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
May 16 - The Passing of a Legend
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day we lost one of the giants of the US Labor Movement, A Philip Randolph. A Philip Randolph spent…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 15 - Library Workers Unite!
On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day of the founding that the Library Employees Union of Greater New York. This was the first…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 14 - Fighting for BEER!
Do you ever enjoy a cold beer after a long day’s work? Well if you were worker in the United States from 1920 to 1933, you would have to break the law to down…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 13 - Parisian Workers Join the General Strike
On this day in Labor History the year was the 1968. That was the day at the workers across Paris joined students in a city-wide general strike. College…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 12 - Fighting & Winning the Eight Hour Day
On this day in Labor History the year was 1856 workers of Melbourne, Australia marched to celebrate a victory in the campaign to win the eight-hour day. At the…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 11 - The 1894 Pullman Strike Begins
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the first day of the Pullman Strike. The strike started in the company of town of Pullman, on the…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 10 - The Fight for Equality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. That was the day that as many as ninety thousand people rallied for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 9 - Fighting Exploitation
On this day in Labor History the year was 1972. That was the day that employees at the Farah Manufacturing Company went out on strike. The company was one of…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 8 - Organizing the Rails
On this day in Labor History the year was 1863. That was the day that Division One of the Brotherhood of the Footboards was founded in Detroit, Michigan. By…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 7 - Bloody Tuesday
On this day in Labor History the year was 1907. That was the day known in the San Francisco labor movement as “Bloody Tuesday” In the early twentieth century…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 6 - Taking an Ax to Poverty Wages
On this day in Labor History the year was 1935. That was the day that began a strike of lumber workers across the Pacific Northwest. Lumberman had enough of…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 5 - The Battle of Harlan
On this day in Labor History the year was 1931. That was the day that became known as the “Battle of Harlan” or the “Battle for Evarts.” Harlan County…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 4 - The Day that Changed the World
On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. That evening a worker’s rally in Chicago Illinois became known as the Haymarket Tragedy. On May 1, workers from…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 3 - Voice of the Movement
On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That was the birthday of folk musician Pete Seeger. Seeger and his music would become staples of the US labor…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 2 - Birth of a Labor Pioneer
On this day in Labor History the year was 1830. That was the birthday of Richard Trevellick, one of the early leaders of the US labor movement and the fight…
- Labor History in 2:00
May 1 - MAYDAY - International Workers Day
On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. That was the day that workers throughout the United States walked off their jobs in a coordinated, planned…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 30 - Regulating Obstruction and Intimidation
On this day in Labor History the year was 2012. That was the day that updated National Labor Relations Board rules regarding the formation of new unions went…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 29 - The Mine Wars Get Ugly
On this day in Labor History the year was 1899. That was the day that Idaho miners detonated 50 cases of dynamite at the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mine in…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 28 - Merging for Strength
On this day in Labor History the year was 1965. That was the day that American Federation of Hosiery Workers merged with Textile Workers Union of America…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 27 - The Fight for a Life
On this day in Labor History the year was 1825. That was the day that saw what is widely considered the first strike for the ten-hour work day. It happened in…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 26 - In the Streets for Jobs
On this day in Labor History the year was 1975. That was the day the AFL-CIO held a “Jobs Now” rally in Washington, D.C. A painful recession had pushed…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 25 - The Fight for Equality
On this day in Labor History the year was 1978. That was the day of an important victory for any woman in the United States with a pension. The Supreme Court…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 24 - ILWU Strikes for Justice
On this day in Labor History the year was 1999. A headline from the Los Angeles Times declared, “Dock Crews to Halt Work in Support of Death Row Inmate.” Up…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 23 - The Canadian Labour Congress is Founded
On this day in Labor History the year was 1956. That was the day of the founding of the Canadian Labour Congress. Today the Canadian Labour Congress is the…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 22 - It’s Earth Day
On this day in Labor History the year was 1970. That was the first observation of Earth Day. Across the United States, millions took to the streets and parks…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 21 - The Anaconda Road Massacre
On this day in Labor History the year was 1920. That was the day remembered in Butte, Montana as “Bloody Wednesday” or the “Anaconda Road Massacre.” Butte was…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 20 - The Bravest of Conductors
On this day in Labor History the year was 1853. That was the day that Harriet Tubman led her first trip on the underground railroad, the clandestine network…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 19 - Terrorists Bomb Oklahoma City
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 18 - Labor’s First Lawyer
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 17 - The 1912 Siberian Gold Mine Massacre
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 16 - Another Day in the Class War
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 15 - The American Federation of Teachers is Founded
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 14 - Agricultural Workers Risk Everything to Organize
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 13 - The Laborers Union is Founded
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 12 - The Historic Walkout at Toledo Auto-Lite
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 11 - Terrorists Try to Silence Workers
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 10 - In the Streets Against Cruelty
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 9 - Minneapolis Teachers Fight for all Public Sector Workers
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 8 - Truman Takes Over Steel
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 7 - The Day the Line Went Dead
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 6 - Women Marching Off to Work
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 5 - One Day Longer
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…
- Labor History in 2:00
April 4 - A Day of Mourning
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…