Shows / Labor History in 2:00
Labor History in 2:00
A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Episodes
- Labor History in 2:00
November 11 - Haymarket Martyrs Executed
On this day in Labor History the year was 1887. That was the day that four men were hung in Chicago for their alleged role in the bombing at a labor rally at…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 10 - Suicide or Murder?
On this day in Labor History the year was 1887. That was the day that Louis Lingg died in prison, awaiting execution for his alleged role in a bombing at a…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 9 - Remembering Philip Murray
On this day in Labor History the year was 1952. That was the day that the labor movement lost Philip Murray. Philip was born in Scotland in 1886 to an Irish…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 8 - Dorothy Day is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1897. That was the day that Dorothy Day, a leader of the Catholic Worker Movement, was born in Brooklyn, New York. As…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 7 - Eisenhower Wields Taft-Hartley Against USWA
On this day in Labor History the year was 1959. That was the day that the US Supreme Court handed down a decision that would be a blow to the cause of labor…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 6 - The Fight for Equality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1982. That was the day that eleven women graduated from the New York City Fire Academy. They were the first women…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 5 - The Everett Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was the day when what came to be known as the On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was the…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 4 - Will Rogers is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1879. That was the day that Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Indian Territory, in what later became Oklahoma. Rogers…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 3 - The Greensboro Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day that became known as the Greensboro massacre. Members of the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 2 - Sixteen Tons
On this day in Labor History the year was 1955. That was the day that the song “Sixteen Tons” first made an appearance on the Billboard country music chart. It…
- Labor History in 2:00
November 1 - Deadly Consequences of Scabbing
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that bringing in a scab driver to run an elevated train in Brooklyn, New York ended in…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 31 - Happy Union-Made Halloween
On this day in Labor History ghosts and goblins are going door to door to gather up candy. But did you know that some of that candy is made by union workers?…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 30 - Wall Street Lays an Egg
On this day in Labor History the year was 1929. On that Wednesday morning, people across the United States woke up to newspaper headlines informing them that…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 29 - Alice Doesn’t Day
On this day in Labor History the year was 1975. That was the day that the National Organization for Women, or NOW, called for a strike by women across the…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 28 - The Pony Express
On this day in Labor History the year was 1861. That was the day that the Pony Express made its last run and passed into legend. The mail delivery service had…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 27 - The 1948 Donora Smog
On this day in Labor History the year was 1948. That was the day that a thick yellow fog rolled over the town of Donora, Pennsylvania just south of Pittsburgh…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale
On this day in Labor History the year was 1837. That was the day that Louisa Lee Schuyler was born in New York City. She was dedicated to the causes of public…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 25 - NY Daily News on Strike!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1990. That was the day that eight of the ten unions at the New York Daily News went out on strike. The paper had had…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1940. That was the day that the federally mandated 40-hour work week went into effect for U.S. workers. The 40-hour…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 23 - A New Voice for Labor
On this day in Labor History the year was 1995. That was the day that the AFL-CIO Convention convened in New York City. At the convention John Sweeney was…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd is Gunned Down
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That as the day that the bank robber known as Pretty Boy Floyd was gunned down by federal agents in Ohio. He…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 21 - Through Rain, Sleet, Snow and Anthrax
On this day in Labor History the year was 2001. That was the day that Thomas Morris Jr. died from breathing in anthrax. A week earlier he had been exposed to…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 20 - Remembering Debs
On this day in Labor History the year was 1926. That was the day that one of the great labor leaders in U.S. history, Eugene V. Debs, died in Elmhurst…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks
On this day in Labor History the year was 2013. That was the day that two workers on California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART as it is more commonly…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 18 - The Voice of an Era
On this day in Labor History the year was 1945. That was the day that Paul Robeson received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. The award was given annually to…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 17 - Fighting to End Poverty
On this day in Labor History the year was 1987. That was the day that more than 100,000 people gathered in Paris to stand up against poverty and hunger. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 16 - Thank a Farmer
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day that the United Nation’s established the idea of holding an annual “World Food Day.” The aim…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 15 - Too Little, Too Late for Radiation Sickness
On this day in Labor History the year was 1990. That was the day that President George H. W. Bush signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Worker safety…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 14 - Marching for Equality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day that the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights took place in Washington D.C…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 13 - We Whipped the Ivy League and You Can Too!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1985. That was the day that clerical and support staff at Columbia University went out on strike. More than 1,000…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 12 - Workers Begin to Come Together
On this day in Labor History the year was 1845. That was the day that the first Industrial Congress of the United States met in New York. People interested in…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 12 - Miners Day
On this day in labor history, the year was 1899. That was the day union miners in Mt. Olive, Illinois began commemorating Miners Day. Every year thousands came…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 11 - Remembering Mary Heaton Vorse
On this day in Labor History the year was 1874. That was the day that Mary Heaton Vorse was born in New York City. She grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts in a…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 10 - With a Push of a Button, Two Oceans are Joined
On this day in Labor History the year was 1913. At 2:02 in the afternoon President Woodrow Wilson at the White House touched of an explosion at the Gamboa Dike…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 9 - End of the Boom Boom Room
On this day in Labor History the year was 1997. That was the day that a group of female employees at the investment firm Smith Barney came to a tentative…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 8 - The Great Chicago Fire
On this day in Labor History the year was 1871. That was the day that the Great Chicago Fire began. The fire started in a barn on the property of Patrick and…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 7 - Housing Now!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1989. That was the day thousands of people marched on Washington to protest against homelessness. They gathered to…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 6 - Bill Clinton Signs the Hatch Act
On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that President Bill Clinton signed into law reforms to the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act was passed…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 5 - Hollywood’s Black Friday
On this day in Labor History the year was 1945. That was a day known as in Hollywood “Black Friday.” After World War II, the movie industry began to rake in…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 4 - A Chain Reaction of Human Misery
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the evening that a series of explosions began at the T.A. Gillespie Company near Morgan, New Jersey…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 3 - Remembering Woody Guthrie
On this day in Labor History the year was 1967. That was the day that the “Dust-bowl Troubadour,” Woody Guthrie, died. Over the course of his life, Woody…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 2 - Rebuilding in Tough Times
On this day in Labor History the year was 1935. That was the year that San Diego hosted the California Pacific International Exposition, where President…
- Labor History in 2:00
October 1 - The Jerry Level
On this day in Labor History the year was 1851. That was the day that William Henry, a black cooper, or barrel maker who went by the name of Jerry was arrested…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 30 - The Elaine, Arkansas Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That was the day that began the Elaine Massacre. The massacre took place in Arkansas, where more than 100 black…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 29 -Creating a Standing Army
On this day in Labor History the year was 1789. That was the day that the United States Congress officially created the United States army. Not everyone agreed…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 28 - Solidarity on the Docks
Would you be willing to stand up in solidarity with your fellow workers, even if it cost you your job? On this day in Labor History the workers at Mersey Docks…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 27 - The Wreck of the Old ‘97
On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. That was the day that is remembered in Virginia as the “Wreck of old 97”. Old 97, also known as the Fast Mail…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 26 - Disaster On the Job Around the World
On this day in Labor History the year was 2007. It was that morning that a bridge under construction in Vietnam collapsed. The disaster happened in Can Tho…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 25 - Martyred for the Vote
On this day in Labor History the year was 1961. That was the day when Herbert Lee was murdered just outside of Liberty, Mississippi. He was a successful black…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 24 - Banned in Canada
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that the Industrial Workers of the World union was banned in Canada. The Industrial Workers of…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 23 - Dr. Harriet Louise Hardy is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1906. That was the day that Dr. Harriet Louise Hardy was born in Arlington, Massachusetts. She pursued a career in…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 22 - The First Farm Aid
On this day in Labor History the year was 1985. That was the year that the first Farm Aid concert was held in Champaign, Illinois. A retrospective article in…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 21 - Fighting the Runaway Shop
On this day in Labor History the year was 1991. That was the day that members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 went on strike against the Frontier Hotel and…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 20 - The Fight for Equality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1830. That was the day that the Reverend Richard Allen brought black leaders together at his Mother Bethel A.M.E…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 19- The End of My Sweet Jennie
On this day in Labor History the year was 1977. That was the day that is remembered in Youngstown, Ohio as “Black Monday.” The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 18 - The Atlanta Compromise
On this day in Labor History the year was 1895. That was the day that Booker T. Washington delivered what came to be known as the “Atlanta Compromise Speech,”…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 17 - Striking in the South
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. That was the day that leading Southern textile employers met together in Greenville, North Carolina. They met…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 16 - NHL Locked Out by Management
On this day in Labor History the year was 2004. That was not a good day for hockey fans. The National Hockey League owners locked out the players. The owners…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny
On this day in Labor History the year was 1931. That was the day that came to be known as the Invergordon Mutiny in Scotland. The global Great Depression had…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 14 - The Murder of Ella Mae Wiggins
On this day in Labor History the year was 1929. That was the day that Ella Mae Wiggins was gunned down on her way to a rally of striking textile workers in…