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
July 15 - Murdered for Standing Up
On this day in Labor History the year was 1931. That was the day that Ralph Gray was attacked for trying to organize black farmers. Gray was a born to a large…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 14 - Happy Birthday, Woody!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma. Guthrie became one of the most prolific song…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 13 - The New York City Draft Riots
On this day in Labor History the year was 1863. That was the day that draft riots broke out in New York City. The Civil War had been raging for two years. For…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 12 - Oscar Neebe is Born
On this day in Labor History the year was 1850. That was the birthday of Oscar Neebe. Neebe was one of eight men convicted of inciting violence at a workers…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 11 - The Trail of Broken Treaties
On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that the American Indian Movement began at a meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A group of 200…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 10 - Debs Arrested in Pullman Boycott
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the day that labor leader Eugene V. Debs was arrested for supporting the strike of Pullman Palace Car…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 9 - The Deadliest Commute
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that went down in U.S. history as the Great Train Wreck. The wreck occurred at Dutchman’s…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 8 - Machinists Walk Off the Job
On this day in Labor History the year was 1966. That was the day that the International Association of Machinists went out on strike. The day before “The…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 7 - Fighting Privatization in Puerto Rico
On this day in Labor History the year was 1998. That was the first day of a 48-hour general strike in Puerto Rico. The strike was called in support of…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 6 - The Preacher and the Slave
On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. That was the day that the song “The Preacher and the Slave” first appeared in the Little Red Song Book. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 5 - The Match Girls Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1888. That was the day that the spark was lit that touched off what came to be known as the “Match Girls Strike” in…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 4 - The Guiding Light of Transparency
On this day in Labor History the year was 1966. That was the day that the Freedom of Information Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The act…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 3 - Paterson Child Laborers’ Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1835. That was the day that textile workers walked off the job at twenty mills in Paterson, New Jersey. But this was…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 2 - Denmark Vesey
On this day in Labor History the year was 1822. That was day that Denmark Vesey was hung for his role in allegedly plotting a slave rebellion in South…
- Labor History in 2:00
July 1 - Crushing the Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was 1922. That was the day that railroad workers across the United States walked off the job. During World War I, the…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 30 - Making of a Strikebreaker
On this day in Labor History the year was 1885. That was the day that streetcar workers went out on strike. The West Division Street Railway Company had…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 29 - Birth of a Working Class Hero
On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day that American folklorist Archie Green was born in Winnipeg, Canada. His father was a Ukrainian…
- 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…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 27 - Helen Keller Stands with Labor
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 26 - Governor 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…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 25 - 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…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 24 - Cutting Corners Cost 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…
- Labor History in 2:00
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 18 - Women Teachers Lead by Example
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that the Saint Paul Federation of Women Teachers Local 28 received their charter from the…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 17 - A Horrible Tragedy on the Job
On this day in Labor History the year was 1972. That was the day that nine fire fighters gave their lives is Boston, Massachusetts. The tragedy occurred at the…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 16 - London Working Men’s Association is Founded
On this day in Labor History the year was 1836. That was the day that the London Working Men’s Association was founded. Skilled craftsman started the…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 15 - Metal Trades Department Established
On this day in Labor History the year was 1908. That was the day that the Executive Board of the American Federation of Labor established its Metal Trades…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 14 - Miner Shot Dead During Organizing Campaign
On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. During that summer the battle waged over the efforts to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coal mines. The…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 13 - Trouble in the Ranks
On this day in Labor History the year was 1914. That was the day that the Miner’s Union Day parade was scheduled in Butte, Montana. In spite of the festivities…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 12 - Chicago, Hog Butcher for the World
On this day in Labor History the year was 1904. That was the day that 18,000 workers in the Chicago’s stockyards went out on strike. Work in the stockyards was…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 11 - Death of an Icon
On this day in Labor History the year was 1969. That was the day that labor leader John L. Lewis died. Born to a Welsh-American Coal mining family in Iowa…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 10 - Paid Prep Work
On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day that the US Supreme Court handed down a decision that would have massive implication for…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 9 - McCarthy’s Downfall
On this day in Labor History the year was 1954. That was the day that marked the public downfall of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Senator McCarthy had…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 8 - Shot Down by the Colorado Militia
On this day in Labor History the year was 1904. That was the day that John Carley, a union miner, was shot down in Dunnville, Colorado. He was part of a strike…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 7 - Strike at Loray Mills
On this day in Labor History the year was 1929. That was the day that Police Chief Orville Aderholt was shot and killed, at a camp of striking textile workers…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 6 - Mine Owners Riot at Cripple Creek
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the day that the Colorado state militia troops came to Cripple Creek to intervene in a mining strike…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 5 - The Marshall Plan
On this day in Labor History the year was 1947. That was the day that Secretary of State George Marshall delivered a speech at Harvard University. In his…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 4 - Organizing Wisconsin Paper Mills
On this day in Labor History the year was 1904. That was the day when 900 Wisconsin paper makers walked off the job from Appleton to Menasha, from Combined…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 3 - Founding of the ILGWU
On this day in Labor History the year was 1900. That was the day that International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union was formed in New York City by seven local…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 2 - Fighting to End Contract Labor
On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. That was the day that John Greeni, an Italian immigrant miner, walked out the St. James Mine in Aurora…
- Labor History in 2:00
June 1 - Against All Odds
On this day in Labor History the year was 1981. That was the day that the “Cannery Murders” took place in Seattle, Washington. Two union organizers, Silme…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 31 - The Day Rosie the Riveter Died
On this day in Labor History the year was 1987. That was the day that Rose Will Monroe, one of the women who came to be known as Rosie the Riveter, died in…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 30 - The Memorial Day Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1937. That was the day that came to be known as the Republic Steel Massacre or the Memorial Day Massacre, in Chicago…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 29 - Cartoonists on Strike
Today in Labor History, May 29 Today in Labor History, May 29, the year was 1941. That was the day that the animators at Walt Disney went out on strike…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 28 - The Sierra Club is Founded
Today in Labor History, May 28, the year was 1882. That was the day that John Muir, a Scottish American conservationist founded the Sierra Club in San…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 27 - Centralia Burns
Can you imagine if the earth beneath your hometown caught fire and kept on burning for more than half a century? That is what happened in Centralia…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 26 - The Mother of All Strikes
Today in Labor History, May 26, the year was 1824. That day was the first time when women workers in the United States left their jobs and walked out on…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 25 - Hands Across America
Today in Labor History, May 25, the year was 1986. That was the day that more than five million people participated in “Hands Across America.” The event was…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 24 - Victor Reuther is Shot!
Today in Labor History, May 24, the year was 1949. That was the day a shot gun blast broke through a closed window and struck Victor Reuther, as he sat reading…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 23 - The Bush Tax Cuts
Today in Labor History, May 23, the year was 2003. That was the day that the US Senate approved more than 300 billion dollars in tax cuts over the next decade…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 22 - Chicago’s First Teachers’ Strike
Today in Labor History, May 22, the year was 1969. That was the day that began the first strike of the Chicago Teachers Union. The strike lasted three days. It…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 21 - Truman Seizes the Coal Mines
Today in Labor History, May 21, the year was 1946. That was the day that Democratic President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the nation’s…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 20 - Steel’s First Union Vote
Today in Labor History, May 20, the year was 1937. That was the day that workers at the Jones and Laughlin plant in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania voted in the first…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 19 - Remembering C.L.R. James
Today in Labor History, May 19, the year was 1989. That was the day that black author and Marxist theorist CLR James passed away. James was born in Trinidad…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 18 - Birth of the Gray Panthers
Today in Labor History, May 18, the year was 1972. That was the day that Maggie Kuhn stood before a group of reporters to tell them about her organization, the…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 17 - Brown v. Board of Education
Today in Labor History, May 17, the year was 1954. That was the day the Supreme Court handed down their decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In…