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that trial of 101 Industrial Workers of the World began in Chicago. Their alleged crime? Speaking out against US involvement in World War I.

March 22 - A Big Dam Deal

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 09:12:00 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day that the generators began to operate at one of the most massive construction projects ever built—the Grand Coulee Dam. The dam generates hydro-power from the Columbia River in Washington State.

March 21 - The Beginning of the End of Apartheid

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 07:44:22 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1960. That was the day of the Sharpeville, Massacre in South Africa. Black South Africans were required to carry identification documents. These passes limited who could live or work in designated “white” areas of the country.

March 20 - The Birth of the Republican Party

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:10:18 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1854. That was the day that the founders of what became the Republican Party met in Ripon, Wisconsin. The idea was to form a new party, opposed to the Southern labor system based on slavery. That July the Republicans held their first convention in Michigan.

March 19 - The Tree of Solidarity

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:23:13 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1834. That was the day that six Englishmen, who would become known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to seven years “transportation” to the penal colony of Australia. Their crime? Forming a union

March 18 - Dancing in the Streets

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 05:12:41 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that the staff at radio station KMPX in San Francisco went on strike. The radio station had broken new ground with their “underground rock” format. In 1967, the station hired Tom “Big Daddy” Donahue as a DJ.

March 17 - The Fight for the Eight Hour Day

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 05:38:22 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1890. That was the day that the executive council of the American Federation of Labor decided that the Carpenters union should lead a national campaign for the eight-hour day. The cry “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will!” had been on the lips of working people for more than twenty years.

March 16 - The Voice of Freedom

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 06:35:28 -0600

“Too long have others spoken for us." Those were the words published On this day in Labor History the year was 1827. This was the message of the co-editors of the Freeman’s Journal, the first black newspaper in the United States. Slavery had been outlawed in New York that same year.

March 15 - Bruce!

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 09:11:24 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1999. That was the day the Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rocking Roll Hall of Fame.

Two years later, an article in Rolling Stone magazine read, “For nearly four decades Bruce Springsteen has been a working-class hero: a plainspoken visionary and a sincere romantic whose insights into everyday lives — especially in America's small-town heartland — have earned comparisons to John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie.”

March 14 - Bread Yes, But Roses Too!

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 08:53:57 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that participants in the famed Bread and Roses strike, gathered in Lawrence, Massachusetts to celebrate their victory. The strike had begun in January and was a hard-fought battle.

March 13 - UAW Wins in Post-War Strike Wave

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 05:06:49 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day that United Autoworkers members won an 18.5-cent hourly raise after a four-month strike against General Motors. After World War II workers grew increasingly frustrated.

March 12 - Gandhi’s Salt March

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:12:50 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that Mahatma Gandhi began his famous Salt March. The March was to protest British colonial rule of India and the repressive salt tax waged on the Indian people. Under British rule, Indian people were prohibited from producing salt.

March 11 - Are You a Luddite?

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:59:06 -0600

At some point in your life you may have had someone call you a “luddite.’ Maybe you had a hard time programming your DVR, or working the latest app on your smart phone. But at some point technology gets the best of us all. But did you know the term luddite has its roots in labor history?

March 10 - Sharing in the Pain of Struggle

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 05:09:39 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that farm labor activist Cesar Chavez broke a twenty-five day fast. He fasted as a sign of commitment to nonviolence during the struggle for farm workers in Delano, California to gain fair wages and safe working conditions. During the fast he only drank water.

March 9 - The Slovak Strike of 1910-11

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 07:49:01 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. That was the day that coal miners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania walked out of the mines. It became known as the “Slovak strike” because seventy percent of the strikers were Slovakian immigrants. Unrest was mounting among the workers in the non-unionized coal fields.

March 8 - Industrial Murder in the Mines

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 08:36:00 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1924. That was the day that tragedy struck at the Utah Fuel Company Mine in Castle Gate, Utah. The mine stood about 90 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Coal mining began at Castle Gate in 1888.

March 7 - Remembering Lucy Parsons

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 08:22:14 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day a house fire claimed the life of a true champion for working people. Lucy Gonzales Parsons was born in Texas.

March 6 - The Dred Scott Decision

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:16:48 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1857. That was the day the Supreme Court handed down one of its most infamous decisions. It was known as the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott had been born into slavery.

March 5 - The Workers Uprising that Sparked the American Revolution

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:11:56 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1770. That was the day of the Boston Massacre, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. But did you know that the massacre happened in part because of a dispute over jobs? In 1767 the British had passed the Townshend Revenue Act.

March 4 - The Seamen’s Act Is Signed into Law

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 06:15:13 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1914. That was the day that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Seaman’s Act into law. The act was in part a response to the tragic sinking of the Titanic.The International Seamen’s Union was demanding changes to the work conditions at sea.

March 3 - William Green is Born

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 07:05:15 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that William Green, long-time president of the American Federation was born in Coshocton, Ohio. Green’s family were English and Welsh immigrant coal miners.

March 2 - Outlawing the Slave Trade

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 07:00:18 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1807. That was the day that President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation outlawing the trans-Atlantic slave trade from bringing enslaved Africans to the United States. At the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, the authors had decided to revisit the question of slavery after two decades.

March 1 - Striking for a Better Tomorrow

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 08:39:57 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1900. That was the day that the members of the Granite Cutters National Union walked out on strike.

Their demands were improved wages and the eight hour day.

February 28 - The Price of Demanding Equal Pay

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 09:11:03 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that Sue Cowan Williams filed a lawsuit for equal pay for black school teachers in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eighty-six black teachers worked in the city’s segregated school system. They were all members of the Little Rock Class Room Teachers Association.

February 27 - A Grave Injustice

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:23:11 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that 27 Japanese women, working in the Seattle public school system handed in their forced resignations. In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, anti-Japanese hysteria swept the United States, especially the west coast.

February 26 - MADISON!

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 06:20:13 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2011. That was the day that labor movement took an historic stand in Madison, Wisconsin. That cold Saturday a crowd of union members and supporters swelled to more than 100,000 people at the state capitol building.

February 25 - Amsterdam Workers Strike Against Nazism

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:23:09 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day a general strike by workers against the Nazis took place in Amsterdam. The Nazis had begun the occupation of the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. The German occupiers implemented a series of increasingly repressive anti-Semitic laws.

February 24 - Fighting for the Health of an Industry

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 06:11:59 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1965. That was the day that the Drug and Hospital Employees Union Local 1199 sent a telegram to President Lyndon Johnson. The message declared the union’s stand against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

February 23 - Danger Down Below

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 06:26:28 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1875. That was the day that the National Marine Engineers’ Association was founded at a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. The association represented steamboat engineers, most from boats navigating the Great Lakes. Being a steamboat engineer was risky business.

February 22 - Fighting for a Floor

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 08:51:14 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1860. That was the day that the shoemakers of Linn, Massachusetts walked out on strike.

The shoemakers were very concerned over how technology was changing their work. Shoemaking had long been considered a skilled craft.

February 21 - The Origins of Labor Day

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 08:38:40 -0600

Across the United States, workers enjoy the first Monday of September as their holiday.

Labor Day has become known as a day for family picnics and community parades—but do you know how Labor Day really started?

February 20 - The National Lawyers Guild is Founded

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 07:46:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1937. That was the day the National Lawyers Guild held their first convention at the Hotel Washington in the nation’s capital. The guild was established as way to bring together progressive lawyers dedicated to fighting “for basic and progressive change in our political and economic system and to assure that human rights be regarded as more sacred than property interests.

February 19 - Fighting for Dignity in a Fairy Tale

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 06:29:31 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1997. If you had theater tickets that evening to see Beauty and the Beast in Seattle, the show did not go on as planned. Musicians at the Fifth Avenue theater, members of Local 76-493, had been on strike for a week.

February 18 - THE MAN Hits the Stands

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 06:02:41 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1834. That was the day that one of the earliest labor newspapers in the country published its first edition in New York City. The Man was a paper aimed at trade unionists.

February 17 - Remembering Florence Kelley

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:09:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1932. That was the day that working people in the United States said goodbye to one of their great heroes. Florence Kelley was born in Philadelphia in 1859. Her father, William D. Kelley, was a U.S. Senator.

February 16 - Leonora O’Reilly is Born

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:37:42 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1870. That was the day that the powerful labor orator Leonora O’Reilly was born to an Irish immigrant garment worker in New York City. During her lifetime Leonora left her special mark on the labor movement as a member of some of the leading organizations of working people of her day.

February 15 - The CIO Purges Its Militants

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 10:16:09 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1950. That was the day that the Red Scare took its toll on the US Labor Movement.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations expelled the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers for their alleged Communist ties.

February 14 - Frederick Douglass is Born

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:42:16 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1818. That was the day that abolitionist Frederick Douglass chose to celebrate as his birthday. He could not be sure of the exact date of his birth, because he was born into slavery. He escaped from slavery and became one of the leading black writers and orators for the cause of abolition.

February 13 - Sons of Vulcan

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:19:22 -0600

What labor union would you say has the coolest name? The Sons of Vulcan would most certainly have to be in the running. On this day in Labor History the year was 1865. That was the day the Sons of Vulcan ended their eight-month strike and won a union contract. The Vulcans were skilled steel workers.

February 12 - The Most Dangerous Woman in America

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 08:34:18 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1913. That was the day that the labor leader known as “Mother” Jones was arrested in West Virginia. She was there to support coal miners during the Paint and Cabin Creek strike of 1912-1913. The West Virginia coalfields were one of the bloodiest sites of labor conflict in US History.

February 11 - Sweet Solidarity

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 06:08:52 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. That was the day that workers in Oxnard, California took a united stand and showed the power of solidarity. Oxnard was a California boom town. The American Beet Sugar Company, owned by the Oxnard brothers, drew hundreds of workers to the area.

February 10 - Solidarity at the Gate

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 06:12:15 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was the day that is known in Great Britain as the Battle of Saltley Gate.

30,000 Birmingham engineers had walked out in solidarity with a strike by the National Union of Mineworkers.

The miners were taking a stand against austerity pay.

February 9 - Remembering George Lippard

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 06:12:11 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1854. That was the day that novelist George Lippard died in Philadelphia. Lippard was friends with Edgar Allen Poe. He is most well-known for his novel about Philadelphia titled Quaker City. The book is considered to be one of the first American muckraking novels.

February 8 - Spacemen Strike Back

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 09:30:23 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1974. That was the day that a three-man American astronaut crew returned to earth from eighty-four-day mission at the Sky Lab. They were the first crew to spend so long in low-earth orbit up to that time.

February 7 - The Sugar That’s Not So Sweet

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 10:28:17 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2008. That evening at 7:15 p.m., an explosion rocked the city of Wentworth, just outside of Savannah, Georgia. An explosion had gone off at Imperial Sugar. Highly combustible sugar dust had ignited.

February 6 - The Seattle General Strike

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 08:38:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That day began the week-long general strike in Seattle, Washington. As World War I drew to a close many workers in the city were frustrated by two years without pay increases due to the war. 35,000 workers in the shipyards walked off of the job.

February 5 - Shot Down for Standing Up

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 06:41:16 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1913. That was the day that Ida Breiman was killed while she stood up for the rights of working people in Rochester, New York. Ida was born in Russia to a Jewish family.

February 4 - Canal Building in America

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:11:09 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1825. That was the day the Ohio legislature authorized the Canal Act. The act called for the construction of two canals.

February 3 - Wartime Industrial Murder

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 06:11:52 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was a day of tragedy for the workers at the Thiokol Chemical Corporation plant in southeastern Georgia. An explosion killed twenty-seven workers, and injured dozens more.

February 2 - Calling Dr. Blackwell

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 06:11:47 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1821. That was the birthday of the first woman to earn her medical degree in the United States. Her name was Elizabeth Blackwell.

February 1 - Sitting in at Woolworth’s

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:29:44 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1960. That was the day that four black freshmen students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down to make a stand for justice.

January 31 - The End of Slave Labor

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 08:53:46 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1865. That was the day that the US Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the constitution, abolishing slavery. President Lincoln had already issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But there was worry that the proclamation, an emergency wartime measure, would not stand up in the courts after the war had ended.

January 30 - Chicago Gravediggers End 43 Day Strike

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:25:55 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1992. That was the day that the gravediggers of Chicago ended their forty-three day strike. The United Press International’s headline declared, “The dead will rest in peace now that Chicago-area gravediggers have reached a tentative contract.” The gravediggers were part of Service Employees International Union Local 106.

January 29 - President Jackson Sets a Precedent

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 06:25:10 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1834. That was the first time in United States history that a President called in federal troops to settle a labor dispute and It would certainly not be the last. President Andrew Jackson ordered federal troops to quiet the workers on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

January 28 - Wisconsin Leads on Unemployment Insurance

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 06:27:52 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1932. That was the day the first unemployment insurance law in was established in the United States.

It happened in Wisconsin. Governor Phillip LaFollette signed the Unemployment Compensation Act.

January 27 - Working Class Stamps

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 06:41:15 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1950. The cost of a first-class stamp was three cents.

And starting on this day, one of the options for first class postage bore the image of US labor leader Samuel Gompers.

The British-born Gompers was a founder and long-time head of the American Federation of Labor.

January 26 - Legislating Money Out of Politics

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 07:24:57 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1907. That was the day that President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law an effort to get corporate money out of national politics. The law was called the Tillman Act. The act was named after its sponsor, Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina.

January 25 - Shays’ Rebellion

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 09:01:51 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1787. That was the day known as Shays’ Rebellion.

The United States was a new nation, and the Constitution had not yet been written.

The revolutionary army had won the war with Britain, but the young nation was mired in debt.

January 24 - The Boycott

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 14:09:48 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1984. That was the day that Nestle agreed to terms in order to end a seven year international boycott against the company. The boycott was over the unsafe and dangerous ways that Nestle marketed and sold its baby formula in third world countries.

January 23 - More Labor Than They Planned

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:14:52 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day when twenty laborers who were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps got involved in a type of “labor” they probably never expected. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt to get young men back to work during the Great Depression.

January 22 - Knights of Labor Leader, Terrance Powderly is Born

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:14:30 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1849. That was the birthday of U.S. labor leader Terence Powderly.

Powderly was born the second youngest of twelve children to Irish immigrants in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

January 21 - The Charleston Five

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 06:37:38 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 2000. Just after midnight six hundred police officers clashed with picketing longshoreman in Charleston, South Carolina. The port in Charleston ranked the fourth largest in the United States.

January 20 - The First MLK Day

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 06:32:03 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1986. That was the first time Dr. Martin Luther King Day was observed as a national holiday. A powerful voice for Civil Rights, Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel.

January 19 - Gunned Down in Cold Blood

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 06:17:30 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915. That was the day that two striking workers were shot and killed by gunmen hired by a fertilizer plant in New Jersey. In addition to the 2 killed many more were injured by the hired guns.

January 18 - Showing the Union Pride

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 08:25:00 -0600

Have you ever worn a union button or t-shirt to work? On this day in Labor History the year was 1912.

Members of the Australian Tramways Association in Brisbane, Queensland decided to put on their union badges at work.

January 17 - The 1915 Hunger March

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:06:28 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915. It was the day that the people in Chicago stood up to demand an end to hunger and unemployment. Their stand began at a meeting at Bowen Hall, part of the Hull House complex founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams.

January 16 - Packinghouse Workers Join the ‘46 Strike Wave

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:22:17 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day the United Packinghouse Workers of America went on strike. Their initial demand was for a twenty-five cent an hour raise. They were also joined in the strike by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters union.

January 15 - Randolph’s Fight to Desegregate Wartime Industry

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 08:02:16 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day that black labor leader, A Philip Randolph, issued a call for a March on Washington. He proposed the march to bring attention to the employment discrimination faced by African American workers.

January 14 - Bricklayers Fight for the Eight Hour Day

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 06:21:53 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1868. Representatives of more than forty locals of the International Union of Bricklayers of North America gathered in New York City. It was the third annual convention of the new union.

January 13 - The Fight for a Voice

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:11:07 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that 120 delegates met in Bradford, England to form the Independent Labor Party. The goal of this political party was to get more candidates that represented the interests of working people elected to the British Parliament.

January 12 - The Push Toward Industrial Peace

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:12:36 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reestablished the National War Labor Board. Just a little over a month before the United States had entered World War II.

January 11 - Bread, Yes. But Roses Too!

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 09:32:29 -0600

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day a strike launched one of the most iconic rallying cries of the U.S. Labor Movement. Twenty thousand, mostly women workers, in the Lawrence, Massachusetts textile mills began what came to be known as the “Bread and Roses” strike.

January 10 - The Day the Mill Collapsed

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 08:05:05 -0600

On this day in Labor history the year was 1860. It was a day of tragedy as The Pemberton Mill collapsed in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The collapse of the five-story textile mill was one of the worst workplace disasters in U.S. history.