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
September 13 - Attica!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was the day that the state police stormed Attica Correctional Facility in New York. Four days earlier the…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 12 - The Making of a National Treasure
On this day in Labor History the year was 1997. That was the day that Union Square in New York City was named a National Historic Landmark. Republican Governor…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 11 - The Christiana Riot
On this day in Labor History the year was 1851. That was the day that a Maryland planter named Edward Gorsuch was killed in Christiana, Pennsylvania. Gorsuch…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 10 - Minneapolis Printers Organize
On this day in Labor History the year was 1859. That was the day that the St. Anthony and Minneapolis Typographical Union Number 42 was founded in Minnesota…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 9 - The Hanapepe Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1924. Sixteen striking Filipino sugar workers on the Hawaiian island of Kauaiwere killed by police. This incident is…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 8 - Defying Nazi Occupation
On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. The ravages of World War II had swept across Europe. German troops had invaded Norway in April of 1940. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 7 - The Federal Employees Compensation Act
On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was the day that the Federal Employees Compensation Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 6 - Jane Addams is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1860. That was the day that Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois. Her family was wealthy and her father…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 5 - The First Labor Day Parade
On this day in Labor History the year was 1882. That was the day the first Labor Day celebration and parade took place in New York City. The New York Sun…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 4 - The Peekskill Riots
On this day in Labor History the year was 1949. That was the day known in New York as the Peekskill Riots. Internationally renowned African American Paul…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 3 - Locked In to Die
On this day in Labor History the year was 1991. That was the day that a fire killed twenty-five workers are the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, North…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 2 - Protecting Pensions
On this day in Labor History the year was 1974. That was the day that President Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The act was…
- Labor History in 2:00
September 1 - The Boilermakers
On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Makers of America was founded…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 31 - The Battle Of Blair Mountain
On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. On that day the “Battle of Blair Mountain” raged in Logan County, West Virginia. Members of the United Mine…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 30 - Taxing the Rich
On this day in Labor History the years was 1935. That was the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Revenue Tax Act, more popularly known as…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 29 - Deadly Design Flaws Kill 88 Workers
On this day in Labor History the year was 1907. That was the day that became known for the Quebec Bridge Disaster in Canada. Workers were building a cantilever…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 28 - Remembering Bayard Rustin
On this day in Labor History the year was 1963. That was the day one of the most important stands for justice and equality took place in United States history…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 27 - The Packers
On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. That was the day that Green Bay Packers football team received a charter from American Professional Football…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 26 - The Amistad
On this day in Labor History the year was 1839. That was the day that the Amistad sailed into Long Island, New York. The Amistad served as a Spanish slave…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 25 - An Historic Irony
On this day in Labor History the year was 1819. That was the day at Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a policeman, who died while…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 24 - The 1970 Salad Bowl Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1970. That was the day that the United Farmworkers went out on strike against California lettuce growers. The UFW had…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 23 - Life’s Singer
On this day in Labor History the year was 1900. That was the day that folk singer Malvina Reynolds was born to a Jewish family in San Francisco. Her parents…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 22 - Breaking the Glass Ceiling
On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. That was the day that Joyce Miller became the first woman ever elected to the Executive Board of the AFL-CIO…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 21 - Emma Goldman Says: “Take the Bread!”
On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that workers-rights and women’s rights activist and anarchist Emma Goldman gave a speech in…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 20 - The White Lion Docks in Jamestown
On this day in Labor History the year was 1619. That was the day that the first ship bearing enslaved people arrived in North America. It was an English…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 19 - Teamsters Fight and Win at UPS
On this day in Labor History the year was 1997. That was the day that a strike by the Teamsters Union against UPS ended with a victory for the union. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 18 - Kemi Bloody Thursday
On this day in Labor History the year was 1949. That was the day that is remembered as “Kemi Bloody Thursday” in Finland. Two strikers were killed. Kemi is a…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 17 - Hormel P-9 On Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1985. That was the day that workers at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota went out on strike. They were members of…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 16 - Congress Passes the National Apprenticeship Act
On this day in Labor History the year was 1937. That was the day that the U.S. Congress passed the National Apprenticeship Act. It was also known as the…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 15 - Run Down Like a Dog
On this day in Labor History the year was 1989. That was the day that Gerry Horgan was killed while walking the picket line. Gerry was a chief steward for the…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 14 - A Little Security for Workers
On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. The act was…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 13 - Dies Committee Ramps Up Hysteria
”Communists!” “Reds!” Long have these been the cries of the press and politicians seeking to undermine the labor movement in the United States. But sometimes…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 12 - Singing a Union Tune
On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That was the day that the chorus girls of the Ziegfeld Follies formed a union. They called their organization…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 11 - Workers Demands Fall on Deaf Ears
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the day that federal troops pushed “Kelly’s Industrial Army” out of Washington D.C and across the…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 10 - Safety in the Air
On this day in Labor History the year was 1931. That was the day that Air Line Pilots Association affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The need…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 9 - Workers Pay the Price
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day that young women workers at the YH Trading Company in Seoul, South Korea staged a sit-in. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 8 - Murdered for Standing Up
On this day in Labor History the year was 1850. That was the day that two tailors who were out on strike in New York City were killed in a confrontation with…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 7 - Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1890. That was the day that one of the heroines of the US labor movement, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in Concord…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 6 - The Baltimore Bank Riot
On this day in Labor History the year was 1835. That was the day that began the “Baltimore Bank Riot.” The Bank of Maryland had failed in 1834. Thousands of…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 5 - FMLA Takes Effect
On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that the Family Medical Leave Act went into effect. Union members worked hard to support this…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 4 - The Bracero Program
On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that the United States and Mexico signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement. It became known as…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 3 - The Wheatland Riot
On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that became known in California as the “Wheatland Riot.” The Industrial Workers of the World…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 2 - The Hatch Act Enacted
On this day in Labor History the year was 1939. That was the day that the Hatch Act was enacted. The law was named after Senator Carl Hatch, a Democratic…
- Labor History in 2:00
August 1 - The Assassination of Frank Little
On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. Frank Little, an activist for the Industrial Workers of The World, or Wobblies was lynched near Butte, Montana…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 31 - NFL Players Fight for a Voice
On this day in Labor History the year was 1970. That was the day the NFL Players Association went out on strike. The American Football League and the National…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 30 - Medicare Becomes a Reality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1965. That was the day that US President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law. This federally funded healthcare…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 29 - An Unlucky Day at Shamrock
On this day in Labor History the year was 1956. That was the day that an oil tank explosion took the lives of nineteen men fighting a fire at Shamrock Oil and…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 28 - Burning Veterans Out
On this day in Labor History the year was 1932. That was the day that flames burned in the US Capitol. The US armed forces set fire to a “shanty-town” of…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 27 - The March of the Mill Children
On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. Labor leader “Mother” Mary Harris Jones was leading a march of child laborers to President Theodore Roosevelt’s…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 26 - ADA is Signed into Law
On this day in Labor History the year was 1990. That was the day that George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA prohibits…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 25 - The Colonial Conquest of Puerto Rico
On this day in Labor History the year was 1898. That was the day that United State armed forces invaded Puerto Rico. The invasion was part of the…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 24 - Building a New Federation
On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the first day of a new U.S. labor partnership, the Alliance for Labor Action. The Alliance was forged…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 23 - Anti-Chinese Hysteria Mars The Great Upheaval
On this day in Labor History the year was 1877. That was the day that a mob began an attack on Chinese workers in San Francisco that killed four people. During…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 22 - The Nation’s First General Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1877. A group of labor leaders and members of the Workingmen’s Party met in St. Louis. They were there because of the…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 21 - The Crazy Eights
On this day in Labor History the year was 1878. That was the day that a new song was introduced to the US labor movement. Reverend Jesse H. Jones set the…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 20 - Delivering Respect
On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. It was an historic day for the men and women who deliver the US Mail. It was the day that the American Postal…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 19 - Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Announced
On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that President Bill Clinton announced his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He had campaigned…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 18 - Chicago Stockyards Workers Kick Off Historic Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That Friday thousands of workers in the Chicago Stockyards walked off the job. A serious union organizing drive…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 17 - Growing Teamster Power
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934. The Teamster members of Local 574, in Minneapolis were back out on strike. Their strike had begun two months…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 16- Ida B. Wells-Barnett is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1862. That was the day that black-rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She…