Labor Day
How the 1968 Sanitation Workers' Strike Expanded the Civil Rights Struggle
On February 12, 1968, 1,300 Black sanitation workers in Memphis began a strike to demand better working conditions and higher pay. Their stand marked an early fight for financial justice for workers of color as part of the civil rights movement. The strike also drew Martin Luther ...read more
We've Had 12 Recessions Since WWII. Here's How We Got Out of Them
A recession is defined as a contraction in economic growth lasting two quarters or more as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP). Starting with an eight-month slump in 1945, the U.S. economy has weathered 12 different recessions since World War II. On average, America’s ...read more
How Detroit Factories Retooled During WWII to Defeat Hitler
Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, would never forget the moment his boots hit the sand during Operation Overlord—the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. Shortly after the landings, Ike toured the beaches, which were littered with broken, ...read more
Minimum Wage in America: A Timeline
When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, it represented a major shift in labor policy. For the first time, the federal government set a minimum wage and established the principle that people—or at least those covered by the law—are entitled to at least a certain ...read more
Why the Great Steel Strike of 1919 Was One of Labor’s Biggest Failures
Mike Connolly had a dream: an eight-hour day. A Pennsylvania steel worker for 41 years, he toiled for 12 or more hours a day behind the locked doors of a steel mill with no days off and little hope for the future. If he worked eight hours a day, he imagined, “I could have a ...read more
The 1936 Strike That Brought America’s Most Powerful Automaker to its Knees
The General Motors body plant in Flint, Michigan was usually a thankless place, filled with loud sounds and the feverish, dangerous work of turning metal into auto bodies. But in January 1937, the sounds of whistling and conversation filled the air. Instead of toiling over ...read more
How a Deadly Railroad Strike Led to the Labor Day Holiday
Today many Americans see Labor Day as time off from work, an opportunity to enjoy a barbecue with friends and family and a final moment of summertime relaxation before the busy fall season begins. But the history behind the Labor Day holiday is far more complex and dramatic than ...read more
Labor Day's Railroad Strike Roots
Labor Day in the United States actually started across the border in Canada, after a struggle involving newspaper printers, outdated laws, and political rivalries.
Andrew Carnegie Claimed to Support Unions, But Then Destroyed Them in His Steel Empire
With his quintessential rags-to-riches story, Andrew Carnegie embodied the American Dream. After poverty drove his family out of Scotland in 1848, Carnegie arrived in the United States as a penniless 12-year-old boy. With little formal education, he worked in a Pittsburgh cotton ...read more
How the Horrific Tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Led to Workplace Safety Laws
Young women became trapped by tables, bulky equipment and doors that locked or opened the wrong way as flames enveloped the eighth, ninth and 10th floors of the Asch Building in New York City’s Greenwich Village on March 25, 1911. As people struggled to escape, several fell into ...read more
When Truckers Shut Down America to Protest Oil Prices—and Became Folk Heroes
At 10:00 p.m. on December 3, 1973, a 37-year old trucker from Overland Park, Kansas named J.W. Edwards stopped his rig suddenly in the middle of Interstate I-80 near Blakeslee, Pennsylvania and picked up his CB radio microphone. The insurrection he was about to start, using his ...read more
These Appalling Images Exposed Child Labor in America
The Industrial Revolution brought not only new job opportunities but new laborers to the workforce: children. By 1900, 18 percent of all American workers were under the age of 16. For employers of the era, children were seen as appealing workers since they could be hired for ...read more
Remembering the Haymarket Riot
The explosion in Haymarket Square came during a period of nationwide labor upheaval. Chicago—then the fastest growing city in the United States—was the nerve center of the country’s workers’ movement, and the spring of 1886 marked one of its most ambitious protests to date. In ...read more
The Strike That Shook America
The power looms that thundered inside the cotton weaving room of the Everett Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, suddenly fell silent on January 11, 1912. When a mill official demanded to know why workers were standing motionless next to their machines, the explanation was simple: ...read more
Labor Day 2021
Labor Day 2021 will occur on Monday, September 6. Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal ...read more
Labor Movement
The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child ...read more
Homestead Strike
The Homestead strike, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, pitted one of the most powerful new corporations, Carnegie Steel Company, against the nation’s strongest trade union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. An 1889 strike had won the steelworkers a favorable ...read more
Cesar Chavez
Mexican American Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) was a prominent union leader and labor organizer. Hardened by his early experience as a manual laborer, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. His union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in ...read more
Child Labor
Child labor, or the use of children as servants and apprentices, has been practiced throughout most of human history, but reached a zenith during the Industrial Revolution. Miserable working conditions including crowded and unclean factories, a lack of safety codes or ...read more